- Location
- Wallingford, UK - Hybrid
- Workplace
- Hybrid
- Type
- Full-time
- Department
- Engineering
- Source
- Pinpoint
Description
Operations Engineer
Department: Tech
Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time
Location: Wallingford, UK - Hybrid
Description
About the Team
Our Operations function is part of the Tech Team responsible for the reliability, performance, and security of the infrastructure and platforms that power GTI’s digital products. Spanning on-premises infrastructure, cloud environments, and managed services, the team ensures that GTI’s systems remain available, performant, and resilient across the UK and beyond.
Our Operations function is part of the Tech Team responsible for the reliability, performance, and security of the infrastructure and platforms that power GTI’s digital products. Spanning on-premises infrastructure, cloud environments, and managed services, the team ensures that GTI’s systems remain available, performant, and resilient across the UK and beyond.
Working closely with Product Engineers, Software Engineers, and wider Technology teams, the Operations team manages the databases, monitoring, networking, and cloud infrastructure that underpin GTI’s platforms. The team takes a proactive approach to observability, incident management, and continuous improvement, building the operational foundations that enable delivery teams to move with confidence and speed.
As cloud hybrid, AI and automation continue to reshape infrastructure management, the team continuously evolves its tooling, processes, and capabilities to improve reliability, security, and efficiency across GTI’s growing platform estate.
About this Role
As an Operations Engineer, you will play a central role in managing and improving the databases, infrastructure and operational systems that keep GTI’s platforms running across on-premises and AWS cloud environments.
Initially your main responsibility will be the administration and optimisation of GTI’s database estate spanning MySQL, MSSQL, and PostgreSQL across both clustered on-premises deployments and AWS alongside managing cloud backups, monitoring infrastructure, and the broader operational environment that includes Linux systems, Windows and VMware virtualisation. Knowledge of AWS services would be beneficial but an active interest in learning AWS services will be fine as you will be taught and learn in the role.
This is a hands-on technical role requiring solid database administration experience, good infrastructure engineering capability around Linux, Windows, scripting, backups, and monitoring. You will be required to respond to take ownership of operational tasks and improvements across the stack, ensuring systems remain performant, secure, and well-monitored which includes out of hours response to critical events. The role also requires out of hours work to update and patch critical systems to minimise impact to our customers.
The ideal candidate will be technically well-rounded, highly dependable, and genuinely motivated by the challenge of keeping complex, distributed systems running at their best. They will bring a proactive mindset to monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement, and will be comfortable working across a broad range of infrastructure and cloud technologies.
Key Metrics of Success
Key Metrics of Success
- High availability, security and performance of database systems
- Reliable and tested backup coverage across all critical systems, with clear recovery objectives met
- Comprehensive monitoring coverage across infrastructure, databases, and services
- Stable, well-maintained VMware, Linux and Windows environments with low unplanned downtime
- Proactive identification and resolution of infrastructure risks before they impact product availability
Outcomes
Database Reliability & Performance
Outcome: GTI’s database estate operates reliably, performantly, and securely across all environments.
- High availability, security and performance maintained across MySQL, MSSQL, and PostgreSQL environments
- Databases managed, monitored, and optimised
- Database incidents identified and resolved quickly, minimising impact on product availability
- Database configurations, schemas, and access controls kept secure and up to date
Backup & Disaster Recovery
Outcome: All critical systems and data are reliably backed up with recovery processes that are tested and trusted.
- Backup coverage maintained across all critical databases and infrastructure components
- Backup processes automated, monitored, and regularly validated through recovery testing
- Clear recovery time and recovery point objectives defined and met for all critical systems
- Backup and recovery documentation kept current and accessible
Monitoring & Observability
Outcome: Infrastructure, databases, and services are comprehensively monitored, enabling fast detection and response to issues.
- Monitoring servers and services maintained and continuously improved
- Monitoring coverage extended across new systems and services
- Alerting thresholds and escalation paths kept accurate, reducing noise and improving signal quality
- Operational visibility improved through dashboards, reporting, and proactive health checks
General Operations & Infrastructure Stability
Outcome: GTI’s Linux, Windows, VMware, and networking environments remain stable, secure, and well-maintained.
- Linux & Windows systems patched, maintained, and performing reliably across the server estate
- VMware virtualisation environment managed effectively, with capacity and performance kept in check
Innovation, Ownership & Continuous Improvement
Outcome: Operations Engineering continuously improves reliability, efficiency, and capability across GTI’s infrastructure estate.
- Proactive identification of risks, inefficiencies, and opportunities for operational improvement
- Automation of routine operational tasks to reduce manual effort and improve consistency
- Infrastructure documentation kept accurate, comprehensive, and accessible to the wider team
- Continuous development of technical skills and adoption of modern operational practices
Person Specification
- Methodical, dependable, and highly attentive to detail
- Proactive approach to monitoring, incident response, and continuous improvement
- Comfortable managing a broad range of technologies across environments
- Ownership mindset – takes responsibility for systems and follows through on problems
- Comfortable working in fast-paced environments where priorities can shift
- Genuine interest in cloud technologies, automation, and modern operational practices
- Collaborative team player who contributes to a culture of reliability and continuous improvement
Work Experience, Knowledge & Skills
- Database administration experience across MySQL, MSSQL, and PostgreSQL
- Experience managing clustered database environments
- Experience configuring and managing cloud backup solutions
- Hands-on experience with monitoring platforms
- Strong Linux systems administration skills
- Experience with VMware virtualisation environments
- Working knowledge of networking concepts including DNS, routing and firewalls
- Knowledge of AWS services would be beneficial but an active interest in learning AWS services will be fine as you will be taught and learn in the role.
- Experience working with scripting or automation tooling is advantageous
- Familiarity with change management processes and operational documentation practices
- Technologies you’ll be using
- Ubuntu Linux
- MySQL, MS SQL, Postgres
- Bash/python scripting
- VMWare
- Dell hardware
- Cisco Meraki, pfSense
- AWS Aurora/RDS, NLB/ALB, Route 53, DMS, SES, s3, Lambda, CloudFront
- IaC: Puppet, Terraform, Cloud Formation
- Prometheus, Grafana, Loki, CheckMK
- GitLab
- MS Entra/AD
Other Information
- Permanent role – 37.5 hours per week. Monday to Friday 9am-5:30pm.
- 3-month probationary period.
Candidates applying for roles at GTI will be subject to background screening. You can find out more about our background screening and the recruitment of ex-offenders by reading our policies.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team to find out more information about this vacancy or you have any questions, please get in touch - [email protected].
If you would like to speak to a member of our team to find out more information about this vacancy or you have any questions, please get in touch - [email protected].
Skills
PythonAWSTerraformLinuxVMwareSQLPostgreSQLMySQLGitLabChange Management
