Cloud Engineer Azure & DevOps

Unite Foundation; Bristol; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading provider of student accommodation in the UK is seeking an experienced Cloud Engineer to join their IT Operations team. The role focuses on designing and operating Microsoft-based cloud platforms, requiring strong expertise in Azure and DevOps. Ideal candidates will have hands-on experience with cloud services and a proactive mindset. This position offers a competitive benefits package, including a bonus scheme and health benefits.

Benefits

Annual discretionary bonus

25 days paid holiday

Generous pension scheme

Healthcare Cash Plan

Enhanced Family Leave

Employee discounts portal

Qualifications

• Significant experience working as a Cloud or Platform Engineer with a focus on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365.
• Strong hands-on experience with Azure services.
• Deep understanding of Microsoft identity and access technologies.

Responsibilities

• Acting as a senior technical authority for Microsoft cloud platforms.
• Designing, building, and operating Azure infrastructure.
• Leading the development and support of CI/CD pipelines.

Skills

Microsoft Azure

Microsoft 365

Infrastructure as Code

DevOps

Cloud security

Troubleshooting

Agile practices

Communication skills

Tools

Azure DevOps

Terraform

PowerShell

Job description

Unite Students are looking for a Cloud Engineer (Azure and DevOps focused) to join the IT Operations team, responsible for designing, building, and operating Microsoft-based cloud platforms that underpin critical business and digital services at Unite Students.

You`ll be a senior technical specialist across Azure, Microsoft 365, identity, and DevOps tooling, working closely with engineering, security, and operations teams to deliver secure, resilient, and scalable cloud services. The role combines deep hands-on engineering with platform ownership, automation, and continuous improvement.

This role is well suited to an experienced Microsoft cloud engineer who enjoys shaping standards, enabling others, and working across the full lifecycle of modern cloud services.

What You`ll Be Doing

• Acting as a senior technical authority for Microsoft cloud platforms, providing design leadership and 3rd line support.
• Designing, building, and operating Azure infrastructure and platform services using Infrastructure as Code and automation.
• Owning and improving Microsoft 365 services, including identity, collaboration, security, and endpoint integration.
• Leading the development and support of CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling (e.g. Azure DevOps) to enable engineering teams.
• Providing technical guidance on identity, access management, and security controls across cloud and SaaS platforms.
• Supporting the design and operation of hybrid environments integrating on-premise systems with Azure and Microsoft 365.
• Implementing and improving monitoring, logging, alerting, and operational insight across Microsoft platforms.
• Contributing to backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity solutions for cloud-hosted services.
• Producing and maintaining platform standards, technical documentation, and reusable patterns.
• Mentoring engineers and sharing Microsoft cloud and DevOps best practice across IT teams.
• Participating in the wider Infrastructure on-call rota and acting as a senior escalation point for Microsoft platform incidents.

What We`re Looking for in You

• Significant experience working as a Cloud or Platform Engineer with a strong focus on Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 in an enterprise environment.
• Strong hands-on experience with Azure services such as compute, networking, storage, PaaS services, and identity.
• Deep understanding of Microsoft identity and access technologies, including Entra ID, conditional access, and role-based access control.
• Experience managing and integrating Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange Online, Teams, SharePoint, and endpoint management.
• Strong experience with Infrastructure as Code, automation, and scripting (e.g. Bicep, ARM, Terraform, PowerShell).
• Experience building and supporting CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices using Azure DevOps or equivalent tooling.
• Confidence operating in Agile and DevOps-led environments, supporting multiple delivery teams.
• Strong analytical and troubleshooting skills across cloud, identity, and SaaS platforms.
• Ability to influence technical decisions and promote best practice without direct authority.
• Clear communication skills, able to work effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• A proactive mindset with a strong desire to improve platform reliability, security, and developer experience.

A full UK driving licence and flexibility to travel occasionally when required.

What You`ll Get in Return

• A discretionary annual bonus so you can share in the company`s success
• 25 days` paid holiday and an annual holiday buying scheme, with 5 additional days awarded for long service
• A generous pension scheme - employer contributions between 5% and 11% depending on how much you save
• Various benefits to support your health and wellbeing including a Healthcare Cash Plan, an Employee Assistance Programme, a Wellbeing platform and a Gym benefit that you can share with your family and friends
• Enhanced Family Leave including 18 weeks full pay for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents
• Lots of other great benefits including an annual ShareSave scheme, Employee Life Assurance, a discounts portal and more!

About Unite Students

Founded in 1991, Unite Students is the UK`s leading provider of purpose-built student accommodation. You can find us in 23 leading university towns and cities, with 70,000 students calling US home! We are driven by our values, culture, and a commitment to develop diverse and inclusive teams, filled with positive energy and new ideas.

Instinctive inclusion.

We know that to create and maintain a happy healthy organisation, we have to work hard to ensure inclusion isn`t just what we do but who we are.

People make Unite Students.

Employees, students and neighbours all contribute to building environments where we can all thrive.

Room for Everyone

We`re proud to be an employer that embraces individuality, and we`re passionate about building inclusive teams. We focus on creating a collaborative culture where you can be you, where your voice is heard, and where you can truly belong. We take great pride in being rated Gold Investors in People and are constantly striving to provide the highest standard of learning and development opportunities and professional pathways for our people. Building a home for success, for both our employees and students, requires exceptional people with a passion for creating room for everyone, doing what`s right, keeping US safe, and raising the bar. Join us as we build better experiences for students that live with us.