Site Reliability Engineering Specialist

BT Ireland; Greater London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading telecommunication provider is seeking an Automation Engineer to drive the automation strategy in London. The role involves leading automation initiatives, managing network platforms, and enhancing service delivery. Ideal candidates should have strong Python skills, knowledge of Ansible, CI/CD pipelines, and a solid understanding of network engineering. You’ll be joining a team focused on operational excellence and providing an outstanding customer experience.

Benefits

Tailored training and development opportunities

10% on target bonus

25 days annual leave

Life Assurance

Pension scheme

50% off mobile plans

Exclusive colleague discounts

Qualifications

• Proficient in at least one programming language, preferably Python.
• Strong knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and familiarity with Gitlab CI/CD or Jenkins.
• Deep understanding of containerization and container orchestration.
• Ability to work in high-pressure environments.

Responsibilities

• Drive the Professional Services automation strategy.
• Manage compute infrastructure hosts including patching.
• Build network automation frameworks for efficient deployment.
• Participate as technical lead in incident management.
• Champion and build effective relationships for business outcomes.

Skills

Python

Ansible

Containerization

CI/CD pipelines

Network engineering fundamentals

HTTP/web APIs

IP/MPLS networks

Kubernetes

System administration

Cloud computing

Job description

Professional Services was formed as a progressive development towards the convergence of multiple domains across BT. We pride ourselves on providing expert third line support to an extensive range of services; ensuring the required levels of availability are maintained. The team is widely recognised for getting things done, while making transformational improvements along the way. We do this by ensuring we have the right people to achieve our high ambitions.

This role is pivotal in driving automation and operational excellence within Professional Services. You’ll lead the automation strategy, evolve development practices and champion an SRE mindset to improve reliability, scalability and performance across our platforms, inclusive of our hosting infrastructure. By leveraging deep technical expertise and end‑to‑end ownership, you’ll deliver flawless change, enhance service availability, and unlock time for the team to focus on solving business problems. Your work will enable smarter processes, stronger collaboration, and a “brilliant” customer experience, making automation and resilience the foundation of everything we do.

What you’ll be doing

• Actively contributing and drives the Professional Services automation strategy.
• Owns and contributes to the roadmap for the APPID’s we manage, including EoSL planning, application lifecycle, compute requirements & BCM planning.
• Manages compute infrastructure hosts including patching and security vulnerability management.
• Builds network automation frameworks that allow for efficient test, build & deployment of new automated processes, inclusive of CI/CD pipelines. Ensuring we deliver robust code in an efficient manor.
• Enact the Professional Services driverless change ambition, actively looking for potential use cases, starting the conversation and driving for success.
• Contributes to the development of the Professional Services team in the adoption of an SRE approach.
• Participate and be the technical lead on incidents within immediate domain and be part of PIR write up and solution.
• Acts as a subject matter expert for the TSA guidelines, influencing working practices to ensure we remain compliant with industry standards.
• Will champion and build effective working relationships, both internally and externally to deliver business outcomes.
• Responsible for delivering complex network change and providing assurance of Fixed network platforms managed by Professional Services.

The Skills you'll need

• A strong level of proficiency in atleast one programming language preferably Python.
• An understanding of the fundamentals of Ansible and how to apply it.
• A strong understanding of containerisation using docker, podman or a similar container engine.
• A good knowledge of coding best practices including code structure, peer review & testing.
• A good knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and familiarity with either Gitlab CI/CD or Jenkins.
• You will be confident and professional in communicating with all stakeholders, both locally and with members of the Senior Management Team.
• You will have the ability to work in a high-pressure environment.
• A good grasp of network engineering fundamentals.
• A good understanding of HTTP/ web API’s
• Strong understanding of IP/MPLS networks
• Strong proficiency in building CI/CD pipelines.
• Strong knowledge of Ansible, you will have built an Ansible repo from the ground up to perform heavy lift deployment.
• Strong understanding of container orchestration (e.g. Kubernetes)
• OS Administration: Strong system administration skills, across an array of operating systems such as linux, windows etc. with a focus on performance optimisation, security, and automation.
• Cloud Computing:Strong understanding cloud computing and best practices.

Experience you'll have

• A network engineer with a solid grasp on network automation fundamentals who has a desire to expand on this.
• An IT Infrastructure engineer with a lot of experience building automated deployment workflows and a desire to expand into network engineering.
• A software engineer with strong experience building automated deloyments and a desire to expand into network engineering.

Benefits

• Tailored training and development opportunities to continue to build your career
• 10% on target bonus
• 25 days’ annual leave (not including bank holidays), increasing with service
• Life Assurance
• Pension scheme - If you pay in a minimum of 5% of your pensionable salary every month we will pay in 10%
• Option to join the Healthcare Cash Plan or other benefits such as dental insurance, gym memberships etc.
• 50% off EE mobile pay monthly or SIM only plans
• Exclusive colleague discounts on our latest and greatest BT broadband packages BT TV, including TNT Sports and NOW entertainment
• Shared Parental leave - maximum amount of leave you can share with your partner is 50 weeks

Looking in:

Leading inclusively and Safely: I inspire and build trust through self‑awareness, honesty and integrity.

Owning outcomes: I take the right decisions that benefit the broader organisation.

Looking out:

Delivering for the customer: I execute brilliantly on clear priorities that add value to our customers and the wider business.

Commercially savvy: I demonstrate strong commercial focus, bringing an external perspective to decision‑making.

Looking to the future:

Growth mindset: I experiment and identify opportunities for growth for both myself and the organisation.

Building for the future: I build diverse future‑ready teams where all individuals can be at their best.

At BT, we entertain, educate and empower millions of people every single day. We’re a brand built on connecting people – whether that’s friends, family, businesses or communities. Working here, you’ll receive an attractive salary and a range of competitive benefits, but – more than that – you’ll be joining an ambitious organisation with a culture of togetherness, collaboration and inclusivity.

Studies have shown that women and people who are disabled, LGBTQ+, neurodiverse or from ethnic minority backgrounds are less likely to apply for jobs unless they meet every single qualification and criteria. We're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace where everyone can be their best, so if you're excited about this role but your past experience doesn't align perfectly with every requirement on the Job Description, please apply anyway - you may just be the right candidate for this or other roles in our wider team.

Although these roles are listed as full‑time, if you’re a job share partnership, work reduced hours, or any other way of working flexibly, please still get in touch.

We will also offer reasonable adjustments for the selection process if required, so please do not hesitate to inform us.