DevSecOps Engineer (National Security R&D)
Location: Opportunities across Surrey and the South Coast National Security hubs
Hybrid: Secure-site working required (typically 3 days per week)
Salary: £70,000 – £120,000+ depending on experience and SFIA grading
Clearance: Active DV / eDV clearance preferred
The Opportunity
You will be joining one of the UK's most respected engineering organisations operating at the forefront of National Security research and development.
For more than six decades, they've been solving complex challenges across AI, cyber, software, sensing and communications. Today, they're investing heavily in the engineering platforms that enable those technologies to be developed, tested and deployed securely.
What makes this environment different is the breadth of engineering. Rather than supporting a single product or customer, you'll work across multiple programmes spanning software, AI/ML, cloud, embedded systems and secure digital capability.
Engineers regularly move between projects to broaden their technical exposure, working alongside software engineers, data scientists, systems engineers and researchers in an environment that feels closer to an engineering lab than a traditional consultancy.
The culture is equally well regarded. From active engineering communities and advocacy groups to genuine investment in candidate experience and career development, this is an organisation that has built its reputation around its people as much as its technology.
The Role
As a DevSecOps Engineer, you'll help build the secure platforms, tooling and automation that underpin some of the UK's most technically challenging engineering programmes.
You'll work with multidisciplinary engineering teams to improve how software is developed, tested and deployed across secure environments, while embedding security, automation and operational resilience throughout the engineering lifecycle.
Typical responsibilities include:
• Designing and evolving CI/CD pipelines using GitLab and modern software delivery practices
• Building cloud-native platforms across AWS using Infrastructure as Code tools such as Terraform and AWS CDK
• Deploying and operating containerised environments using Kubernetes and Docker
• Embedding security controls, compliance and automation into DevSecOps workflows
• Implementing observability and reliability using Prometheus, Grafana and modern monitoring tooling
• Developing automation and operational tooling using Python and Linux-based scripting
• Supporting software, AI/ML and hardware engineering teams with shared platform capability and secure engineering standards
The technology stack varies between programmes, but the organisation values engineering mindset over perfect tool alignment.
Engineers who thrive here are typically curious, adaptable and comfortable working across disciplines. Strong communication skills and a collaborative approach are valued just as highly as technical capability.
Security Requirements
Due to the nature of the work, active DV / eDV clearance is preferred. Candidates should typically be sole UK nationals and comfortable operating within secure National Security environments.
Why Apply?
• Engineering-led culture with genuine technical autonomy
• Broad exposure across AI, software, cloud and secure systems
• Project rotation to continually develop your skills
• Clear investment in learning, development and progression
• Modern engineering practices with long-term National Security programmes
• Opportunity to work alongside some of the industry's strongest multidisciplinary teams

As an industry leading, nationwide Marketing, Digital, Analytics, IT and Design recruitment agency, we are continually receiving new assignments to work on, so keep a close eye on our website, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter pages for a full list of current permanent and interim opportunities as well as marketplace news and fun stuff.
Forward Role is operating as an employment agency.