The posting
Our Mission
At Vertical Aerospace, we are pioneering the way for electric aviation. The Valo, our eVTOL (electric, vertical, take-off and landing), 'zero emissions' aircraft will set a new safety standard for how we will navigate the sky.
We won't realise our mission following the same legacy processes and traditions our predecessors followed, instead, we want to 'redefine' aerospace best practices. We are growing quickly from a prototype business to a scaling SME, and the next few years will be critical to our success and delivering on our ambitious goals. Valo is targeting airliner-level safety certification in 2029 ahead of entering service with our airline and operator customers.
WHAT TO EXPECT
We're looking for a Platform Engineer who brings a software engineering mindset to infrastructure and operations, with a passion for automation, reliability, performance and security.
You'll play a key role in maintaining and evolving our hybrid infrastructure, spanning Microsoft Azure, on-premises Hyper-V servers and Active Directory. From strengthening security and resilience to improving how we deploy, monitor and manage our platforms, you'll have the opportunity to make a real impact on the technology that supports our business.
With Azure at the heart of our infrastructure and opportunities to explore AWS in the future, you'll also help shape our approach to modern, scalable cloud and hybrid platforms. Working collaboratively across teams, you'll champion automation, continuous improvement and secure, reliable ways of working.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
- Own platform reliability and resilience, ensuring our cloud and on-premises infrastructure remains secure, available and able to support evolving business needs.
- Manage and modernise our hybrid infrastructure, including Azure cloud services, Hyper-V environments, Linux servers and Microsoft Active Directory.
- Drive automation and continuous improvement, using Terraform, Azure DevOps and scripting to simplify infrastructure management, reduce manual effort and improve consistency.
- Strengthen our security posture by identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities, applying security best practices and supporting compliance with ISO 27001.
- Maintain and test backup and recovery processes, including disaster recovery and business continuity plans, to ensure our platforms can recover effectively from disruption.
- Improve platform monitoring and performance, using observability tools to identify issues early, troubleshoot problems and optimise reliability.
- Collaborate with engineering and technology teams to improve deployment processes, support developer tooling and build scalable, efficient infrastructure solutions.
- Help shape our future platform strategy, exploring opportunities across Azure, AWS and emerging technologies to support a secure, automated and scalable environment.
WHAT YOU’LL BRING
- Strong hands-on experience managing Microsoft Azure infrastructure, including virtual machines, scale sets, container services, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), storage and managed databases.
- Experience administering Hyper-V, Linux and Microsoft Active Directory environments, with a good understanding of hybrid infrastructure.
- Practical experience with infrastructure as code and automation, particularly Terraform, Azure DevOps and scripting languages such as PowerShell, Python or Bash.
- A solid understanding of platform monitoring and observability, using tools such as Datadog, Grafana or Prometheus to maintain performance and reliability.
- Experience applying security best practices, managing vulnerabilities and supporting compliance with frameworks such as ISO 27001.
- Experience managing backup, recovery, disaster recovery and business continuity processes, including regular testing and improvement.
- A proven ability to automate, scale and support production platforms, with a proactive approach to problem-solving, reliability and continuous improvement.
- Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across technical teams, share knowledge and translate complex challenges into practical solutions.
It would also be great if you bring:
- Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments in Azure, including Slurm workload scheduling.
- Familiarity with Kubernetes, Flux, Helm and GitOps approaches to infrastructure and application delivery.
- Experience developing or supporting internal developer platforms, CI/CD pipelines and automated development environments.
- Knowledge of PostgreSQL, MySQL or Microsoft SQL Server administration and performance optimisation.
- A good understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, VPNs, VLANs and routing.
- Exposure to AWS or multi-cloud architectures, with an interest in helping shape future cloud platform capabilities.
What can you expect from us?
We're on a mission. Where others see limits, we see opportunity, and we work at pace. Working at Vertical isn't your average role but for those seeking a challenge, a flexible, supportive organisation and an incredible team; working here is an opportunity to do the best work of your career.
Our approach promotes ingenuity and courage, while our environment builds success through diligence in safety and being open in the way we work. The only way we're going to assure the next chapter of aviation history is by working as a team, relentlessly, towards our goal.
Our benefits
Our people matter - we're not going anywhere without them. Which is why our company benefits go beyond the essentials.
- 26 days holiday, plus bank holiday
- 5 extra days per year to buy (or sell)
- 5 extra days holiday when you get married or enter a civil partnership
- Additional 4% of your salary to spend on extra benefits
- Award-winning digital health and wellbeing service (Help@Hand)
- Company performance based bonus - rewarding company and individual performance
- Company Share Scheme - open to every Vertical employee
- Company Pension Scheme - 5% and we match it
- Breakfast on us, every day
We may just be the hardest job you've ever had, but we're confident it will be the most rewarding. Join the team today and help us shape the future of Advanced Air Mobility.
Disclaimer Statement
We encourage you to apply even if you may not have all the experience listed in the advert. We recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to providing opportunities that create an environment of growth, diversity, and inclusion for everyone. As part of our desire to review and make our processes fair, we may ask you questions related to these aspects during the application process. For more information on how we will use your data, see our Legal section.
