Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer - The National Archives - SEO
Government Digital & Data -
Location
London, London (region), TW9 4DU
About the job
Job summary
Help safeguard the nation’s digital memory
The National Archives is the UK government’s archive. Our Digital Archiving services are live and evolving—supporting the transfer, preservation and access of government records at national scale. Robust, secure cloud foundations are essential to keep these services reliable and safe. As our Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer (AWS), you’ll take technical ownership of those foundations and raise our cloud engineering maturity across teams.
Job description
What you’ll do
• Design and improve secure AWS infrastructure that underpins Digital Archiving services—making change safe, repeatable and auditable with Terraform and automation.
• Create “secure by default” patterns and shared, repeatable environments that multiple teams can use with confidence.
• Bridge Digital Archiving, IT Operations and Security—turning constraints into practical guardrails and clear, plain English guidance.
• Mentor two DevOps apprentices and help build the next generation of cloud skills at TNA.
Team culture—how we work
• Our culture is shaped by staff and focuses on connection, belonging and meaningful recognition. You’ll see this in cross organisation culture work, EVP development and recognition initiatives.
• We take hybrid/flexible working seriously and design roles so people can do their best work while meeting service needs.
• We’re embedding Secure by Design across teams—early threat modelling, open design reviews, and practical guardrails that make secure the default. You’ll help turn policy into usable
• Regular department sessions (demos, lunch and learns) and cross team updates keep work visible and encourage healthy challenge.
• We invest in early career talent (DevOps apprenticeships) and expect seniors to mentor—pairing on real work, building habits around IaC, reviews and clear documentation.
Why this is a great place to do this work
• Your decisions protect public trust and access to the record in a digital age—and sit at the heart of our 2025–2030 strategy to renew our technology and become the living digital archive of the state.
• We’re strengthening cyber resilience and embedding Secure by Design ways of working; your craft directly shapes safer, more resilient services.
• Inclusion, wellbeing and recognition are part of how we work, not bolt ons.
Person specification
Who this role would suit
• A senior AWS/platform/DevOps engineer who enjoys hands-on build as much as shaping patterns and guardrails.
• Someone who balances risk and usability, can explain trade offs clearly, and is comfortable influencing across teams.
• A natural coach or mentor who wants to help apprentices grow while lifting engineering standards department wide
SC clearance/willingness to obtain SC clearance will be required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected.
Working pattern & location
Hybrid working with an expectation of being on-site at Kew around 60% of the time (more initially while you get set up).
