DevOps Engineer @ Vertical Future Full Time

Vertical Future is a market leading Vertical Farming Technology & Research Company, founded in 2016, and based in London. We design and build vertical farms, built around our proprietary high-tech hardware and software technologies. We also own and operate vertical farms and conduct research and development activities across a growing programme of research.

Vertical farming is also about far more than just growing crops. It’s about health, social impact, circular communities, more sustainable models of living, infrastructure and above all, innovation in the face of a rapidly changing climate and supply chains. Our goal is to improve population health through building a better, more efficient, data-driven food system. That’s why we’re committed to continue developing pioneering technologies to inspire smarter farming.

The Candidate:

As DevOps Engineer undertaking and enabling all required DevOps responsibilities for a product still in Beta stages, we hope you will be keen to help bring it through to production and welcome aboard the first external users. We’ll look to you to support the existing, small but powerful team, to develop quality solutions and enable continuous integration and assurance of defect-free deployment of customer value. You’ll be working closely with feature teams and a variety of stakeholders, giving you great exposure to professional development opportunities.

You will report to the Chief Operating Officer and work closely together with a broad range of Software Engineers on a day-to-day basis. This is a fast-paced environment where you will be given a great deal of freedom to be creative – both in determining your approach and building an internal DevOps deployment “best standard”; and in providing feedback to further improve VF’s ability to deploy and maintain its SaaS solution, as you familiarise yourself with the product and team.

The Role:

• Build and set up new development tools and infrastructure;
• Work on ways to automate and improve development and release processes;
• Design procedures for system troubleshooting and maintenance;
• Perform root cause analysis for production errors;
• Investigate and resolve technical issues;
• Build tools to reduce occurrences of errors and improve customer experience;
• Understand the needs of stakeholders and convey this to developers;
• Work with software engineers to ensure that development follows established processes and works as intended;
• Provide advice and expertise on the current software stack when required;
• Assist Management with monitoring performance and standards relating to the SaaS solution;
• Ensure improvement and software optimisation at all times;
• Liaise with and work alongside the Engineering (Product) Team and Plant Science Team to continuously enhance and advance our products;
• Ensure that systems are safe and secure against cybersecurity threats;
• Maintain complete oversight over the DevOps processes;
• Pursue personal development for the effective performance of the role.

Our requirements

• BSc in Computer Science, Engineering, or relevant field;
• Solid experience working as a DevOps Engineer or similar software engineering role;
• Extensive knowledge of and experience with entire DevOps process for CD/CI approach and pipeline (including familiarity for best-in-class technologies for each step of deployment pipeline);
• Wide-ranging knowledge and practice of AWS CloudFormation, API Gateway, AWS CodePipeline, Amplify, Code build, CloudWatch EC2, ECS, S3, CloudFront etc;
• Strong coding skills and at ease with Bash, Python or Golang;
• Proficient with git and git workflows;
• Familiarity working with Infrastructure-as-code (Iac) tools;
• Working knowledge of databases and SQL;
• Confident using Microsoft Office Suite and G Suite;
• Exposure to working within a COSHH environment, or CEA or agriculture or manufacturing industry would be beneficial;
• Familiar with rules, regulations, best practices and performance standards;
• Understanding of the regulatory environment in which the business operates;
• Interest in sustainability;
• Fluency in English is mandatory; a second, or third language is a bonus.

Key attributes:

Our idea candidate will:

• Be a Team player with a positive and dynamic personality (collaborate team spirit);
• Possess extensive subject specific skills and at least 5 years of relevant experience;
• Demonstrate excellent interpersonal and communication skills (both oral and written; able to engage with and communicate ability with colleagues/clients at all levels [including communicate complex technical concepts]);
• Display a strong understanding and command of systems and other relevant tools;
• Bring together key skill-sets: robust planning and organisational capabilities, problem-solving approach, with exceptional attention to detail and the ability to work to tight deadlines;
• Be a self-starter with an eagerness to learn and share, and who can also work in high pressure environments;
• Work successfully as part of a multidisciplinary team;
• Have a flexible approach to work and a strong work ethic.

Benefits:

We are a small vibrant and rapidly growing organisation. As a new member you will be given the opportunity to grow, advance, and thrive in a dedicated and friendly team.

• 25 days holiday entitlement (excluding bank holidays)
• Share options (after a year of service)
• Opportunities for discretionary bonus
• Exposure to different industries
• Access to collaborative workspace across London
• Flexible working hours
• Positive, caring and supportive environment
• Access to training resources, a mentoring programme, a developing employee assistance programme and many more benefits!