Principal Platform Engineer - PKI - Active DV required

Location: Yeovil (fully onsite - can look at condensed working weeks)

Duration: Contract until 27th December '26 initially

Rate: £99ph UMB (Inside IR35)

Active DV required upon submission.

Role details:
Our leading defence client is looking for an experienced Infrastructure / Platform SME (with a focus on PKI) to join their Cyber & Security Solutions division.

Key Responsibilities:

• Act as the technical authority in platform engineering domains, offering domain expertise to various projects and programmes
• Lead the design and implementation of secure platforms across on-premise, hybrid, and cloud environments
• Capture, analyse, and interpret complex customer requirements to drive system design and architecture
• Develop high- and low-level designs, ensuring alignment with secure-by-design principles
• Own technical delivery within work packages, including planning, estimation, and progress reporting
• Mentor, coach, and develop junior and senior engineers, enhancing technical capability within the team
• Provide input to technology strategies, feasibility studies, and innovation projects
• Engage with internal and external stakeholders, presenting technical solutions and justifying design decisions

What we are looking for:

• Extensive technical expertise across multiple platform domains, with a track record of delivering secure solutions.
• The ability to balance hands-on engineering with technical leadership and mentorship.
• A problem-solving mindset, able to innovate and recommend the best approach for complex challenges.

Core areas (must have):

• Windows and Linux operating systems
• Virtualisation platforms (VMware, Hyper-V)
• Privileged Access Management concepts and implementation (CyberArk or similar)
• Secure credential storage, rotation, and access control models
• Integration of PAM into enterprise platforms and services
• Networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, firewalls)
• Automation and scripting (PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible, Terraform)
• Knowledge of cyber security controls and accreditation requirements
• Experience across the systems engineering lifecycle
• Design and implementation of privileged access models across complex systems
• Delivery within highly controlled / secure environments (e.g. air-gapped, defence)

Desirable skills:

• Expertise with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure) and Infrastructure as Code
• Experience integrating enterprise services (Active Directory, PKI, monitoring, SIEM)
• Hands-on use of DevSecOps tools and CI/CD pipelines
• Automation of account onboarding/offboarding (API-driven)
• Integration with SIEM / SOC tooling for audit and monitoring
• Containerisation platforms (Kubernetes, Docker)
• Experience working with enterprise identity and access management solutions

Interested? Apply today via the link provided.