Senior DevOps Engineer (Dbn, Jhb, CT)

Job description

We are looking for a highly skilled Senior DevOps Engineer to lead our DevOps team in building, optimizing, and scaling our cloud and on-premise platforms. Reporting to the CTO, you will shape our infrastructure, streamline our development workflows, and ensure our systems are secure, reliable, and cost-effective. This role combines hands-on technical expertise with team leadership and strategic thinking.

Responsibilities:

• Lead and mentor the DevOps team, fostering a culture of collaboration, learning, and innovation.
• Design, develop, and maintain cloud and on-premises infrastructure to support scalable, secure, and highly available solutions.
• Build, maintain, and improve CI/CD pipelines for faster, safer deployments.
• Manage AWS environments, including provisioning, monitoring, and cost optimization.
• Implement and maintain infrastructure as code (IaC) using tools like Terraform or CloudFormation.
• Ensure systems are observable through logging, monitoring, and alerting tools.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure infrastructure supports business needs and product goals.
• Drive automation of repetitive tasks and processes for efficiency.
• Implement security best practices, compliance standards, and disaster recovery strategies.

What We Are Looking For:

• Strong analytical and critical thinking abilities.
• Excellent communication skills — able to clearly articulate complex ideas.
• Highly collaborative, with a track record of working effectively across teams.
• Adaptable problem-solver who thrives in changing environments.
• Passionate about data and software engineering, with a naturally curious mindset.
• Commitment to secure, inclusive, and equitable technical solutions.
• Self-motivated and proactive in identifying and pursuing improvements.
• Demonstrates exemplary software engineering practices in daily work.

Culture and values

• Personal values aligned with OCL’s aspirational culture
• Passion for data and technology.
• High ethical standards, integrity, and commitment to continuous learning
• Dedication to ongoing performance improvement and coaching programmes.

Skills and Experience - Must haves:

• Proven experience delivering across all phases of the software development lifecycle.
• 5+ years of experience in DevOps, Cloud Engineering, or Site Reliability Engineering.
• Advanced skills with: Linux, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), Python, R, SQL, WSL2.
• Strong experience with RESTful API development.
• Expertise in designing and implementing cloud architecture (AWS, Azure, or GCP) and on-premises solutions (VMware, OpenStack, KVM, HPC clusters).
• Solid understanding of databases (SQL/NoSQL) and data pipelines.
• Proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform, CloudFormation) and CI/CD pipelines (Jenkins, GitHub Actions, GitLab CI).
• Experience implementing automated testing and designing scalable software solutions.
• Knowledge of security best practices, including IAM, encryption, and compliance frameworks.
• Familiarity with web application frameworks and machine learning deployment.

Skills and Experience - Nice to haves

• Experience in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), Champion operational excellence and resilience, backups, disaster recovery, and security
• Experience in building web services on AI/ML models

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in CS, IT, Engineering, Math, or equivalent practical experience
• AWS certifications are a plus

Our Technology Stack

• AWS and Azure
• Python
• Docker, Kubernetes, AWS EKS/ECS
• AWS CDK and Terraform
• CKAN, Metabase & other Open Source solutions
• Mysql, MsSQL, PostgreSQL
• Github actions, AWS Code Pipeline

Company Description

OPEN CITIES LAB
We believe that through empowering citizens, building trust and accountability in civic space, and building capacity with government, we will enable participation in decision making, evidence-based urban intervention, and inclusive co-design that will improve the lives of residents in urban spaces.