IT DevOps Lead

Vision: To be the UK’s leading digital infrastructure partner, enabling a fully connected future

Mission: Deliver reliable, high quality site access, infrastructure and services that support our customers’ evolving connectivity needs.

For almost two decades, Cornerstone’s infrastructure has quietly supported the UK’s mobile networks. Whilst we continue to strengthen that foundation and extend its reach, we’re in an exciting period of acceleration and transformation that will see us enable more connectivity and compute to more communities and industries across the UK.

The Role

To lead and develop Cornerstone’s internal DevOps function, setting the technical direction, roadmap and engineering standards for the bespoke applications that support our business, customers and partners.

This is a highly visible leadership role that combines people management, technical oversight and hands-on software development. You'll be responsible for driving the delivery of cloud-based solutions, ensuring the right skills, processes and technologies are in place to support a high-performing engineering team.

As well as leading the team, you'll play an active role in software development, embracing AI-assisted engineering practices to accelerate delivery, improve quality and help shape the future of how software is built at Cornerstone. Working across the full technology stack, you'll champion innovation, governance and continuous improvement while enabling the business to achieve its digital ambitions.

Why This Role Matters

Technology is a critical enabler of Cornerstone’s transformation journey. As the business continues to evolve, the need for scalable, secure and innovative digital solutions has never been greater.

This role sits at the forefront of that transformation, leading the team responsible for developing and supporting bespoke applications that underpin key business processes and services. Beyond delivery, you'll help shape the future of software engineering by embedding AI-enabled development practices that increase productivity, enhance quality and accelerate innovation.

It's an opportunity to combine technical leadership with hands-on engineering, influencing both the technology strategy and the way modern software development is delivered across the organisation.

For someone passionate about cloud technologies, DevOps, software engineering and AI-driven innovation, this role offers the chance to make a lasting impact on both the business and the engineering community within Cornerstone.

What You'll Do

🚀 Lead, develop and inspire a multidisciplinary DevOps team comprising software engineers, analysts and QA specialists.

🎯 Define and own the technical roadmap, ensuring solutions align with business priorities, enterprise architecture and security standards.

☁️ Drive the design, development and delivery of scalable cloud-based applications and services using Agile and DevOps methodologies.

💻 Actively contribute to software development activities, supporting the team through hands-on coding and technical leadership.

🤖 Champion AI-assisted engineering practices, leveraging tools such as GitHub Copilot, code generation platforms and automated testing solutions to improve delivery outcomes.

⚡ Drive adoption of AI tooling across the software development lifecycle, from design and prototyping through to testing, documentation and deployment.

🔒 Ensure the security, resilience and ongoing performance of applications through robust governance, monitoring, vulnerability management and best practice DevOps processes.

📊 Manage delivery roadmaps, priorities, resources and risks, providing clear reporting and communication to stakeholders and senior leadership.

🤝 Build strong relationships across the business, collaborating with Product, PMO, Architecture and Operational teams to deliver successful outcomes.

💡 Continuously evaluate emerging technologies, AI capabilities and engineering practices, identifying opportunities to strengthen the DevOps toolchain and improve team effectiveness.

What You'll Bring

You'll be an experienced technology leader with a strong background in software engineering, cloud technologies and DevOps delivery. Comfortable balancing strategic leadership with hands-on development, you'll enjoy building high-performing teams while remaining close to the technology and architecture that underpin successful solutions.

You'll bring a passion for innovation and continuous improvement, with a particular interest in how AI can transform software development. You'll be confident influencing stakeholders at all levels, translating complex technical concepts into business value and driving alignment across diverse teams.

You'll also bring:

• Proven experience leading software development or DevOps teams in Agile environments
• Strong technical knowledge across full-stack development, APIs, databases and cloud-native architectures
• Experience with CI/CD automation, source control and DevOps tooling such as Git, Azure DevOps, Jira and Jenkins
• Expertise across public cloud platforms including AWS, Azure or GCP
• Experience embedding security, governance and operational best practices within engineering teams
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor or similar platforms
• Understanding of prompt engineering, AI governance and the validation of AI-generated outputs
• A passion for emerging technologies and a proactive approach to driving innovation

Above all, you'll be motivated by the opportunity to build modern engineering capabilities, develop talented people and play a leading role in shaping the future of software delivery at Cornerstone.

Why Join Us?

Reward & Recognition: Competitive salary and an excellent bonus structure.

Time to Recharge: 30 days’ annual leave.

Long Term Security: Competitive pension scheme and life insurance.

Flexibility: Hybrid working to help you balance work and home life.

Health & Wellbeing: Private medical insurance including dental and optical cover.

Lifestyle Perks: Cycle to Work scheme, Electric Car scheme, and retail discounts.

Community & Growth: A generous refer a friend scheme.

Our commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is fundamental to our success. We strive to cultivate an inclusive environment where every employee feels valued, respected, and empowered. By embracing unique perspectives and experiences, we drive innovation and drive our organisation forward, therefore, we recognise the importance of welcoming applications from candidates of all backgrounds.

We want to ensure everyone is able to present their best self throughout the recruitment process so if you require any adjustments, please let us know.

If this role is of interest to you and you would like to find out more, please do apply with an up to date version of your CV.