Lead DevOps Engineer/Consultant

12 Month Contract | £700-£750 per Day | Inside IR35

Location: West London (Ideally every fortnight - flexible to a couple of days per month)
Rate: £700-£800 per day (Inside IR35)
Duration: 12 months

We are seeking an experienced DevOps Lead/Senior DevOps Consultant for a 12-month Inside IR35 contract supporting a large-scale, complex delivery environment. This is a senior, visible role requiring a strong blend of hands-on AWS DevOps expertise and exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

The client has a strong preference for candidates from MBB (McKinsey, BCG, Bain) or other well-regarded consulting or transformation consultancies, due to the level of senior stakeholder exposure and influence required.

• Provide senior-level DevOps and cloud leadership across multiple teams and workstreams
• Own and drive DevOps standards, automation, and operational consistency
• Act as a credible technical advisor to senior stakeholders, engineering leaders, and delivery partners
• Influence ways of working, priorities, and technical decisions without relying on formal authority
• Lead and support complex issues spanning CI/CD, infrastructure, security, observability, and operations
• Operate confidently in high-pressure, high-visibility environments

• Strong, hands-on AWS DevOps experience (Lambda, ECS/EKS, IAM, networking, CloudWatch, S3)
• Strong experience with CI/CD pipelines, automation, and infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation, or similar)
• Proven experience operating as a DevOps Lead/Senior DevOps Engineer/Platform Lead
• Background in MBB or top-tier consultancy (or equivalent high-performing consulting environments)
• Exceptional communication, stakeholder engagement, and influencing skills
• Proven ability to operate across multiple teams and complex stakeholder landscapes
• Experience working in large enterprise or transformation programmes

• Strong experience in observability, incident management, and operational resilience
• Security, compliance, or regulated-environment exposure
• Experience shaping DevOps practices rather than just running pipelines

• Long-term 12-month contract
• Competitive day rate (£700-£750 Inside IR35)
• Flexible on-site expectations (ideal fortnightly, but monthly considered)
• High-impact role with genuine influence across teams and stakeholders
• Suited to consultants who enjoy ownership, visibility, and strategic influence