Senior DevOps Engineer (Azure DevOps & Kubernetes)

Department: Software Development

Location: SA | Central | Johannesburg

Description

We are looking for a Senior DevOps Engineer to take ownership of our Azure DevOps environment, including CI/CD pipelines, Git repositories, and deployment automation.

You will play a key role in ensuring reliable, repeatable, and secure delivery of our applications and infrastructure — including containerized workloads running in Kubernetes (AKS/k3s).

This role requires a strong mix of hands-on technical expertise and the ability to design, document, and standardize DevOps processes across teams.

Key Responsibilities

Azure DevOps Management

* Manage and maintain Azure DevOps projects, repositories, pipelines, and agent pools.

* Implement YAML-based CI/CD pipelines for .NET, Node.js, or containerized workloads.

* Enforce branching strategies, PR policies, and repository standards.

* Automate builds, tests, and deployments using Azure Pipelines.

Containerization & Kubernetes

* Build, deploy, and manage containerized applications to AKS or k3s clusters.

* Create and maintain Helm charts and Kubernetes manifests.

* Integrate deployments into Azure DevOps pipelines (e.g., using kubectl, helm, or GitOps).

* Manage namespaces, secrets, config maps, and RBAC within Kubernetes.

Infrastructure as Code

* Use Terraform or Bicep to define and provision infrastructure resources.

* Integrate IaC workflows into CI/CD pipelines with approvals and change tracking.

* Collaborate with Platform and Cloud teams on network, identity, and storage configuration.

Security & Governance

* Integrate Azure Key Vault and manage secrets securely.

* Ensure pipelines, agents, and deployments adhere to least privilege principles.

* Enforce code signing, compliance, and audit policies in Azure DevOps.

Automation & Observability

* Build pipeline templates and reusable components for multiple teams.

* Monitor pipeline performance, deployment frequency, and failure trends.

* Implement automation for scaling, health checks, and rollback strategies.

Collaboration & Leadership

* Work closely with development, QA, and infrastructure teams.

* Mentor junior DevOps engineers and developers on CI/CD best practices.

* Contribute to documentation and internal tooling improvements.

Skills, Knowledge and Expertise

Key Skills & Experience

Must-Have

* 5+ years’ experience in DevOps, Build & Release, or Automation Engineering.

* Deep hands-on experience with Azure DevOps Services (repos, pipelines, artifacts).

* Strong YAML scripting and pipeline-as-code understanding.

* Proficiency with Docker and Kubernetes (AKS or k3s).

* Experience with Terraform or Bicep for IaC.

* Solid understanding of Git workflows (GitFlow, trunk-based).

* Experience with Azure Key Vault, Service Connections, and Managed Identities.

* Familiarity with monitoring/observability tools (e.g., Prometheus, Grafana, Sentry, Splunk).

* Excellent problem-solving, documentation, and communication skills.

Nice-to-Have

* Experience with Ansible or other configuration management tools.

* Knowledge of Helm, Kustomize, or GitOps tools like ArgoCD or Flux.

* Exposure to Drone CI, GitHub Actions, or other pipeline systems.

* Familiarity with security scanning (Snyk, Trivy, Aqua).

* Basic knowledge of networking and load balancing (Kube-VIP, ingress controllers, NGINX).

What Success Looks Like

* Azure DevOps pipelines and repos are standardized and automated across teams.

* Deployments to Kubernetes are reliable, observable, and easily repeatable.

* Infrastructure changes are version-controlled and deployed through IaC pipelines.

* Teams can onboard projects to the DevOps platform with minimal friction.

* Documentation and best practices are clear and up to date.

Why Join

* Work with a modern DevOps stack (Azure DevOps, Kubernetes, Terraform, Helm).

* Help define and evolve CI/CD best practices across multiple teams.

* Collaborate with developers, architects, and platform engineers.

* Be part of a team automating and scaling deployments across environments.