Senior Test Environment & Platform Manager - OpenShift / Kafka Location: London - 8 days onsite per month, remainder remote
Contract: Inside IR35
Rate: Flexible
Role Overview We are seeking an experienced Senior Test Environment & Platform Manager to support a major enterprise technology transformation, moving from a legacy monolithic landscape towards a modern microservices-based architecture using Java, Kafka and OpenShift .
This is a highly technical Test Environment Management position combining environment strategy and ownership with hands-on platform engineering capability .
The successful candidate will be responsible for supporting both the existing legacy landscape and the new microservices environment, while helping transform the organisation's approach from permanent, Waterfall-style environments towards automated, on-demand environments capable of supporting Agile delivery squads .
This is not a purely managerial or coordination-focused Test Environment role. Candidates MUST have demonstrable hands-on technical experience with OpenShift and Kafka.
Key Responsibilities Test Environment Strategy & Transformation Own and drive the Test Environment Management strategy across a large-scale transformation programme.
Define the approach for transitioning from permanent/shared Waterfall environments towards on-demand Agile environments .
Work closely with architects, engineering teams, developers, QA and delivery squads to understand environment requirements.
Ensure environments can effectively support both legacy applications and new microservices-based services.
Define environment standards, processes, governance and operating models.
Environment & Platform Management Support the design, provisioning, configuration, maintenance and decommissioning of environments.
Provide hands-on technical support across OpenShift, Kafka and Linux-based environments .
Manage environment configurations, dependencies and integration points.
Coordinate environment availability and scheduling across multiple projects and Agile squads.
Support environment capacity planning, utilisation and costing.
Maintain appropriate documentation covering environment configurations and dependencies.
Continue supporting legacy infrastructure alongside the modern platform landscape.
Technical Support & Troubleshooting Provide hands-on technical support and troubleshooting for environment-related issues.
Diagnose issues across OpenShift, Kafka, Linux and associated infrastructure.
Work across Development, QA, Infrastructure, DevOps and Operations teams to resolve complex environment issues.
Identify environment dependencies and potential blockers before they impact delivery.
Automation & CI/CD Drive greater automation across environment provisioning and management.
Implement and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) approaches using technologies such as Ansible.
Integrate environments with CI/CD pipelines to support automated testing and continuous delivery.
Support tooling including Jenkins, GitLab and Azure DevOps.
Reduce manual environment provisioning and improve environment consistency and repeatability.
Monitoring & Continuous Improvement Monitor environment availability, health, performance and utilisation.
Develop appropriate metrics and dashboards for environment reporting.
Work with monitoring and logging technologies such as Prometheus, Grafana and Splunk .
Identify opportunities to improve environment reliability, automation, scalability and cost efficiency.
Drive continuous improvement across Test Environment Management processes.
Essential Experience 5+ years' experience within Test Environment Management in complex enterprise technology environments.
Demonstrable experience defining and delivering Test Environment strategies.
Hands-on OpenShift experience , including environment setup, configuration, support and troubleshooting.
Hands-on Kafka experience , including supporting/configuring Kafka-based environments.
Strong Linux infrastructure/engineering experience.
Strong understanding of microservices and containerised architectures .
Experience with Kubernetes and Docker.
Experience with Infrastructure as Code and environment automation.
Ansible or equivalent automation experience.
Strong understanding of CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices.
Experience supporting complex transformation programmes involving both legacy and modern technology environments .
Strong troubleshooting and problem-solving capability.
Ability to work effectively across Development, QA, Infrastructure, Architecture and Operations teams.
Highly Desirable Experience with some of the following would be advantageous:
Azure / Azure DevOps
Jenkins / GitLab
Terraform or other IaC technologies
HP NonStop infrastructure
Java-based environments
Prometheus / Grafana / Splunk
UFT / Selenium / Cucumber
Linux shell scripting
Large-scale financial services or similarly complex regulated environments
*Rates depend on experience and client requirements
