System Engineer

In partnership with our client, we are seeking a Systems Engineer who understands that great storytelling needs great infrastructure to reach the world. This is a role for someone who is hands-on, technically sharp, and excited by the challenge of keeping high-traffic digital platforms performant, reliable, and secure at scale. You will lead the setup, maintenance, and scaling of our Linux-based AWS infrastructure, working closely with our engineering team to ensure our publications never miss a beat. If you are passionate about cloud architecture, automation, and building systems that just work, we want to meet you.

Who are we looking for? • You are an experienced systems engineer with a strong background in AWS infrastructure and a proven track record of managing high-traffic, high-availability web applications. • You are hands-on and detail-oriented, someone who takes ownership of infrastructure end to end, from architecture and deployment through to monitoring and incident resolution. • You are a strong problem-solver who stays calm under pressure, investigates issues methodically, and resolves incidents quickly and decisively. • You are automation-minded, always looking for ways to reduce manual effort, improve reliability, and build systems that scale without breaking a sweat. • You are security-conscious, someone who treats vulnerability management, access control, and server hardening as core responsibilities, not afterthoughts. • You are a clear communicator who can translate complex infrastructure updates and risks into language that non-technical stakeholders can understand and act on. • You are collaborative by nature, comfortable working closely with developers to optimize application performance and deployment workflows across multiple projects.

Your Responsibilities...

Server & Cloud Infrastructure • You will design, deploy, and maintain AWS infrastructure including EC2, ALB, Aurora DB, CloudFront, S3, and Route53 to support our digital platforms. • You will manage and tune NGINX, PHP-FPM, and CDN caching configurations for high-performance web delivery across our publications. • You will implement and maintain auto-scaling and load balancing strategies to handle traffic spikes reliably and efficiently. • You will oversee system monitoring, uptime tracking, and alerting using tools such as CloudWatch, UptimeRobot, New Relic, or similar platforms.

Automation & CI/CD • You will develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines for multiple WordPress projects using GitHub Actions or equivalent tools. • You will automate deployments, testing, and rollback strategies to minimise downtime and ensure smooth, consistent releases. • You will maintain and secure Git repositories, environment secrets, and build processes across all projects.

Database & Backup Management • You will manage Aurora MySQL-compatible instances, ensuring redundancy, performance tuning, and optimal database health at all times. • You will implement regular automated backups, conduct restore testing, and maintain robust disaster recovery plans.

Security & Compliance • You will manage IAM users and roles, SSH keys, and server-level permissions to ensure access is controlled, appropriate, and auditable. • You will regularly apply security patches and updates to infrastructure and dependencies, staying ahead of vulnerabilities before they become risks. • You will perform periodic vulnerability scanning and server hardening to maintain a strong and resilient security posture.

Monitoring & Troubleshooting • You will proactively monitor system logs, performance metrics, and error alerts, addressing issues before they escalate into incidents. • You will investigate and resolve outages and incidents in close collaboration with the development team, minimising impact and recovery time. • You will produce periodic reports on uptime, performance, and cost efficiency to keep leadership informed and support strategic infrastructure decisions.

Collaboration & Communication • You will work closely with developers to optimize application performance and streamline deployment workflows across environments. • You will communicate infrastructure updates, risks, and improvements clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. • You will document configurations, processes, and troubleshooting guides to build a strong knowledge base for the team.

What Success Looks Like... • Infras