Senior DevOps Engineer

Senior DevOps Engineer

Location: Kiel, Germany Engagement: 24 months, with planned conversion to permanent employment Compensation: up to €95,000 per annum Working model: 40 hours per week, up to 60% remote Start: As soon as possible

The Opportunity

We are partnering with an established German technology company operating in the maritime IT and secure platforms sector to hire a Senior DevOps Engineer into a four-person engineering squad based in Kiel.

This is not a standard contract role. The hiring company has confirmed the explicit intention to take the successful candidate on as a permanent employee at the end of the 24-month engagement. For senior DevOps engineers seeking long-term career development in northern Germany, this offers a structured, low-risk path: the chance to evaluate the team, the work and the location across two years before committing to a permanent move.

About the Role

You will join a tight four-engineer DevOps squad responsible for the IT platforms underpinning a maritime application portfolio.

Responsibilities

• Plan, implement, operate and maintain virtualisation and container solutions across Linux and Windows for development and test environments
• Design, build and continuously optimise CI/CD pipelines in GitLab to automate software builds and deployments
• Build containerised customer and development platforms, including reusable templates and components written to internal best practice
• Embed DevOps practices alongside the development teams, integrating engineering with delivery across the software development lifecycle
• Implement and continuously evaluate DevOps strategy as part of the squad

Required Experience

• 5+ years of professional DevOps experience, with a substantive, hands-on track record
• Completed degree in Computer Science or a STEM field with clear IT affinity
• Multi-year practical experience with containers — Docker and Podman — across both Linux and Windows
• Multi-year experience with Git and GitLab CI/CD
• Demonstrable experience working in agile environments
• Very good German language skills — ideally near-native; this is a significant differentiator
• Willingness to relocate to Kiel for the engagement and for the planned permanent role thereafter

Interested in relocating to Germany? Check out our comprehensive Relocation Jobs in Germany page with detailed relocation packages and benefits.

Eligibility (Non-Negotiable)

The role requires a German security clearance (Sicherheitsüberprüfung). To be eligible, applicants must have lived AND worked in Germany for a minimum of five consecutive years. A strict nationality list applies. Both requirements must be confirmed before submission; neither can be flexed.

What Is Offered

• Permanent employment intent at the conclusion of the 24-month engagement
• A senior position within a small, focused engineering team building substantive technical platforms
• Up to 60% home office, with relocation support available for the move to Kiel
• Compensation of up to €95,000 per annum