Head of Infrastructure
Role details
Job location
Tech stack
Job description
To prepare for a significant period of growth, Xelix is seeking a Head of Infrastructure to own the reliability, scalability, security, and cost-effectiveness of the Xelix SaaS platform. This role provides senior technical and operational leadership to ensure our technology and processes are capable of meeting our future business needs.
This is a hands-on leadership role combining architecture, operational ownership, and team development. The role requires initiating and delivering change. Our successful candidate will be able to identify the areas where we could improve, make a proposal and see the change through. Taking responsibility, showing pride in your work and excellent communication skills are essential.
The current technology stack makes extensive use of Amazon Web Services using Terraform to configure services. We also use Jenkins, Sentry, GitHub, Shortcut, Python and React and an evolving suite of AI tools.
The Head of Infrastructure reports to the VP of Engineering.
What you'll be doing
Platform Strategy & Architecture
- Own the long-term platform and infrastructure strategy
- Design and evolve cloud architecture to support scale, resilience, and performance
- Set standards for infrastructure, CI/CD, environments, and observability
- Make architectural decisions and trade-offs
Developer Experience (DevEx)
- Provide infrastructure for the development team to code, test and deploy efficiently
- Advise during design sessions to help engineers pick the right solutions for projects
Reliability & Operations
- Own production reliability, uptime, and incident response
- Define and enforce SLAs and SREs
- Lead incident response and post-incident reviews
- Ensure monitoring, alerting, and on-call practices are effective and sustainable
Security & Risk
- Partner closely with the Information Security Officer on cloud security and compliance
- Own platform-level security decisions and risk mitigation
- Ensure secure-by-design infrastructure and access controls
- Support compliance initiatives (SOC 2, ISO:27001)
Leadership & Team Development
- Lead and mentor the DevOps team including DevOps engineers, IT Support and an Information Security Officer
- Provide technical coaching and decision support to the DevOps team
Cost & Efficiency
- Manage relationship with AWS and other vendors
- Own cloud cost visibility and optimisation
- Balance performance, reliability, and cost trade-offs
- Introduce tooling and practices that improve developer efficiency
Requirements
Do you have experience in Terraform?, * AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
- Prior experience scaling production systems in a growing company
- Ability to operate production systems under pressure
- Deep hands-on experience with the AWS cloud platform
- Strong background in reliability, observability, and incident management
- Experience leading or mentoring engineers
Benefits & conditions
Competitive salary depending on experience
️ 27 days of annual leave (including 3 days Christmas closing) which increases up to 3 days based on tenure, with the option to roll over, buy or sell up to 3 days
Hybrid working with one day a week from our dog-friendly Hoxton office
On-site gym and cycle to work scheme
️ Employee discount at over 100 retailers
Comprehensive private medical & dental cover with Vitality
Enhanced parental leave pay
Learning & development culture - £1,000 personal annual budget
We're carbon-neutral and are working towards ambitious carbon reduction goals
Lots of team socials & activities
️ Annual team retreat
Want to learn more?
- About us
- Xelix blog
- Xelix news
- Xelix glassdoor
We believe that people from diverse backgrounds, with different identities and experiences make our company and product better. No matter your background, we'd love to hear from you! And if you have a disability, please let us know if there's any way we can make the interview process better for you - we're happy to accommodate!
If you're a recruiting agency - we have an existing list of agencies we work with and we are not currently planning on expanding the list. Neither the Talent team nor hiring managers or the Support team will respond to cold outreach.
This is a full-time position, with standard working hours from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, Monday through Friday.
Interview Process While the exact process may vary slightly depending on the role, our typical interview stages are:
- Introductory Call - A short Teams conversation with a Talent Partner to discuss your background and the opportunity.
- Hiring Manager Interview - A 30-45 minute Teams meeting to explore your experience and fit for the team.
- Technical Task or Presentation - A role-relevant exercise to demonstrate your skills and approach.
- Final On-site Interview - An in-person meeting with our senior leadership team and co-founders at our office.
We strive to make the process clear, efficient, and respectful of your time. If you require alternative methods of application or screening, you must approach the employer directly to request this as Indeed is not responsible for the employer's application process.
