Engineering Manager

About Bluestaq Limited

Bluestaq starts with our people. We are looking for teammates who THINK strategically, SERVE the mission and LEAD from wherever they stand. If you bring curiosity, ownership and a thirst for delivery, we would like to hear from you.

Every society runs on invisible systems; Bluestaq is that, for data. Bluestaq Ltd is the UK sovereign subsidiary of Bluestaq LLC (Colorado Springs, USA), and we build the secure data infrastructure that allied operations depend on: mission-critical solutions, flowing through thousands of global users, from ingest to publication in milliseconds, for customers spanning the NATO, Five Eyes and wider allied partners.

We are in our formative years in the UK, building on proven foundations in the USA and Australia. That means real opportunity, early: decisions at your level, and colleagues who know their craft and trust you to know yours.

Engineering Manager

Most Engineering Manager roles hand you a team. This one hands you something rarer: the chance to build one.

We are looking for an Engineering Manager to stand up and lead the UK team that delivers round-the-clock NATO operational support: our first engineering programme in the United Kingdom. You will hire the Systems Administrators, stand up the shift structure, and own the processes and escalation paths they work to.

As Engineering Manager at Bluestaq Limited, you are a people-first, technically grounded leader, hands-on in Year 1 because until the team exists, you are the team. This is a build, not an invention: you will stand up the UK capability on Bluestaq engineering practices already proven in the United States and Australia, with our engineering teams supporting and advising throughout. You are joining a wider machine that is growing, and your job is to make its UK arm run.

Our UK career framework is capability-based, not tenure-based, and as Bluestaq Limited begins further UK programmes, the capability you build, and your leadership of it, grows with them.

What You'll Do

• Stand up and run the UK engineering support capability for our first NATO programme: processes, tooling, shift structure and escalation paths, built on established Bluestaq practice.
• Hire, onboard and develop a high-performing team of Systems Administrators, supporting recruitment, continuous feedback, performance and career growth for your direct reports.
• Serve as the UK technical authority across systems administration, operational tooling and incident response, staying hands-on where it counts.
• Maintain operational readiness for 24/7 NATO support: system uptime, failover readiness and rapid response protocols that are tested, not assumed.
• Ensure systems meet NATO security and compliance requirements, partnering with cyber and IT functions on patching, configuration compliance and audit readiness.
• Create a culture of psychological safety, ownership and operational discipline, where problems are raised early and high standards are how the team works.
• Represent engineering in programme reviews and customer discussions, communicating progress, risks and blockers clearly: no surprises.
  
  

What You Bring

Our ethos is Think, Serve, Lead. In addition, you will have:

• Proven experience leading or growing a technical team, with demonstrated ability to coach, mentor and develop engineers; people leadership is the foundation of this role.
• A strong background in technical operations, systems administration or platform engineering, running complex, secure systems. Linux is essential; cloud experience is expected but transferable: skills from platforms such as VMware vSphere translate well to Amazon Web Services (AWS), and we care more about how quickly you learn a stack than which one you learned first.
• Hands-on experience of data fabrics and database management, with a working knowledge of DevSecOps, Secure by Design and cyber security practice: enough to lead and assure them, not necessarily to build the pipelines yourself.
• Technical depth sufficient to set direction and make sound trade-offs, with the communication skills to convey complex matters clearly to technical and non-technical audiences alike.
• Operational discipline: a working understanding of what genuine 24/7 support requires, including process, redundancy, escalation paths and shift culture.
• A builder mindset: energised by standing up a capability, comfortable in ambiguity, and equally comfortable operating within an established engineering framework rather than reinventing one.
  
  

Right to work in the United Kingdom, and NATO SECRET clearance or eligibility to obtain it. This requires UK Security Check (SC) level vetting, and we can sponsor clearance for eligible candidates.

Willingness to travel approximately 15 to 20%, primarily to Bluestaq headquarters in Colorado Springs for onboarding and alignment, and to commercial sites in UK and Europe as the programme requires.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with NATO structures, the NATO Communications and Information Agency (NCIA) or allied defence programme environments.
• Experience in UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) or Five Eyes programme environments.
• A background in defence software domains such as cloud, cyber security or Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR).
• A Chartered Management Institute (CMI) qualification or equivalent management development; growth potential is valued as highly as track record.
  
  

If you can do the role but do not hold every qualification listed, apply. Tick six boxes out of ten and bring the hunger to learn the rest, and we want to hear from you. We hire on capability and potential, not credentials alone.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary based on qualifications, experience and achievements.
• Competitive pension via salary-sacrifice scheme.
• Group income protection and group life assurance.
• 25 days annual leave plus UK bank holidays.
• Private medical cover and 24/7 remote GP for you and your family.
• Professional subscription support and ongoing development.
• Continuous development is expected, not negotiated.
  
  

Join the Mission

Protect data that matters. Build capability the United Kingdom depends on. Launch into operations, not pitch decks.

Bluestaq Limited is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workforce. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including those returning from career breaks, military service-leavers, and those underrepresented in the defence technology sector. We make recruitment decisions based on merit, in line with the Equality Act 2010.