DevOps Engineer

Job Overview

We are looking for a motivated and hands-on DevOps Engineer with 3-5 years of experience to join our agile, cross-functional product team. You will be responsible for designing, implementing, and optimizing highly secure, scalable, and reliable cloud platform solutions on AWS. This is a hybrid role based in Houston, TX, requiring working in-office 2-3 days per week.

The Team

The SmartVault product team is dynamic and fast-paced, keeping up to date with the latest technologies, and using agile and self-organising principles to help deliver quality products and services. The team wholeheartedly embraces the DevOps culture, continuously striving to add value to products and customers through automation, collaboration, and a proactive monitoring and feedback loop with product teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Work closely with the Head of DevOps to define detailed technical requirements, plan work, and prioritize tasks according to business needs.
• Design, implement, and maintain AWS cloud platform solutions.
• Ensure strict security compliance and best practices in cloud infrastructure.
• Drive automation to improve efficiency, scalability, and system reliability.
• Strive for zero downtime when deploying solutions or services.
• Develop and own scalable processes for capacity planning, configuration management, and monitoring and observability.
• Provide day-to-day operational support and perform systems administration tasks.
• Participate in an on-call rotation to support the platform 24/7.
• Ensure high-quality monitoring coverage for infrastructure and applications.
• Identify potential failure points in infrastructure and proactively develop mitigation strategies.
• Collaborate with internal IT teams for operational support.
• Assist in maintaining compliance with ISO 27001 and SOC2 Type II security frameworks.

Our Tech Stack

(Currently in use, but evolving over time)

Cloud & Infrastructure

• AWS Services – CloudFormation, EC2, RDS, Lambda, S3, SQS, SNS, CloudWatch, ECS, CloudFront, CloudTrail, Inspector, SSM
• Containerization – Docker, Podman
• Infrastructure as Code – Terraform, HashiCorp Packer
• Message Queues – RabbitMQ
• Operating Systems – Windows, Linux

Databases

• Relational – MySQL, PostgreSQL
• NoSQL – DynamoDB, Couchbase

Scripting & Programming

• Languages – Python, Bash, PowerShell, JavaScript
• CI/CD Pipelines – Git, TeamCity, AWS CodeBuild, CodePipeline, CodeDeploy

Required Skills & Experience

You don’t need all of these, but the more you have, the stronger your fit.

• Preferred 3-5 years DevOps experience.
• Strong AWS experience in infrastructure, security, and automation.
• Technical infrastructure knowledge across servers, storage, and networks.
• Experience with containerization (Docker, Podman, etc.).
• Comfortable working in high-security and high-compliance environments.
• Hands-on experience scripting and coding for DevOps automation.
• Experience in database administration, performance tuning, and resilience design.
• Solid understanding of CI/CD concepts and best practices.
• Familiarity with monitoring, logging, and alerting for large distributed systems.
• Strong networking fundamentals (IP, traffic flow, network ports, protocols like HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, FTP).
• Ability to troubleshoot complex infrastructure issues and drive resolution.
• Experience managing large-scale tasks from inception to completion.
• Strong understanding of cloud security principles.
• Proficient communication skills (written and verbal).

Nice-to-Have Skills

• Experience with automation tooling (e.g., HashiCorp products, configuration management tools).
• Experience with automated testing in DevOps workflows.
• Knowledge of Infrastructure as Code (IaC), shift-left principles, and immutable infrastructure.
• Experience working in ISO 27001, PCI compliance, or SOC2 Type II environments.
• A tertiary degree in computer science, engineering, or related fields.

What We’re Looking For in You

We want people who:

• Take ownership of their work and care about results.
• Have a hands-on approach and a strong sense of accountability.
• Are team players with a flexible and positive attitude.
• Have a friendly, proactive demeanor and strong problem-solving skills.
• Love learning and staying ahead of technology trends.

About Us

SmartVault is a cloud-based document management and file-sharing solution for small-to-medium-sized businesses, professional accountants, and bookkeepers. In 2017, SmartVault became part of the GetBusy Group, which is AIM-listed and currently trading on the London Stock Exchange. SmartVault continues to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary in the US, but we are now part of a much larger global team with expanded products serving the US, UK, and Australia/New Zealand markets. SmartVault is based in Texas.

SmartVault Team Culture and Values

SmartVault is a collaborative environment, where the number one goal is to solve problems for our customers. We use data to make informed decisions, and we work hard to be transparent with each other and with our customers. Our ultimate purpose is to make people’s lives better at work, so they can focus on higher-value activities in their business or personal lives. Learn more about ourbusiness and our values.

Benefits of Working at SmartVault

We’re striving to make SmartVault the best place to work in Houston. We work in a relaxed environment that emphasizes work/life balance. Our health benefits are top-notch, vacation time is generous, and we encourage community involvement with time off to volunteer. We also offer hybrid remote working. Learn more about our benefits.

We value diversity at SmartVault, and we're committed to creating an inclusive culture where everyone can be themselves and reach their full potential. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and cultures and believe that a diverse team helps build the best products, deliver the best services, and tackle the diverse and exciting challenges we face.