Graduate Azure Cloud Engineer

Graduate Azure Cloud Engineer Based North Yorkshire UK – Primary Office : Leeds Requirement to visit Leeds Office on Ad-Hoc (Avg 1-2 per fortnight) basis for meetings and training. Role Profile Just finished university, or about to graduate, and keen to start your career in cloud engineering? This is a first role designed to take you from solid foundations to a confident, hands-on Azure Cloud Engineer. You'll work on real systems from day one, with experienced engineers alongside you, learning by doing and building your skills as you go. At XCM, you'll join the team responsible for running our cloud platform on Microsoft Azure. You'll learn how modern infrastructure is built, secured, automated and kept running, gaining hands-on experience across Azure, Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code, networking, monitoring and more. We don't expect you to know all of this yet. We're looking for curiosity, a genuine interest in how technology works, and the drive to learn quickly, ask questions and get stuck in. This is a role with a real future. As your skills and confidence grow, so will your responsibilities, with a clear path from graduate to Cloud Engineer and beyond as XCM continues its cloud-first journey. Overview XCM is on a cloud-first journey, moving away from legacy infrastructure towards a modern, highly automated cloud platform. It's a great time to join: you'll see a real cloud transformation happen up close and learn skills that are in demand across the industry. You'll start by learning our platform, shadowing colleagues and taking on well-defined tasks. Over your first year you'll build up to owning pieces of work yourself, supported by regular check-ins, a named mentor and a structured learning plan. We care about how you think and learn, not how many tools you've already used. If you enjoy solving problems, like understanding why things work (or don't), and are happy to ask for help when you need it, you'll fit in well here. What You'll Be Doing You won't be doing all of this on day one. These are the areas you'll learn and grow into, with support, over your first 12 to 18 months. Learning the Platform Getting to know XCM's Azure environments, Kubernetes platforms and supporting systems through hands-on work, shadowing and pairing with experienced engineers.Building up your understanding of how our systems fit together by talking to the people who built and run them, not just by reading documentation.Writing up what you learn so it helps the next person, turning conversations into clear notes and guides. Supporting Our Cloud Platform Helping to administer and maintain Microsoft Azure resources, including virtual machines, storage, networking and identity (Entra ID).Assisting with day-to-day operational tasks such as user and access requests, configuration changes, backups and routine checks.Supporting the migration of services from legacy infrastructure into Azure, and the retirement of older systems.Keeping an eye on cloud costs and helping to spot opportunities to run things more efficiently. Getting Hands-On with Kubernetes Learning how containers and Kubernetes are used to run XCM's products and services.Helping to deploy, monitor and maintain applications on our Kubernetes platforms under the guidance of senior engineers.Supporting the testing of backup, recovery and failover processes so you understand how we keep services available. Infrastructure as Code & Automation Learning Terraform and Helm, and contributing changes to our Infrastructure as Code, reviewed by experienced colleagues before they go live.Writing scripts in PowerShell or Python to automate repetitive tasks and make life easier for the team.Using Git and CI/CD pipelines as part of a modern engineering workflow. Monitoring, Support & Incidents Using Azure Monitor, Log Analytics and other tools to check the health of our systems and investigate alerts.Taking part in incident response alongside senior engineers, learning how problems are diagnosed, fixed and prevented from happening again.Helping to plan and communicate maintenance, patching and upgrades so affected teams know what's happening and when. Security & Good Practice Learning the fundamentals of cloud security, identity and access management.Supporting patching and vulnerability remediation work.Gaining exposure to how standards like ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials Plus and GDPR shape the way we run our infrastructure. Working With Others Keeping your mentor and team updated on what you're working on, where you're stuck and what you've learned.Building relationships with colleagues across engineering, data, security and product, and learning from how they work.Asking good questions early rather than struggling in silence. We'd always rather you ask. What We're Looking For We're not expecting commercial experience. We're far more interested in your potential, your curiosity and your attitude to learning. Essential: A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Cyber Security, or another STEM subject, or equivalent practical experience through a bootcamp, apprenticeship or self-taught learning.A genuine interest in cloud computing and infrastructure, and a clear desire to build a career in this area.A basic understanding of IT fundamentals: how operating systems, networks and the internet work at a high level.A logical, methodical approach to solving problems, and the persistence to keep going when something doesn't work first time.Clear written and verbal communication, and confidence to ask questions and explain what you're doing.Willingness to take feedback on board and a strong appetite to keep learning. Nice to have (but absolutely not required): Any hands-on exposure to Microsoft Azure, AWS or Google Cloud, whether through university modules, personal projects, free-tier accounts or labs.An Azure Fundamentals (AZ-900) certification, or progress towards one.Some experience with scripting or programming (Python, PowerShell, Bash or similar).Familiarity with Linux or Windows Server, for example from coursework, a home lab or a placement year.An awareness of tools like Git, Docker, Kubernetes or Terraform, even at a beginner level.A placement year, internship, or part-time role in an IT or technical environment.If you don't tick every box, please still apply. We'd rather hear from someone enthusiastic and eager to learn than miss out on great people because they didn't match a checklist. Technologies You'll Learn: You'll gain hands-on experience with a wide range of modern tools. No prior experience with these is expected. Microsoft Azure · Azure Networking · Azure Virtual Machines · Azure Entra ID · Azure Security & Governance · Azure Backup & Disaster Recovery · Azure Monitor & Log Analytics · Kubernetes · Helm · Terraform · PowerShell and Python · Git, GitOps and CI/CD tooling · Windows Server · Linux · SQL and PostgreSQL · ClickHouse · Kafka · VMware · Networking, Firewalls, VPNs, DNS and Certificates Ideal Characteristics: Curious: you like to understand how things work and enjoy figuring out problems.Eager to learn: happy to grab ten minutes with a colleague to understand a system, and to put in the effort to build your skills.Proactive: you ask questions, offer to help, and don't wait to be told everything.A good communicator: you keep people in the loop and aren't afraid to say when you don't know something.Reliable and organised: you follow things through and take pride in doing a job properly.Open to feedback: you see mistakes as a chance to learn, not something to hide.A team player who enjoys working with and learning from others.How We'll Support You: A named mentor who will guide you, review your work and help you find your feet.A structured onboarding and learning plan covering Azure, Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code and our own platform.Regular one-to-ones to talk about your progress, goals and anything you need.Real work from the start, with safe, well-defined tasks that build your confidence and grow in scope over time.A supportive team culture where asking questions is encouraged and nobody expects you to know everything. What Success Looks Like: In your first 3 months You've settled into the team, understand how our Azure and Kubernetes environments fit together, and are completing routine tasks with support.You're comfortable using our core tools, including the Azure portal, Git and our monitoring dashboards.By 6 months You're handling day-to-day operational tasks more independently and contributing reviewed changes to our Terraform code.You're taking part in incidents and maintenance work alongside senior colleagues.You've written documentation that others on the team find useful.By 12 months You're owning small pieces of work end-to-end, from understanding the problem through to delivering and documenting the fix.You've built strong relationships across the team, keep people informed without being asked, and have helped improve how we monitor and automate our platform. Why This Role Is Exciting A genuine first step into cloud engineering, one of the most in-demand and fastest-growing areas in technology.Hands-on experience with Azure, Kubernetes, Infrastructure as Code and automation on a real production platform, not just a sandbox.The chance to learn from a skilled, collaborative team across engineering, data, security and operations.A front-row seat on XCM's cloud transformation, and a clear path to grow with the company as it moves into its next chapter.