Why Your Next DevOps Hire Might Not Be a DevOps Engineer

Does the traditional DevOps Engineer even exist anymore? Yes, of course. But if your focus is on hiring people in this specific discipline, you’re potentially missing out on candidates with a much greater range of abilities.  

This is especially important for UK-based firms in the fintech or investment banking space. We sat down with Consultant Millie Paling, our infrastructure technology recruitment specialist, to discuss the blurring of development roles, why technical excellence among your engineers is no longer enough, and how to spot the most valuable talent that your competitors are missing. 

Why has the evolution in job titles become such an important development? 

“This is perhaps the most significant change that hiring managers need to be aware of. There’s a real move towards software engineers who are also comfortable in handling, say, infrastructure. Instead of an engineer who simply supports an existing environment, firms are increasingly looking for engineers who can identify a problem when they find it and then fix it themselves. Rather than involving two or three other teams. 

“We now have companies recruiting specifically for DevX Engineers – Developer Experience Engineers – whose job is to create and optimize the infrastructure so that the engineering teams can work more effectively. 

“Unusually, this role also calls for some level of commercial understanding and customer focus. Not in the traditional sense, because the clients are internal – it’s not literally customer-facing – but they need to be able to listen patiently to a grumpy developer who’s facing a problem with their system and help them resolve it. And then also take a birds-eye view and identify why something isn’t working or when something is costing too much. 

“What this means in practice is that companies hiring developers and software engineers need to be sure the roles they’re advertising are titled correctly. Advertising for a DevOps Engineer might bring in a lot of technically excellent candidates, but they may not have the broader skills and experience that you actually need.” 

Industry-specific roles always develop over time. Why is this change so significant? 

“In part because of the speed at which these changes are happening. But also because the most forward-thinking firms are literally redesigning their infrastructure around productivity.  

“If you have engineers who can take ownership across multiple disciplines, bottlenecks disappear and problems get solved in a fraction of the time. Increasingly, firms are looking beyond pure technical ability and seeking candidates who can communicate effectively, understand the wider commercial context and take ownership of problems from start to finish. 

“In financial services technology, where a small improvement in speed can be exponentially profitable, the benefits are about much more than efficiency. They directly hit the bottom line.” 

How can firms ensure they are not being left behind by these changes? 

“The traditional job titles are going to keep changing as roles that were once siloed become much broader. So, for right now, I would say stop hiring for job titles and instead hire for outcomes. 

“Start with the problem you’re looking to solve, and then build a role around that requirement. If that means you end up looking for someone who has a mixture of engineering and development skills, that’s fine. You simply need to be more discriminating when it comes to which candidates go through your hiring process. 

“The obvious example is very niche roles where specific skillsets are needed. High-Frequency Trading Firms, for instance, will be looking for engineers that are highly competent but also have experience in low- latency engineering. 

“A good recruiter, of course, is going to be very helpful in terms of digging deeper into the market and finding engineers with those niche skills that you need.” 

Are there any other ways in which firms in financial services technology can gain an advantage?  

“Strong candidates with niche abilities are going to be in demand which means speed is critical. To be frank, I’ve seen top hedge funds miss out on very talented engineers because their interview process has seven, eight even nine rounds of interviews. 

“From the candidate’s point of view, you can see why they might not want to continue if someone comes in with a solid offer without having to spend another 6-8 weeks going through multiple rounds of interviewing.  

“You’ve probably already had the experience where after only 1-2 interviews you can tell that the candidate is technically strong and commercially savvy, but you know the hiring process is going to be another 2-3 months before you can make an offer. And then another firm comes along and swipes them from under your nose because they had a more streamlined process. 

“If there’s anything you can do to make your hiring process a little leaner, this can help you avoid that particular headache.” 

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