Operations Engineer (DevOps & Database Operations)

Operations Engineer (DevOps & Database Operations) – Freelance, Hybrid Belgium

A long-term programme in Belgium is looking for an Operations Engineer to run the platforms behind data-intensive and AI/ML applications. The role is a mix of operations, DevOps and database management. You’ll build and maintain CI/CD pipelines, run containerised workloads on Kubernetes, and keep the relational databases fast, stable and secure. You’ll work with developers, data scientists and IT operations in an international, multicultural team.

Responsibilities

• Design, build and maintain CI/CD pipelines in GitLab for fast, reliable releases
• Deploy and run containerised applications with Docker and Kubernetes, including cluster-level configuration and network policies
• Administer, monitor and tune relational databases (PostgreSQL, Oracle) for high-volume workloads
• Automate infrastructure and configuration with infrastructure-as-code and configuration management tools
• Set up and improve monitoring and alerting so systems stay available and performant
• Build security practices into pipelines and operations, including vulnerability scanning and secure configuration
• Troubleshoot production issues and keep improving reliability, performance and scalability
• Write clear technical and operational documentation

Must-have

• Proven hands-on experience building and maintaining CI/CD pipelines
• Strong GitLab experience (GitLab CI, runners, Git-based workflows)
• Kubernetes and Docker in production environments
• Relational database administration and performance tuning (PostgreSQL and/or Oracle)
• Day-to-day use of AI-powered coding assistants (e.g. GitHub Copilot, Amazon Kiro)

Nice to have

• Terraform and/or AWS CloudFormation
• Ansible
• GitOps tooling such as ArgoCD
• Prometheus and Grafana
• Kafka, RabbitMQ and/or Redis
• NoSQL experience (OpenSearch, MongoDB)
• Security tooling such as SonarQube or OWASP tools

Education & skills

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Computer Science, IT, Systems Engineering or a related field
• Strong problem-solving and analytical skills
• Clear communicator, comfortable explaining technical topics to mixed audiences
• Collaborative team player used to international environments
• Fluent English

Engagement details

• Freelance / B2B, long-term
• Hybrid, near-site in Belgium
• Candidates must be based within about 2 hours’ drive of Brussels
• Start: December - January - EU Nationality Required.