Quick answer: A UK-style CV for a DevOps role is usually two pages, with no photo, date of birth or marital status. Start with your contact details and a short profile, then a technical skills section, then your work experience in reverse order with measurable results, then certifications and education. Show the tools you use (cloud, containers, CI/CD, infrastructure as code) and, above all, what you achieved with them.
How a UK CV is different
- Length: two pages is standard. One page is fine for junior roles.
- No personal details beyond name, phone, email, town or city, and LinkedIn or GitHub. Leave out photo, age, nationality and marital status.
- Right to work: if you have it, add a short line such as “Full right to work in the UK”. If you need sponsorship, say so honestly.
- British spelling (optimise, organisation) and plain, professional language.
- References: “Available on request” is enough, or leave it out.
The structure that works
1. Header
Name, job title you are targeting (for example “DevOps Engineer”), location, phone, email, and links to LinkedIn and GitHub.
2. Profile (3–4 lines)
Who you are, your years of experience, your main platforms and one standout result. Example:
“DevOps engineer with 4 years’ experience building and running AWS infrastructure for fintech platforms. Strong in Terraform, Kubernetes and GitHub Actions. Cut deployment time from 45 minutes to 8 minutes by redesigning CI/CD pipelines.”
3. Technical skills
Group skills so recruiters can scan them in seconds:
| Group | Examples |
|---|---|
| Cloud | AWS (EC2, S3, IAM, EKS), Azure, Google Cloud |
| Containers | Docker, Kubernetes, Helm |
| Infrastructure as code | Terraform, CloudFormation, Ansible |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Argo CD |
| Monitoring | Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, CloudWatch |
| Scripting | Bash, Python, Go |
Only list tools you could discuss confidently in an interview.
4. Work experience
For each job: title, company, location, dates, then 4–6 bullet points. Lead with achievements, not duties. Use the pattern action + tool + measurable result:
- “Migrated 30 services to Kubernetes on EKS, reducing hosting costs by 22%.”
- “Built Terraform modules used by 6 product teams, cutting new environment setup from 2 days to 1 hour.”
- “Introduced alerting in Grafana that reduced average incident response time by 40%.”
5. Certifications
Relevant certificates help you pass recruiter filters, for example AWS Certified Solutions Architect or DevOps Engineer, Certified Kubernetes Administrator (CKA), HashiCorp Terraform Associate, or Microsoft Azure DevOps Engineer Expert.
6. Education and projects
Keep education brief if you have experience. For junior roles, add 1–2 personal projects with GitHub links, such as a homelab cluster or an automated deployment pipeline.
Getting past applicant tracking systems
- Use a simple layout without tables, columns or graphics in the main text.
- Match keywords from the job advert, such as “Terraform” or “GitOps”, where they are true for you.
- Save as PDF unless the advert asks for Word.
- Use standard headings: Profile, Skills, Experience, Certifications, Education.
Common mistakes
- Listing every tool you have ever touched.
- Describing duties (“responsible for pipelines”) instead of results.
- One generic CV for every job instead of tailoring it.
- Spelling mistakes and inconsistent date formats.
For more on the UK market, read DevOps in the UK, and for general CV advice see how to create an outstanding CV.
Frequently asked questions
Should I include a cover letter?
If the application allows it, a short, tailored cover letter helps, especially when changing careers or needing sponsorship.
Should I add a photo to my UK CV?
No. UK employers generally do not expect photos, and leaving one out helps avoid bias.
How far back should my experience go?
Focus on the last 10 years. Older roles can be summarised in one line each.
