👋 Tactful.ai is a next-generation omnichannel customer engagement platform, designed to empower businesses of all sizes to deliver exceptional customer experiences. By blending the human touch with cutting-edge AI innovation, we enable organisations to build meaningful, personalised interactions across every stage of the customer journey.

🕓 Start Date: Immediate

🌍 Location: Hybrid (Cairo, Sheraton)

💰 Salary: 300-350 GBP

🎁 Perks: Purpose-driven mission, supportive culture, ownership opportunities, continuous learning

🛠️ How the Hiring Quest Works

1. Register for the quest.

2. Get full instructions after registration closes.

3. Build your solution before the deadline.

4. Top candidates will be invited to a live technical review.

5. One engineer will be hired — others may join as freelancers or for future roles.
   

🔍 What We’re Looking For

Core Skills

1. 1–2 years in DevOps or Cloud Infrastructure or Backend with infrastructure expeirnece

2. Experience with AWS or hyperscalers (EKS, RDS, CDN, etc)

3. Proficient in Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, and containerized workloads

4. Hands-on with CI/CD (GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or CircleCI)

5. Strong Linux administration and troubleshooting

6. Knowledge of networking (VPCs, DNS, Load Balancers, VPNs)

7. Familiarity with Terraform or Pulumi or AWS CDK

Nice to Have

1. Kubernetes certification (CKA / CKS)

2. Experience with Web development frameworks in Python or Nodejs, e.g. Flask, Django, Express, Nestjs 

🎯 Mission: Build a Secure, Observable, Scalable Cloud Setup

You’ll use a multi-service voting app from our repo:
👉 https://github.com/code-quests/devops

Your goal: make it production-ready — from containerization to CI/CD and monitoring.
Focus on practicality, security, and clarity.

🧩 Phase 1 – Containerization & Local Setup

1. Containerize each service (vote, result, worker, seed-data) with efficient, non-root Dockerfiles.

2. Use Docker Compose to orchestrate all services with:

   1. Two-tier networking (frontend: vote + result, backend: worker + redis + postgres)

   2. Health checks for Redis and PostgreSQL

   3. Exposed ports: 8080 (vote), 8081 (result)
      

3. The command docker compose up should bring up a fully functional app end-to-end.

4. (Optional)Include a lightweight seed service or profile to populate test data.

✅ Goal: Running locally with all services healthy and communicating.

☁️ Phase 2 – Infrastructure & Deployment

1. Provision an AKS cluster using Terraform (or use minikube / k3s / microk8s if Azure isn’t available).

2. Support multi-environment setup (dev, prod) using variables/workspaces/…

3. Include networking, security groups, and an ingress controller.

4. Deploy the app on Kubernetes using manifests or Helm:

   1. ConfigMaps, Secrets(Using production-grade practices is a huge bonus), resource limits, probes

   2. Enforce non-root policies (PSA)

   3. Use NetworkPolicies to isolate the database

   4. Creating a production-grade Helm chart for the system is a huge bonus.

5. Deploy PostgreSQL and Redis via Helm with persistence and restricted access.

6. Note: You should provide the k8s manifests for both Postgres and Redis with the rest of the app k8s files, but for the final deployment, use Helm. 

7. Document trade-offs if using a local cluster instead of Azure.
   

✅ Goal: App deployed and accessible via ingress; infra codified and reproducible.

🔄 Phase 3 – Automation, Security & Observability

1. Build a CI/CD pipeline (GitHub Actions / GitLab CI / CircleCI) that:

   1. Builds and pushes Docker images

   2. Runs tests and security scans (e.g., Trivy)

   3. Deploys automatically to your cluster

   4. (Bonus) Trigger a smoke test for the endpoints

   5. (Bonus) Adding workflows to automate the IaC.
      

✅ Goal: Fully automated build → deploy → monitor cycle.

🧰 Tech Stack

1. Cloud : Azure (AKS, API Management, Service Bus, Key Vault)

2. IaC : Terraform, Helm

3. CI/CD : GitHub Actions / GitLab CI / CircleCI

4. Containers: Docker, Kubernetes

5. Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana

6. Security: IAM, RBAC, NetworkPolicies, PSA, SAST / DAST

7. Optional: Istio, Linkerd

📦 What to Submit

A GitHub repository containing:

1. Terraform / Helm / Kubernetes files

2. CI/CD pipeline configuration

3. README.md with:

   1. Setup & deployment instructions

   2. Design decisions & trade-offs

   3. Optional short video walkthrough (≤ 15 min)

🧮 Evaluation Criteria

Azure Infrastructure & IaC : 25 %

Kubernetes Deployment & Scaling: 20 %

CI/CD Automation: 15 %

Monitoring & Logging: 15 %

Security & Networking: 15 %

Documentation & Presentation: 10 %

🗓️ After Submission

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to a live review session to discuss:

1. Your infra design and deployment flow

2. Scaling, cost optimization, and security decisions

3. Collaboration and DevOps problem-solving mindset

Final hiring decisions are made within 3–5 business days after the review.

✅ Submission Checklist

1. docker compose up runs locally end-to-end

2. Terraform creates AKS / local cluster

3. App deployed with k8s / Helm

4. CI/CD automates build + deploy

5. Monitoring (Prometheus + Grafana) functional

6. Secrets / PSA / RBAC implemented

7. Clear README + short demo video