About the job

Job summary

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence? 

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission - Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability. 

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society. 

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2026. 

Come and join the DBS community today!

Job description

Manage and lead a Windows Infrastructure Technical Support Team to provide Windows infrastructure support and guidance in accordance with agreed service level agreements (SLAs). Work within the DBS DIT Windows and Networks Team, ensuring that all incidents and requests relating to all aspects of the Windows Infrastructure are resolved within SLA timescales.  Manage and lead with support to projects to successfully implement changes to the Windows Infrastructure.  Work to G7DBS Senior Support Manager. 

•    Ensure services are accepted into the Windows infrastructure 
•    Manage and oversee the support/maintenance of Windows services, ensuring that service levels meet or exceed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs)
•    Ensure “live” Windows environments are fully operational on a day-to-day basis and that they are meeting the agreed expectations of the end users
•    Manage and lead with the introduction into service of all third-party applications which are delivered into Windows service e.g., Citrix, HP Authentication Services
•    Ensure all Windows infrastructure operations are stable and act as a point of escalation when necessary 
•    Ensure services are accepted into the Windows infrastructure. 
•    Manage and lead the support / maintenance of Windows services, ensuring that service levels meet or exceed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs).
•    Ensure “live” Windows environments are fully operational on a day-to-day basis and that they are meeting the agreed expectations of the end users.
•    Manage and lead with the introduction into service of all third-party applications which are delivered into Windows service e.g., Citrix, HP Authentication Services.
•    Ensure all Windows infrastructure operations are stable and act as a point of escalation when necessary. 
•    Work with the service operations staff to ensure that cross DBS incidents and Change Requests are managed in a timely and coherent manner.
•    Establish and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with other infrastructure support teams across all DBS Locations to ensure a coordinated and cohesive work effort. With Knowledge transfer a key focus for the individual and team.
•    Manage and lead with the implementation of key activities in your area to support DBS Strategic direction and develop approaches to your services to enhance their reputation across DBS.
•    Ensure that customer requirements are met, identifying dependencies, and resolving resource conflicts.
•    Manage and lead with the monitoring of live service availability against agreed SLAs and review availability trends to support proactive improvement plans for the network infrastructure
•    Manage and lead with the continuous improvement activities and standard working practices across the Windows technical support function
•    Manage and proactively define/analyse the root causes of specific Windows infrastructure problems and implement the appropriate solutions to ensure rapid recovery
•    Manage and lead with the monitoring and predicting of business demand to enable appropriate planning of Windows infrastructure capacity and cost.
•    Direct and control input into Windows support service risk, ensuring alignment to the DBS Corporate Risk process. Specifically, identify non-compliance and assure remediation, mitigation and/or positive acceptance of risk from a Windows support viewpoint. Escalate risks as required through the relevant governance process
•    Act as a point of escalation, review and approval for Windows technical support. Refer to line manager if help is required.
•    Manage, coach, and develop any Windows Administrators / Team Leads where necessary to improve performance and meet objectives. Plan and organise workload to optimise performance on Windows based systems

Person specification

•    A strong working knowledge of VM Ware and how it fits within Windows Infrastructure based systems.
•    A strong working knowledge of mail systems, able to configure and maintain all mail related systems.
•    Microsoft Core services such as AD, WSUS, Group Policy, DFS & DNS
•    Ability to deploy latest WSUS Windows updates across the DBS estate.
•    Ability to deploy Trelix / Trend anti-virus across DBS Windows based systems and diagnose emerging issues
•    Working knowledge of Microsoft applications and how to configure/enable 
•    Working knowledge in Server 2012 / 2016 / 2019 / 2022, ability to build/configure/upgrade/maintain Server systems.
•    Working knowledge of Windows 10, with the ability to build/configure/maintain Windows 10 systems
•    Working knowledge of RDS Gateway and configuration of Virtual Desktop Images 
•    Working knowledge  Citrix Xen App and Desktop 4.5 through 6.0
•    Experience of developing and supporting HTML/XML applications in an e-Business environment
•    Ability to work under pressure
•    Proven problem-solving skills
•    Knowledge of Networking, to enable interaction between Windows and Network teams to understand and implement/maintain systems across Windows and Networks. (WANS)
•    Good communication skills – both written and oral
•    NetScaler Knowledge
•    PowerShell Scripting and Automation, create and manage scripts to perform system tasks

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,080, Ministry of Defence contributes £11,631 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.

Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.

Applications will be sifted on all Success Profile elements, but in the event of a high number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted on the following success profile elements:

Primary: Experience - Personal statement

In this instance the remaining elements will be tested at interview.

At application stage you will be assessed against the following:

• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - IT infrastructure
• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Systems integration
• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Technical understanding
• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution
• Experience - CV
• Experience - Personal statement - Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlines in the job advert. 

At interview 1 stage you will be assessed against all the following:

• Experience - Personal statement
• Behaviour - Leadership
• Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

Those that pass the minimum score criteria will then be invited to Interview 2 where you will be assessed on the following for the application and the Digital Skills Allowance Assessment:

• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - IT infrastructure
• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Systems integration
• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Technical understanding
• Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution

In the rare case where individuals have exact matching scores, the order of merit will be determined based on the behaviour scores at interview in the following order:

• 1 - Experience - Personal statement
• 2 - Behaviour - Leadership
• 3 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - IT infrastructure
• 4 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Systems integration
• 5 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Technical understanding
• 6 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution
• 7 - Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing

If candidate scores are still exact, the merit order will then be determined on the sift score in the following order:

• 1 - Experience - Personal statement
• 2 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - IT infrastructure
• 3 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Systems integration
• 4 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Technical understanding
• 5 - Technical - Senior infrastructure engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution
• 6 - Experience - CV

We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months. – this will need amending to 3 months for internal or across government roles

Application sifting is scheduled to take place mid January.

Interviews 1 and 2 are currently taking place remotely via Ms Teams and will be conducted late January.

A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews.We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs.

To assist with your application please find attached below: 

1.     DBS Candidate Information Guide -   Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

2.     Technical framework - https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/index.html

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.  

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk 

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. 
The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn. 

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.