About the job

Job summary

From energy to security, health to human rights, we help the Government deliver life changing law for citizens.

The Government Legal Department is the largest provider of legal services across government, working on high profile matters that are frequently scrutinised in Parliament and the media. Our work includes:

• Developing and drafting legislation
• Providing legal advice on policies
• Securing our economic and trade relationships
• Ensuring value from commercial contracts worth billions of pounds
• Providing the Civil Service’s employment law advice

We are at the heart of delivering the Government’s priorities and our success depends on our people.

GLD is a non-ministerial government department, sponsored by the Attorney General. We are headed by the Treasury Solicitor, our Permanent Secretary and employ nearly 3000 people, including over 2000 legal professionals. Our offices include London, Leeds, Bristol, Croydon and Manchester as well as overseas. We provide specialist legal services including Litigation, Employment and Commercial Law as well as advising most Government Departments on the policies and services they deliver.

GLD also depends on a range of vital corporate services. These are essential to the smooth and efficient running of the Department and provide the foundation to enable GLD to deliver outstanding legal services. Our corporate functions include Strategy, HR, Finance, Digital, Data and Technology, Communications, Security, Commercial and Project delivery. 

Our vision is to be an outstanding legal organisation and a brilliant place to work where everyone can thrive and fulfil their potential. This is an exciting time for GLD, with cutting edge legal work on global issues and a transformation agenda which is ensuring the Department exemplifies the Modern Civil Service.  

To find out more about what we do visit the Government Legal Department’s webpage or have a look at this short film which showcases the breadth of work government lawyers and legal trainees are involved in.

Job description

 About Digital, Data and Technology

This is an unprecedented time for digital, data and technology specialists as government harnesses digital technologies, skills and tools to transform public services. There have never been more opportunities to work collectively and creatively as a profession to respond to the changing needs and expectations of millions of people and deliver services that are simple and easy to use.

The digital, data and technology profession comprises of over 28,000 colleagues across government and is rapidly scaling up nationwide in line with our strategy.

In your capacity of Senior DevOps Manager at GLD you will join a network of digital, data and technology professionals that has developed into an essential forum for co-ordinating and driving transformation across government.

With your senior colleagues from other government departments, you will set standards and maintain a shared vision to deliver transformation. You will share best practice and drive collective efficiencies wherever possible; support and guide our cross-government programmes to build digital, data and capability; and make government a destination of choice for digital, data and technology professionals.

And you will be a role model and a relentless champion of government as a place where everyone can thrive and where diversity can flourish; a place that reflects the public we serve.

The Role

We have built a Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) enabled organisation at GLD by showcasing best practice when dealing with data, digital and technology. Our more modern, insight-driven, innovative approach to DDaT will provide outstanding experiences at the right cost, quality and pace for the whole of GLD and ensure staff and wider government clients receive a top-quality and cost-effective digital and technology service.

The role of Senior DevOps Manager will report into the Head of Digital and will support GLD to grow and transform into a digital business through delivering digital value and outcomes. It will support the renovation of DDaT, accelerate change and orchestrate our digital, data and technology management. GLD requires a consistent and strategic approach to the application of DDaT across the organisation, and DDaT needs to provide a stable, transparent and efficient approach to the way that it delivers value to the business.

Key responsibilities:

• Availability and capacity management. You ensure the correct implementation of standards and procedures, identifying capacity issues, stipulating the required changes and instigating these. You know how to initiate remedial action. You manage service components to ensure they meet business needs and performance targets.
• Development process optimisation. You can analyse current processes, identify and implement opportunities to optimise processes, and lead and develop a team of experts to deliver service improvements. You can help to evaluate and establish requirements for the implementation of changes by setting policy and standards. You can identify process optimisation opportunities with guidance and contribute to the implementation of proposed solutions.
• Information security. You understand information security and can design solutions and services with security controls embedded, specifically engineered as mitigation against security threats as a core part of the solutions and services.
• Modern standards approach. You can apply a modern standards approach and guide others to use it as well.
• Programming and build. You collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications and use these agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using the right standards and tools.
• Prototyping. You approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others. You can establish design patterns and iterate them. You can use a variety of methods of prototyping and choose the most appropriate ones.
• Service support. You can identify, locate and fix faults. You will be able to demonstrate a breadth of understanding of service support.
• Systems design. You can design systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact, and business or technical complexity. You know how to select appropriate design standards, methods and tools and ensure they are applied effectively. You can review the systems designs of others to ensure selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources and the integration of multiple systems and technology.
• Systems integration. You can define the integration build. You can coordinate build activities across systems and understand how to undertake and support integration testing activities.
• User focus. You know how to collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally. You understand the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. You can champion user research to focus on all users. You can prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to be used.

Person specification

Behaviours

Below are details of the Success Profiles that make up this role.

You will be expected to provide evidence to show how you meet the criteria at interview stage.

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

Delivering at Pace (Lead behaviour)

• Give honest, motivating and enthusiastic messages about priorities, objectives and expectations to get the best out of people.
• Ensure delivery of timely quality outcomes, through providing the right resources to do the job, reviewing and adjusting performance expectations and rewarding success.
• Ensure delivery of timely quality outcomes, through providing the right resources to do the job, reviewing and adjusting performance expectations and rewarding success.

Seeing the Big Picture

• Ensure plans and activities in your area of work reflect wider strategic priorities and communicate effectively with senior leaders to influence future strategies.
• Bring together views, perspectives and diverse needs of stakeholders to gain a broader understanding of the issues surrounding policies and activities.

Leadership

• Welcome and respond to views and challenges from others, despite any conflicting pressures to ignore or give in to them.
• Stand by, promote or defend own and team’s actions and decisions where needed.
• Inspire and motivate teams to be fully engaged in their work and dedicated to their role.

Communicating and Influencing

• Communicate with others in a clear, honest and enthusiastic way, building trust with the business.
• Introduce different methods for communication, including making the most of digital resources whilst getting value for money.

Managing a Quality Service

• Ensure full consideration of new technologies, accessibility and costings.
• Make clear, practical and manageable plans for service delivery.
• Ensure adherence to legal, regulatory and security requirements in service delivery.

 Experience

• Knowledge of (or experience working in) the UK governments DDaT profession
• Recognised qualifications, professional certifications, or practical experience in digital and related technology fields, digital transformation programmes including agile & change management.

Technical

• Software development and delivery skills should evidence your extensive training and/or experience with modern software development languages and frameworks, including agile software delivery practices and norms, both on transforming legacy systems as well as new initiatives, to successfully lead the team. Demonstrable knowledge of at least 2 contemporary programming languages is vital to show capability.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,100, Government Legal Department contributes £15,687 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, Strengths, Experience and Technical skills.

Application

Applicants must apply online via CS Jobs. On completion of the short form, applicants will be asked to complete:

1.A CV stating their job history, experience, relevant skills and qualifications which will be assessed and scored.

2.A personal statement (up to 1200 words) which will be scored and assessed against their suitability to the key responsibilities for the role

Selection Process

After the closing date, the appointing panel shall assess candidates’ suitability for the role based on evidence provided in their application against the key responsibilities outlined in the person specification.

Technical Assessment

A technical assessment, in the form of a short 10-to-15-minute video interview, will take place once the initial CV sift has completed. This will contain questions to establish your experience and knowledge.

Interview

Should you be successful in being invited to interview, you will be assessed on your performance in all essential criteria as listed in the Personal Specification, alongside scenario-based exercises and strength-based questions. Candidates invited to interview will be given further information on the day and time to prepare.

• Delivering at Pace (Lead behaviour)
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service
• Experience
• Technical

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Interviews will usually take place remotely via video conference, full details of the interview format will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview. The timeline later in this pack indicates the date by which decisions are expected to be made, and all shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible thereafter.

Offer

Regardless of the outcome, we will notify all candidates as soon as possible after the final interview.

We appoint in strict order of merit. If you meet the minimum criteria for this position but are not successful for a post, you will be placed on the reserve list for up to 6 months.  We then may contact you to see if you are interested in a post at the same, or a lower grade, in GLD should one arise.

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.