About the job

Job summary

An exciting opportunity has arisen within the IT Operations Practice at HM Land Registry (HMLR) for an IT Infrastructure Operator. If you want to be instrumental in providing technical support for maintenance of IT infrastructure and platforms, we would love to hear from you. 

It's an exciting time to join us as we continue on a major digital transformation programme. Our software systems form part of the critical national infrastructure, safeguarding land and property ownership valued at £7 trillion, enabling over £1 trillion worth of personal and commercial lending to be secured against property across England and Wales.

Job description

The IT Operations Practice are responsible for the performance and delivery of all technical infrastructure which underpins and supports the organisation. It consists of a number of technical teams which provide support, monitor, and operate technical solutions. 

In this key role, you will work a shift rota on a shift system that operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You will be responsible for monitoring, managing and operating the IBM Mainframe Infrastructure, executing and managing scheduled batch jobs and investigating, analysing and resolving operational failures, including the co-ordination of recovery activities within agreed service level agreements. 

This role attracts a non-pensionable IT allowance of up to £4,609 upon meeting qualifying criteria and a shift disturbance allowance of £6,743 in addition to your salary. 

Person specification

To meet the requirements of this role, you will hold either a qualification in Information Technology or a related area (Degree Level or equivalent) or have experience of working within an IT field. You will have an understanding of IT infrastructure and / or experience of working in a logically structured environment, and have experience of working within a proactive/reactive manner. 

The successful candidate will have effective communication skills, including the ability to interact and build working relationships with IT technicians, managers, and users. You can work effectively within a team and deliver to timescales and can take a logical and analytical approach to problem solving.

HMLR believe that a blended approach to where you work that enables some time working from home, as well as in the office may give you an improved experience and has clear business benefits. We expect everyone to spend at least 60% of their working time in the office. Beyond this expectation, there is no one size fits all approach (and we can spend up to 100% working in the office if we prefer).

For more information about the role, please see the attached candidate pack. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £29,484, HM Land Registry contributes £7,960 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.

Please cut and paste an anonymous CV into the online application form when prompted and include your qualifications and career history.

Please complete the technical question (in no more than 250 words) as requested:

• Holds a qualification in Information Technology or a related area (Degree Level or equivalent) or experience in an IT field. 

The personal statement section (in no more than 750 words) must be used to provide details of how you meet the essential experience criteria listed below:

• An understanding of IT infrastructure and / or experience of working in a logically structured environment. 
• Effective communication skills, including the ability to interact and build working relationships with other IT technicians, managers, and users.
• The ability to take a logical and analytical approach to problem solving.

In the event of a high volume of applications, we reserve the right to assess against the essential technical criteria first.

You will receive a score out of 7 for your CV, technical question and personal statement using the scoring matrix shown on page 5 of the attached candidate pack. The personal statement scores will be added together to give you a total score between 0-100. 

Please review your application form before clicking ‘submit’ – once you have submitted, you will not be able to amend your application. Ensure your application form is received by the closing date for receipt of applications – this is 23:55pm on the advertised date.

The sift will take place shortly after the closing date. If successful at the shortlisting stage, you will be invited to attend an interview in the Croydon or Plymouth office. Interviews are due to take place week commencing Monday 29 April 2024.

The blended interview will assess the behaviours and experience listed in the candidate pack, as well as the strengths associated with the role. We want to hear your first, unrehearsed, natural response to the strength questions, and so we don’t advertise which strengths are being tested. The best way to prepare for strengths questions is to reflect on what you identify as your own personal strengths, and your preferred ways of working.

Candidates may refer to notes within their interview but they should be used as a prompt only.

HMLR is accredited to the Disability Confidence Scheme, which denotes organisations which have a positive attitude towards disabled people. Disabled applicants who meet the minimum essential criteria at the shortlisting stage are guaranteed an invitation to interview.

If any candidate requires the panel to consider a reasonable adjustment or there is anything else they would like the panel to take into consideration they are asked to notify us of this at application stage where possible or during the process as soon as it becomes a requirement.

Please note, the Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expect all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure all examples provided throughout the entire recruitment process are of your own experience. HM Land Registry take any incidences of cheating very seriously. Any detected instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating, including the use of artificial intelligence, will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant applications will be withdrawn from the process.

The post will require a Security Check and will therefore be subject to further background checks, including meeting the UK minimum residency requirement of 5 years. Further details of the process and checks can be found here.

You can find more information on how we use your personal data on our website.

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.