About the job

Job summary

The Prime Minister’s Office enables the Prime Minister to deliver the Government’s overall priorities and to communicate the Government’s policies to Parliament, the public and international audiences. From the Policy Unit and Press Office, Custodians, to the Events & Visits team and the Private Office support team; the diverse Downing Street teams draws on varied expertise from across the Civil Service and beyond. The teams come together to deliver excellent service to the Prime Minister while also making No10 a great place to work.

Job description

We are recruiting for a Senior Technical Communications Engineer within our busy, fast paced, highly motivated IT and Telecoms team. As well as taking part in interesting and ever-changing work in this unique role, you’ll be working in an environment that is supportive, fast paced, and inclusive. The team consists of men and women from various technical and business backgrounds who pull together to get the work completed.

In this role you will be working with current and latest technologies. We offer relevant training opportunities alongside support from expert colleagues.

You will be working in the heart of Government, where you will be able to work across the wider ICTS team to get your work completed. In this team your opinion will be valued and listened to and you will have the chance to contribute to the strategic direction of future communication services.

You will work and report to the Head of Technical Communications in No10 within the wider ICTS and Switch teams. Along with your manager you will setup and support non-secure and secure comms, fixed line telephony, video conferencing, mobile services and WAN/LAN technologies used in house.

Amongst other work, the role involves providing technical expertise and advice to the team, staff in No10 including the security team, suppliers, and other government departments. You will also work closely with the business areas to ensure that the systems in place are supported and managed to meet their business requirements in a timely way and within budgets.

As well as creating, building, and maintaining everyday comms and secure comms systems for voice and video, you will work on a variety of related technical projects that cross-over with the IT systems such as Wi-Fi provision. You will do this by using your own expertise, working with suppliers and areas in UK Government such as MOD, FCDO and international government technical teams.

Once you are experienced and competent in your role you will be a part of the team’s on-call rota. You will mentor and coach the service support and Switch staff to assist them to develop their skills in your area of expertise and moving appropriate work over to allow you to take on new work.

Your learning and development will be on the job as well as through relevant training courses. You will get many opportunities to develop all your skills further and learn about new industry relevant services and equipment too.

Key Responsibilities:

In this role you will be responsible for:

• Documenting design, installation, and configuration of secure systems and infrastructure.
• Working with national and international partners in developing and maintaining systems, testing schedules, ensuring testing is relevant and completed appropriately.
• Dealing with incidents, escalating problems, and issues to management, highlighting impact, and managing the resolutions of faults.
• Being the expert on VOIP technologies within the team.
• Travelling to remote offices to install, test equipment or setup for a live call.
• Delivering projects to meet business requirements on time and within budget, from procurement through to the delivery of the live service.
• Progressing continual service improvement by looking at new technologies, identifying gaps in existing services and how these could be bridged to help drive the roadmap for No10 ICTS.
• Managing records and documentation for systems appropriately, ensuring they are kept up to date and stored safely with appropriate access for those who need it.
• Plus taking part in ad hoc technical, commercial, and business activities required to deliver on the team’s goals.
• There may be some occasional national or international travel with this work.

Daily activities include:

• Setting up and testing secure voice systems ensuring we maintain good security practices and work within guidelines.
• Work with suppliers and international partners to keep all international links operational and maintained.
• Providing support to the Head of Technical Communications on team technical projects.
• Providing expert technical advice and guidance to team members, business areas and security in No10 in all voice and secure comms systems.
• Acting as an escalation point for tech support for all secure and voice services.
• Providing support in the procurement and management of services and equipment.
• Updating and maintaining accurate documentation and diagrams of all systems.

You will also need to be prepared to:

• Be on-call covering as a single point of contact for out of hours, weekends or holidays issues or requests from the business areas. Overtime and on call allowance will be paid for additional working hours.
• Drive in the UK and occasionally abroad to provide comms support for the PM.
• To stay overnight for several days whilst travelling in the UK or abroad.

If this feels like an exciting opportunity, something you are enthusiastic about, and you want to join our team please read on and apply!

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will have:

• A high-level of technical comms expertise, either at degree level or through relevant experience and training.
• An excellent working and technical knowledge of IP phone systems and technologies, including the security and administration of them.
• An excellent working and technical knowledge of video conferencing technologies and best working practices.
• Technical knowledge of working and supporting WAN and LAN technologies and architecture.
• A good understanding of Government secure comms.
• A good understanding of technical security principles.
• Excellent customer facing skills including senior stakeholder management.
• Great team working skills and the ability to build rapport and maintain good working relationships.

Lastly you will also need to have a:

• UK passport.
• A full valid UK driving licence.

Skills and Business Experience

Successful candidates are liable to have the following skills and experiences:

Essential:

• A high-level technical expertise, either at degree level in the Electrical Engineering/Communications and signalling discipline or equivalent with experience and relevant professional training such as an apprenticeship.
• A good working knowledge and technical understanding of IP phone systems and technologies, including the security and administration of them.
• A good working knowledge and technical understanding of implementing and supporting video conferencing technologies with best working practices.
• A thorough understanding of Government secure comms systems and usage
• A good understanding of technical security principles.
• A working knowledge of supporting WAN technologies and LAN architecture.
• Excellent customer facing skills including senior stakeholder management.
• Understanding of Government IT security policy and classifications.
• Flexible in working days, sometimes prepared to travel or work at weekends or overnight.
• Willing to be on-call to provide support to a 24/7 operation.
• A team player and worker.
• Project management experience.

Desirable:

• Experience supporting Microsoft Teams voice including Microsoft Teams Rooms.
• Supporting Microsoft Office products.
• Experience of working on call centre manager telephony systems.
• CCNA, entry level security qualification, ITIL service management qualification, professional project management qualification..

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,500, Cabinet Office contributes £12,015 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 process

At application stage we ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 500 words.

The covering letter should include:

• What interests you about the role
• How you meet the skills
• What you will bring to the role

How you meet the skills, should be a summary of how you meet some of the essential skills from previous roles and should not just refer to your CV.

Selection process

This is a reserved post and only open to UK nationals. To be successful in your interview you will need to demonstrate you have the experience through your Behaviours and Strengths. You will also need to be able to answer Technical questions based on the requirements listed on this job specification.

When interviewing about behaviours we will be looking at examples of when you have demonstrated the behaviour from scenarios and work you have been involved in.

These will outline the

• Situation
• Task
• The actions you took
• The outcome and benefits of your actions

The expected level of these behaviours is at SEO grade and are found in the Civil Service behaviours link below.

Useful links for apply for a new job:

• Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (publishing.service.gov.uk)
• Interview advice , National Careers Service
• The STAR method , National Careers Service

Expected timeline (subject to change)

Expected sift date – Mid Jan 
Expected interview date/s – Late Jan/Early Feb
Interview location - TBC

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

Contact Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ section in the ‘Additional requirements’ page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional. 

Further information

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Please note that this role requires DV clearance, which would normally need 10 years’ UK residency in the past 10 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to Cabinet Office from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.

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 developed vetting (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

Open to UK nationals only.

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.