About the job

Job summary

The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) is a part of the Ministry of Defence responsible for the procurement, in-service support, and disposal of the UK’s nuclear submarines. Our work is of unparalleled strategic importance nationally and internationally, ensuring the security of the UK’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent, and delivering some of the most technically complex programmes in defence.

Here you’ll find a community to belong to – whether that’s alongside project teams with a shared vision or as part of an employee network of like-minded individuals. We believe that, by celebrating different backgrounds and perspectives, together we’ll achieve the extraordinary.

Discover more about our work:

We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of around 27%, to help work for you.

Job description

Are you looking to start or progress your career in the IT sector within the Civil Service? The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) are recruiting for an enthusiastic Associate IT Operations Analyst, with great technical skills as well as the desire to provide high quality support within a forward-thinking Information Management & IT function, within the SDA. The role will be based in MOD Headquarters in Abbey Wood, Bristol or HMNB Clyde, Faslane and the successful candidate will be part of a team of around 30, responsible for delivering multiple disciplines.

You will be responsible for providing 2nd line IT support across the organisation, supporting our server infrastructure, with the opportunity to work on 3rd line issues. There will be a requirement to help colleagues with queries and support of ESXi Virtual Technology and Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services. You will also need to have the ability to perform incident management and direct users to other areas of the business, as well as strong communication and the need to juggle multiple incidents. You will also support several in house bespoke IT systems to support the wider team. It would be preferable if you hold an ITIL foundation qualification, but this isn’t essential and can be taught whilst in post.

From time-to-time, while critical project work will be managed and undertaken, you will need to be able to communicate with stakeholders across the business when changes and outages happen, and you will also have the opportunity to get involved in these projects.

For security reasons this role is open to sole UK nationals only. A ‘sole UK national’ refers to an individual who holds citizenship solely in the UK, without dual citizenship or nationality from another country. We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship.

This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 10 years and obtain Developed Vetting (DV) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you have been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining DV security clearance can be a lengthy process.

At the SDA we operate a hybrid working environment. Regular in-person attendance is required to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and the position you will be working on in more detail. It would be preferable if you held a full UK driving licence as there will be occasional travel to other customer sites across the country and outside the UK.

Whilst on site, you’ll experience our impressive range of on-site facilities including a restaurant and coffee bistros and free parking. Our sports facilities include a fully equipped gym and sports hall with bookable classes, as well as a squash court, tennis courts and a football pitch.

What you’ll be doing

• Deliver high quality, complex IT services or resolve complex IT problems in a fast-paced environment in response to customer enquiries. 
• Responsible for monitoring service levels, trend analysis of reported incidents, repeated customer enquiries and escalating incidents.
• Installing, configuring and maintaining the networked computer system, including hardware, system software, and applications (as applicable, dependent on team).
• Review business processes, identify improvements, assess feasibility and recommend new approaches where appropriate and share in the community.
• Work collaboratively with Development Team to identify a fix to restore service and agree lessons learned.

Person specification

To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Experience of IT Operations in a large organisation
• Experience of virtualisation technologies

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Service Delivery and Operations – Practitioner
• Development and Implementation – Supervised Practitioner
• Managing a Quality Service - CSBC 3
• Communicating and Influencing - CSBC 3

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,800, Ministry of Defence contributes £9,396 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

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift - We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.

2. Sift - Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills

Please follow our guidance on CV writing for best chance of success.

3. Interview - If you're invited to interview, you'll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.

Security

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.