About the job

Job summary

The Planning Inspectorate is recruiting for a Senior DevOps Engineer to join our strong Digital and Data Services team as we seek to meet growing demands from our colleagues, government, and our customers.   

This role is a Senior DevOps Engineer. You will be a member of a multidisciplinary team, managing the development and operation of applications, providing technical expertise, and identifying opportunities for improvement across projects. This includes our casework management systems, public facing websites, and internal tools, as we continue to create a more modern Inspectorate.  

You’ll be working as part of a focussed team supporting our services in their delivery and looking at future opportunities to improve. Outside of the team, you’ll be a part of the Developer Community of Practice where you’ll have peer support and opportunities to share both knowledge and problems. 

The Planning Inspectorate has a long and proud history in ensuring a fair planning system for England. The work we do has a significant impact on people’s lives, the communities where they live and the economy.

We want our colleagues to be able to work more flexibly and more collaboratively, exploring new and innovative ways to improve the way we provide services. 

For further information on the Planning Inspectorate, please see the information pack attached. You can also view our careers page at Civil Service Careers

Job description

You will be responsible for working collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary team, focussed on delivering high quality code and infrastructure in line with project goals and delivery cycles. As well as this you will be working with a team of Developers, DevOps engineers and Testers where team members are supported and developed to enable them to fulfil their potential and contribute fully to the success of the organisation.   

As a DevOps Engineer, you will provide technical recommendations and assurance within the team to identify the best technology and solutions to support integration and deployment of applications.   

You will also keep up to date with the latest technologies and trends, whilst delivering working software early and often, learning new languages and frameworks and picking the right solutions.  

Our Tech Stack 

We rely heavily on:  

• Azure for our infrastructure
• Azure DevOps for our CI/CD pipelines
• Terraform for our Infrastructure as Code
• GitHub to host and manage our code
• Docker and Web Apps for Containers
• NodeJS for our back-end code 
• HTML/CSS/JavaScript for our web interfaces
• UK Design System for our web interfaces
• Azure SQL for data storage 

We’re happy to help you learn our tech stack once you are part of our team.  

Check out GitHub for a closer look at the technology we use.  

A typical week in this role will consist of a blend of responsibilities, including:  

• Prioritisation of work in line with deliverables and project goals.
• Writing Infrastructure as Code.
• Reviewing other DevOps work via GitHub Pull Requests.
• Offering technical expertise on infrastructure and technology choices.
• Providing guidance to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Identifying and fixing faults.
• Providing technical assurance. 

For full information on the role and assessment process please refer to the candidate pack attached. 

Office Attendance 

All of our office-based roles are contractually located at Temple Quay House in Bristol. We encourage office attendance to foster collaboration, conversation, group creativity and employee wellbeing. You will be expected to attend Temple Quay House at least 12 times a year. Depending on your role, you may be required to attend more often than 12 times a year either permanently or temporarily to ensure we deliver our services in the most efficient and effective way for our customers. If you would like to discuss our Office Attendance in more detail, please contact us at PINS.Recruitment@planninginspectorate.gov.uk  

Person specification

Essential Criteria 

• Experience applying a modern standards approach (using the latest technologies and best practices to improve the quality of the software development process). 
• Excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills, including experience of supporting services. 
• Experience with open-source technologies including Terraform and Git. 
• A working knowledge of DevOps principles and processes. 
• Experience identifying process optimisation opportunities (with guidance) and contributing to the implementation of the solutions. 
• Understanding of information security and be able to design solutions and services with security controls embedded. 
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills.  

Desirable Criteria 

• Experience of JIRA or other management tooling 
• Experience with Azure 
• Experience with Azure DevOps 
• Knowledge of the Government’s Digital strategies and codes of practice  
• Awareness and understanding of industry standard security issues and processes. An understanding of ISO27001 would be an advantage. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £44,220, Planning Inspectorate contributes £11,984 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.

Application 

Complete the online application form on Civil Service Jobs which requires the following information: 

• A CV: The CV section is an opportunity for you to detail your career history. It should outline the jobs you have done, the length of time you were employed within each role and a brief description of your role, responsibilities and duties which demonstrate relevance to the role you are applying for against the essential criteria. You must type, or ‘copy and paste’ into the text box called ‘Employment History’ within the online application. You cannot attach a copy of your CV. 

We will assess your application on the evidence you have provided against the Essential Criteria and Success Profile elements detailed in the Person Specification in the candidate pack. 

In the event of a large number of applications, a lead sift may take place.  The following point will be used as the lead criteria when shortlisting if this happens, and if you do not meet the minimum standard the rest of your application will not be assessed. 

• A Working knowledge of DevOps Principles and Processes. 

All shortlisted candidates will be advised of the outcome shortly afterwards. 

Interview 

If you are shortlisted, you will:

• Be asked to attend an interview to have a more in-depth discussion about your experience and suitability for the role
• Interviews will be a blend of behaviour, experience and technical questions 

Candidates who are successful at shortlist stage will be sent full assessment requirements with their interview invitations. 

Other Information 

Shortlist Date: w/c 20th May 2024

Interview Date: w/c 3rd June 2024   

Interviews are currently being completed remotely using Microsoft Teams. We would like to reassure candidates that the virtual interview will not be recorded (or retained) within the Planning Inspectorate, other than usual interview protocol and in line with the Civil Service jobs Privacy notice. 

We encourage all candidates to make themselves familiar with the role and what we will be assessing you against which is detailed in the Person Specification. 

The Planning Inspectorate is committed to finding the right person for the job. We recruit using Success Profiles and consider the criteria you will need to demonstrate to be successful for the role, by doing this we are pushing up performance, diversifying our workforce and creating an inclusive culture. 

ID and Documents

If specific qualifications/memberships are essential for the role and you are successful, you will be asked to provide accurate scanned or photographed images of the qualifications/memberships that you listed on your application prior to your start date. 

We must check that any successful candidates are allowed to work for the Civil Service before we employ them. If successful, you will be asked to do a right to work check using identity document validation technology (IDVT) through the services of an Identity Service Provider (IDSP), Civil Service Jobs.  If we are unable to confirm your right to work and through the IDVT we will need to do a manual right to work check using original documents with you in person. 

Visa Sponsorship

The Planning Inspectorate cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates, we do not hold a Visa sponsorship licence. 

Disability Confident Interview scheme

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. We run a Disability Confident Interview scheme for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria for the job. 

To be considered for an interview under the scheme you must:

• have a disability defined by the Equality Act 2010
• provide evidence in your application that you meet the minimum criteria in the job description
• meet all of the qualifications, skills or experience defined as essential 

While we will endeavour to provide you with all the appropriate information, you are the expert on your specific requirements so if you require any adjustments, you should consider the information provided about the assessment process in the candidate pack and then:

• 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. The earlier and more clearly you tell us what you need and why you need it, the more likely we are to be able to accommodate you in a timely fashion. 

All Planning Inspectorate colleagues must meet the baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window). This is a series of basic security checks to confirm identity and employment history. 

In addition to the BPSS, the level of security clearance required for this role is Security Check (SC) and the process can take a number of weeks to complete. For more details of vetting levels and requirements please refer to the Cabinet Office HMG Personnel Security Controls.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.