About the job

Job summary

We engineer and run over 500 services that are complex, large scale for the whole UK public and government, so there is an opportunity here to have a positive impact, serve the UK public, and work on stuff that really matters.

You could be designing and building solutions to help people prove their identity or apply for visas or working on the critical IT systems that support policing and counter terrorism and help protect UK borders. Our success in this role depends on our ability to exploit the latest technologies to create leading-edge, world class solutions whilst ensuring they are secure and resilient.

Your role may involve building and enhancing platforms on AWS or collaborating with developers to automate project builds. You’ll be working hand in hand with developers on projects such a GRO transformation, Police National Applications (National Law Enforcement Data Services) and Passports.

We think that these are some of the most interesting and exciting projects in government right now, and we look forward to finding the right person to help us deliver them.

It’s important that we build a diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve and provide an inclusive environment for all. We value everyone's skills and provide a creative and supportive workplace to help you do your best work and develop your career.

We encourage applications from people from the widest possible diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from women, people with disabilities and LGBT+ as they are currently under-represented in the Home Office at this grade level. Appointments will be made on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

Job description

As a Senior DevOps Engineer you will be responsible for leading the design and implementation of applications' build, release, deployment and configuration activities.

Other responsibilities include working within multi-functional teams to gather requirements, evaluate tools, implementing/updating solutions, building and executing test plans, provision environments, application performance reviews, assist migration of legacy systems, and triaging and fixing operational issues.

You will be involved in building, managing and updating a shared Kubernetes platform, as well as creating reusable pipelines for automated testing and deployment.

As a senior technical member of staff you will have the opportunity to support the build of the team around you, mentoring others or being mentored yourself and getting hands on in recruitment activities.  

To sweeten the offer, we are one of the largest consumers of cloud services in the UK, and we make use of many vendors and technologies. We understand that continuous learning is extremely important to you as an engineer. To support you we will give you the materials and time to grow yourself. Additionally, you will have the support of a rapidly growing engineering community.

Take a look at our blog DevOps within the Home Office for insight of what are we doing click here

Here is a link to our digital careers guide click here

Person specification

Your main day-to-day will involve:

• Writing scripts to deliver/work with our platforms, such as developing docker/terraform/ansible files for a variety of systems/frameworks. 
• Providing technical support functions, solving more challenging platform use and configuration issues. 
• Providing feedback to project teams on platform use; supporting routine monitoring activities. 
• Advising developers on how they should use existing systems and configure CI/CD pipelines. 
• Working on ways to automate and improve development and release processes. 
• Working with developers to ensure that development follows established processes and works as intended. 

Like most businesses we need to maintain our services 24/7, therefore, on occasion there may be a requirement to work out of hours, for which you will be paid. 

Essential skills  

We’re more interested in people who understand the methodology and fundamentals rather than specific tools. You’ll be ideal for this role if you have a demonstrable passion for automation and collaboration, with skills or experience in: 

• Cloud (AWS, Azure, GCP) Architecture and Services Provided.
• Working knowledge of Git/source control.
• Consuming Container Orchestration Solutions (Kubernetes/ECS/EKS/Openshift).
• CI/CD pipelines - Jenkins, Bamboo, GitLab, Azure DevOps etc.
• Scripting (any of the following) Bash, Perl, Python or Go.
• Working in an agile way following DevOps principles. 

Desirable skills

• Monitoring, Alerting, Logging. Exposure to methods and tools. 

You will be required to participate in an on-call rota and you may occasionally be required to work out of usual office hours to implement certain technical changes.

The skills listed are reflective of the Home Office DDaT Profession Skills and Competency Model (based on the industry standard SFIA framework), please review the attached ‘Role Description’ which highlights the expected technical skills and required levels for this role. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,000, Home Office contributes £15,390 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 Experience and Technical skills.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and a Personal Statement (maximum 500 words).  

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Please note your CV should include all relevant experience that relates to our Essential Criteria listed in the advert and role description.

Your Personal Statement should be aligned to explain why you are a good fit for the advertised role aligned to the Essential Criteria listed in the Role Description. 

Please remove information that identifies you (for example your name, age or place of education) so that you’ll be judged on merit alone and not your background, circumstances, race or gender.

(Do NOT include e-mail addresses or links to online profiles, resumes, or prior work, either personal or business. Active links or e-mail addresses will result in your application being rejected)

Application tips 

1. It’s crucial that your application demonstrates how you meet the Essential Criteria set out in the job advert. Don’t just give us a list of Languages/Platforms – do provide context.
2. You should include enough information and describe examples that demonstrate your skills and experience.
3. You should give yourself plenty of time. You can start an application and come back to complete it before the job advert closes.

Sift Stage  

The sift will be assessed on the CV & Personal Statement 

Candidates who pass the sift will be provided with a programming exercise/coding exercise to complete, details will be provided prior to the interview.

Technical Exercise stage

This coding test will assess your ability to effectively perform in the advertised role. You will be sent detailed instructions along with an invitation to take the test.

Please make us aware if you require any reasonable adjustments in order to participate in the test.

A technical test is a great opportunity for you to show us your technical capability in a structured and transparent way. We have an assortment of tests to assess different skills depending on the role.

We score the solutions based on multiple factors. Even though the test cases might pass (which we expect junior developers to achieve as well, if given the same task), we consider the quality of code as well.
 
If you complete the test, meeting our expectations at this level, you will be invited to a video interview in the following few weeks.

Interview Stage

Candidates reaching the required standard will then be invited to attend a final interview. The interview will assess your Technical Skills (SFIA Framework) and experience using Technical and Experience-based questions.

Regrettably, candidates who fail to complete the test and those candidates not reaching the required standard should note that their applications will not be progressed further.

Please see the role description and SFIA information document attached for further information regarding the SFIA skills that will be assessed for this particular role.

Sift and interview dates

Sift will be conducted from week commencing 12th February 2024

Interviews will be held week commencing 11th March 2024 (dependent on Panels operational priorities).

Interviews will be held remotely via Microsoft Teams.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Further information

Please read the essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirement. 

If you have previously made an unsuccessful application for a role with the same essential skills and are not able to demonstrate how you have developed these skills since your last application please reconsider applying as your application is unlikely to be successful.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years for SC clearance and 10 years for DV. A lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice.

UK residency and security requirements

• You need to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years. This is because this post requires the successful candidate to have Security Check (SC) clearance, and you need to have been a resident in the UK long enough for sufficient checks to take place. These checks will only take place after the job offer has been accepted. 
• Visa sponsorship - we are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License. 

A reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for 12 months. Should another role become available within that period you may be offered this position. 

This post is eligible for a DDaT Recruitment Retention Allowance this allowance is subject to an initial review within six months of taking up the post and thereafter an annual review in line with the departmental priorities and could be reduced or withdrawn at any time. 

We often have similar roles available at different grades. If a candidate is suitable for a similar role or a lower grade than they have applied for, we may offer the candidate that role without the need to go through a further selection process providing the role has the same behaviours and essential skills. 

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Applicants can discuss any specific questions with the Vacancy Holder.

Every day, Home Office civil servants do brilliant work to develop and deliver policies and services that affect the lives of people across the country and beyond. To do this effectively and fairly, the Home Office is committed to representing modern Britain in all its diversity, and creating a welcoming, inclusive workplace where all our people are able to bring their whole selves to work and perform at their best.

We are flexible, skilled, professional and diverse. We work to recruit and retain disabled staff and area Disability Confident Leader. We are proud to be one of the most ethnically diverse departments in the civil service. We are Stonewall top 100 Workplace Equality Employer and a Social Mobility Foundation top 75 employer.

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.

For further information please see the attached notes for candidates which must be read before making an application.

Existing Civil Servants should note that some of the Home Office terms and conditions of employment have changed. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the Terms and Conditions they will adopt should they be successful in application and should refer to the notes for candidates for further details.

Transfer Terms: Voluntary.

If you are invited to an interview you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks.

Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Any move to the Home 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 www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is 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 HOrecruitment.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.

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

Feedback

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

Security

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.