About the job

Job summary

UK Home Office has been keeping citizens safe and the country secure since 1782.

You could be working on the critical IT systems that support police and counter terrorism. Or supporting new digital services online for passports and visas. Or working on new tools to help Border Force officers protect the UK's borders. Or one of the hundreds of other services in our portfolio.

Our work is challenging, high profile but also very, very rewarding.

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.

Shared Application Services

Shared Application Services (SAS) is a growing business area consolidating and growing our capabilities in application development and support.

We are looking to build our internal capability, reduce and replace where possible the department’s dependence on external IT suppliers.

You will be part of Shared Application Service's cutting-edge L2 Support (SAS L2). A team which conducts real-time monitoring of the core technology, infrastructure, applications and services within the Home Office, providing a consolidated single operational view of the Home Office technical estate and facilitating 24/7/365 support and recovery. This may require you to work a shift pattern to enable the support.

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

Shared Applications Service is looking to recruit Senior Infrastructure Engineers for our Level 2 support capability.  You’ll be responsible for reactively managing incidents to resolution. These will initially be directed to focus on particular technologies/application areas and will naturally specialise over time. 

We use the latest technologies and will continue to evolve and adapt as new technologies come along. The technology base we use now will certainly change over the next few years and we expect our Senior Incident Managers to adapt and be retrained as necessary. 

You will have the opportunity work in an Agile environment, be familiar with the latest Cloud technologies from AWS and Azure. You will provide first line investigation within L2 and gather information to enable incident resolution, allocate incidents and advise relevant persons of actions taken.  

What we offer

SAS uses a wide range of the latest technologies and will continue to evolve and adapt as new technologies come along which you will be able to learn. This is a fantastic opportunity for someone who enjoys getting experience with the latest tools and tech.

The technology base we use now will certainly change over the next few years and we expect our Senior Infrastructure Engineers to adapt and retrain as necessary. This is a chance to work with leading edge support and cloud technology at country wide scales. You’ll have access to a large amount of both informal and formal training and development with opportunities for career progression.

Person specification

You’ll have the opportunity to work in an Agile environment, to be familiar with the latest Cloud technologies from AWS and Azure. You’ll support and lead incident investigations within L2 and gather information to enable incident resolution, allocate incidents and advise relevant persons of actions taken.

Your main areas of responsibility are: 

• Prioritising and investigating problems in systems, processes and services and contributing to their resolution and recovery 
• Using infrastructure management tools to collect and report on load and performance statistics  
• Monitoring service delivery performance metrics. 
• Contributing to the Continuous Improvement of systems, processes, and services. 
• Acting as the routine contact point, receiving, and handling requests for support along with requests for information.  

Like most businesses we need to maintain our services 24/7, therefore, there may be a requirement to work out of hours or shift patterns. This will be identified with you before the need arises and you will be compensated for out of hours working. 

Essential criteria

We’re looking for people who are curious at heart and when confronted with a difficult or strange problem want to act like a detective and crack the mystery. You’ll be a team player and you’ll want to support our mission to transform the critical systems we look after. 

You’ll also have good skills or experience in: 

• great, customer focussed, attitude and proven track record of making even the most difficult of customers happy and successful 
• Hands-on experience with cloud infrastructure 
• Eager problem-solving mentality 
• Experience mentoring and supporting other team members
• Previous experience in a technical environment

Desirable criteria

It would be desirable if you have understanding and experience using some of the following monitoring tools:   

• Using AWS console 
• Zabbix 
• Prometheus 
• Cloudwatch 
• Dynatrace 
• Kibana 
• Grafana 
• Slack 
• Nagios 
• Gov Notify 
• Oracle Cloud 

This vacancy is also using Success Profiles to assess your Behaviours and Experience.

Success Profiles - Candidate Overview (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (publishing.service.gov.uk)

The technical skills listed below 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 £41,600, Home Office contributes £11,232 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.

This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity.

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and personal statement (Max Limit: 500 words).

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

Please note your CV and personal statement should include all relevant experience that relates to our Essential skills criteria listed in the advertisement and role description.

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, resumés, 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 do 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.

More guidance can be found here – completing your application

Sift Stage 

The sift will be held on the CV and personal statement. Please read the Essential skills for this position carefully. We will only consider those who meet the listed requirement.

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), Behaviours and experience using technical and experience-based oral 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.

Sift and interview dates

Sift will be conducted week commencing 8th January 2024

Interviews will be held week commencing 29th January 2024. (Subject to panels operational requirements/priorities)

Interviews will be conducted remotely via MS 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

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 3 years if the role requires CTC clearance, 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.

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 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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

A location-based reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointment may be made.

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 competencies and essential skills.

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.