DDAT - Principal Devops Engineer

Location

MOD Corsham, Main Building London

About the job

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence deploys software globally to hundreds of thousands of users. From native mobile apps through to massively scaling workloads in AWS, we need to manage these deployments securely and safely.

We are growing our in-house DevSecOps engineering team to address this challenge.

About the Digital Foundry - who are we? The Digital Foundry is part of the MOD's Defence Digital, which provides digital and technology services to our Armed Forces, ensuring they can operate securely via radio, satellite, and the internet 24/7/365.

The Digital Foundry is Defence's centre of expertise for software, automation and data integration, and provides a range of Platform as a Service (PaaS) for hundreds of digital teams.

Working at Defence Digital

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Strategic Command is going through a significant transformation programme which aims to improve the way the Command conducts its business and delivers for Defence and the nation. As a consequence of this, all posts within Strategic Command Headquarters and in time the wider organisation, are/will be subject to review and potential changes as we continuously improve across the period of the transformation programme. These changes may be minor or could be more substantive and will generate new opportunities. Throughout, the Command's transformation programme is committed to following the MOD's framework on managing and supporting people through the change process and places an emphasis on early and open consultation and engagement with the Command's personnel and Trade Unions.

Job description

Drive Delivery Excellence;

As our Principal Devops Engineer, you'll be part of the senior leadership team in the Digital Foundry and the lead engineer for a segment of our technology stack.

You will balance hands-on delivery with driving the engineering culture and quality across our teams of civil servants, military, contractors, and service providers. Delivering an exceptional service to our users is at the heart of our mission.

Your responsibilities include:

• Acting as a hands-on expert in many technical areas and/or as a specialist with very deep knowledge in a particular technical area.
• Using this knowledge, and working with related disciplines, to keep multiple teams working effectively.
• Developing capability by facilitating internal mobility, shaping career paths, and recruiting talent.
• Identifying, testing, and championing the adoption of industry best practice.

Ready to take on this pivotal role?

Work with incredible technologies at incredible scale and make a difference for the UK in the Geopolitical context. Join our team and make a real impact.

Person specification

Let's ignite your Devops Career

Are you a seasoned DevOps engineer craving a challenge?

We're looking for people with a strong engineering background, as well as the analytics and soft skills to make them a great Principal DevOps engineer

You'll need to be accomplished in one or more programming languages such as Java, Bash, C#, PHP, Python or Go and a solid understanding of languages used by our users such as Javascript, React, and Python.

You will need to have the following Essential Criteria;

• Solid practical experience of cloud architectures and infrastructure in a production environment
• Exposure to supporting technologies and methodologies of cloud architectures and infrastructure
• You will have worked around multiple parts of the software life-cycle and be comfortable presenting and sharing your knowledge.

Ideally you'll also have experience in some of the following, If you meet some but think that you might not meet every last one, then don't let that stop you from submitting an application Aptitude and approach are as valuable to us as straight-out experience.

• Experience with services from Amazon Web Services and other hyperscale cloud providers.
• Experience and/or strong understanding of deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters.
• Experience and strong understanding of source code management and CI/CD pipelines and technologies.
• Good understanding of modern data and messaging technologies.
• Several years' experience engineering large scale services and systems in multiple industries.
• Experience of leading technical teams with a DevOps culture surrounded by lean / agile delivery methodologies.
• Experience of working in a team using TDD/BDD
• Great planning, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent people skills. Able to deal with non-technical stakeholders and engineers alike.

Do you want to hear more about this role? Join us at our candidate brief

Learn more about this role by joining senior members of the team at our upcoming Candidate Brief.

The Candidate Brief is being held on the 20th August 2024, from 5pm to 6pm GMT, and we would love you to join to discuss the Principal Devops Engineer role and much more. To confirm your attendance, please email us at ukstratcomdd-hr- with your name and email address.

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Version control
• Quality Assurance
• Supportability
• Information Security

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,820, Ministry of Defence contributes £18,311 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

As well as exciting, meaningful work, joining Defence Digital gives you access to brilliant

benefits to support your well-being, family life and finances.

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• An environment with flexible working options
• 25 days annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years' service
• Ability to roll over up to 10 days annual leave per year
• In addition to 8 public holidays per year you will also receive leave for HM The King's birthday
• Minimum of 15 Days Special Leave in a rolling 12-month period to for volunteer military or emergency service reserve commitments
• Special Paid Leave for volunteering up to 6 days a year
• Enhanced parental and adoption leave
• Employee Assistance Programme to support your well-being
• Most sites have good travel links with free car parking; many also have other facilities such as a Sports & Social Club and Gyms
• A highly competitive pension scheme.

Discover my benefits for more information

This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £18,000 per annum. Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview and reviewed annually in line with departmental policy.

Learning & Development

In Defence Digital we have a strong learning and development ethos, supporting you to fulfil your potential by providing –

• Learning and development tailored to your role

• Professional and Personal Development of skills

• Access to thousands of training courses through Civil Service Learning, some free or paid by MOD

• Ability to obtain industry recognised qualifications supported by MOD

The post does not offer relocation expenses.

External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period.

Please Note: Expenses incurred for travel to interviews will not be reimbursed.

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Any move to MOD 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

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment however some exemptions are in place, please refer to local guidance. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.

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.

Sift- CV and Technical Questions:

At Defence Digital we are replacing a personal statement with technical questions. This change allows you to better showcase your skills and expertise directly relevant to the role, ensuring a fairer and more efficient recruitment process. We believe this will give you the best opportunity to demonstrate your qualifications and strengths.

To apply, please submit your CV, using the template on Civil Service Jobs ensuring it highlights your relevance to the essential criteria. Your CV will be scored against the Essential Criteria, listed in the advert above.

Technical questions

The answer to each question should be no longer than 500 words.

1. Describe your experience with Kubernetes. Can you share a specific use case where you improved cluster performance or reliability?

2. Describe a time when you had to troubleshoot a major system failure. How did you approach the problem, and what was the outcome?

This role aligns to the Principal Devops Engineer on the Government, Digial and Data framework, you may find it useful to read when submitting your CV or if you get invited to interview- Principal Devops Engineer (GDD Framework)

Your CV and the answers to the above technical questions will be scored 1-7 and will assess your suitability to be invited to interview.

Interview:

If invited to interview you will be asked to to complete a Technical Test which will form part of the discussion at interview. You will also be asked questions which align with the following Technical Skills:

• Version Control
• Quality Assurance
• Supportability
• Information Security

AI Usage in Job Applications

We encourage the use of technology to streamline the job application process. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be helpful in generating ideas, improving writing style, and increasing efficiency. However, it is essential that any content submitted as part of a job application is truthful, accurate, and a genuine reflection of the applicant's qualifications and experiences.

Any use of AI should be supplementary to your own knowledge and abilities. Ultimately, the application should demonstrate your unique skills and suitability for the role.

Equality and Diversity

Our people are at the heart of everything we do at Defence Digital. It's vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we're proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

Hybrid Working

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 all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers- .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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
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.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name :Defence Digital Talent Acquisition Team
• Email :ukstratcomdd-hr-

Recruitment team

• Email :DBSCivPers-

Further information

Please ensure you read the attached candidate information document prior to completing your application. If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received from DBS, or believe that DBS has failed to follow the recruitment process in line with the Civil Service Commission principles of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of Fair and Open competition, you can raise a formal complaint by writing to DBS at the following address: Defence Business Services, Scanning Hub, Room 6124, Tomlinson House, Norcross Lane, Blackpool, FY5 3WP. If after raising your complaint with DBS you remain dissatisfied you can complain directly to the Civil Service Commission at the following address: , Civil Service commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ Or by email:

Attachments

Benefits Digital DefenceOpens in new window(doc, 240kB)

Defence Digital Candidate InformationOpens in new window(pdf, 10MB)

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