Lead Data Platform Engineer

Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, London (Canary Wharf) (Core HQ's) Job Summary We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.   UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all. UKHSA will build on the legacy of the COVID-19 response to ensure resilient and scalable infrastructure to secure the UK in the strongest position to protect the public from future threats to health. UKHSA's mission is challenging, innovative and in the spotlight. To achieve our objectives effectively and fairly, we commit to representing modern Britain andall its diversity. UKHSA recognises that diversity of background and life experience brings different insights, creates challenge, and encourages change and innovation. This in turn produces more accountable and trusted public services and better decisions; better because they are more attuned to the needs and interests of all our communities. Differences of thought and outlook are not only respected but expected. We want all our employees to feel that they can be themselves at work and that they are valued. The UKHSA Digital & Data Directorate provides strategic leadership and oversight for developing and managing a common and bespoke suite of performant, modern, secure, data and analytical tools, services, platforms and applications, ensuring access to high quality data and analytics services, internally and externally. Job Description You will work in the Data Engineering and Enablement Division that reports into the Digtial & Data Directorate. It’s an exciting time to join as we seek to create leading Health Protection data capabilities that enable data scientists and data analysts to develop insights that inform public health decisions with resilience platforms and curated data assets. The core activities of Engineering and Enablement include the ingestion of data sources, building data pipelines, curated data views and data capabilities fused from data, models and software that enable the exploitation of data by analysts, data scientists and MI teams. We are seeking to mature our advanced platform capabilities with standardised practices, machine learning and agility needed to pro-active detect and respond to new public health issues. We are looking for a Lead Platform Engineer to work as part of the Engineering and Enablement team to support the operation and the development of our Enterprise Data and Analytics platform. We work collaboratively in agile multi-disciplinary teams, and we are looking for engineers who can operate in an environment that values DevOps principles and agile methodologies. We are developing our engineering community of practice to share knowledge, enhance our standards and processes to provide a strong foundation to develop individuals, teams and innovation. As a Lead Platform Engineer, you will be responsible for: Lead and manage up to 2x Senior Platform Engineers, providing guidance and support to ensure their growth and professional development.Lead the design and implementation of robust, scalable, and highly available infrastructure solutions, while continuously monitoring, maintaining, and optimising existing infrastructure for performance and reliability.Develop automation scripts and tools to streamline deployment, configuration, and monitoring processes, and implement configuration management systems for environment consistency.Establish and enhance CI/CD pipelines to automate software delivery, testing, and deployment, managing code integration for rapid and reliable releases.Implement security best practices including access control, vulnerability scanning, and threat detection, and ensure infrastructure compliance with industry standards and regulations.Identify and address performance bottlenecks and optimisation opportunities within the infrastructure stack and conduct load testing and capacity planning for anticipated increased workloads.Set up monitoring and alerting systems for proactive issue detection and resolution and troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure-related incidents promptly.Create comprehensive documentation for infrastructure, processes, and procedures, ensuring it remains up-to-date and accessible to team members.Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as developers and system administrators, and effectively communicate technical concepts and solutions to non-technical stakeholders.Stay informed about emerging technologies and industry best practices in platform engineering and DevOps, introducing innovative solutions to enhance infrastructure and processes.Encourage and develop a diverse range of people, promote business objectives, and model the behaviours and standards expected of an experienced civil service member.Lead the decision-making throughout the product life cycle and phases of product delivery, from stakeholder engagement to analysis, development of platform designs, and implementation.Act as a DevOps champion, taking responsibility for specific deliverables, promoting DevOps and Agile best practices with passion.Be a team player, empowering team members for success, recognising the bigger picture, and going the extra mile for high quality delivery in a highperforming organisation.Interpret the needs of technical and business stakeholders into technical requirements, manage stakeholder expectations, and facilitate challenging discussions.Apply detailed knowledge of techniques and concepts required for the role, liaise with other technical teams for seamless service delivery, and identify areas for impactful innovation in data tools and techniques.Advance engineering excellence across the Agency through the development and leadership of our engineering community of practice, focusing on sharing knowledge, enhancing standards, and providing a foundation for technical growth. You will work in the Data Engineering and Enablement Division that reports into the Digtial & Data Directorate. It’s an exciting time to join as we seek to create leading Health Protection data capabilities that enable data scientists and data analysts to develop insights that inform public health decisions with resilience platforms and curated data assets. The core activities of Engineering and Enablement include the ingestion of data sources, building data pipelines, curated data views and data capabilities fused from data, models and software that enable the exploitation of data by analysts, data scientists and MI teams. We are seeking to mature our advanced platform capabilities with standardised practices, machine learning and agility needed to pro-active detect and respond to new public health issues. We are looking for a Lead Platform Engineer to work as part of the Engineering and Enablement team to support the operation and the development of our Enterprise Data and Analytics platform. We work collaboratively in agile multi-disciplinary teams, and we are looking for engineers who can operate in an environment that values DevOps principles and agile methodologies. We are developing our engineering community of practice to share knowledge, enhance our standards and processes to provide a strong foundation to develop individuals, teams and innovation. As a Lead Platform Engineer, you will be responsible for: Lead and manage up to 2x Senior Platform Engineers, providing guidance and support to ensure their growth and professional development.Lead the design and implementation of robust, scalable, and highly available infrastructure solutions, while continuously monitoring, maintaining, and optimising existing infrastructure for performance and reliability.Develop automation scripts and tools to streamline deployment, configuration, and monitoring processes, and implement configuration management systems for environment consistency.Establish and enhance CI/CD pipelines to automate software delivery, testing, and deployment, managing code integration for rapid and reliable releases.Implement security best practices including access control, vulnerability scanning, and threat detection, and ensure infrastructure compliance with industry standards and regulations.Identify and address performance bottlenecks and optimisation opportunities within the infrastructure stack and conduct load testing and capacity planning for anticipated increased workloads.Set up monitoring and alerting systems for proactive issue detection and resolution and troubleshoot and resolve infrastructure-related incidents promptly.Create comprehensive documentation for infrastructure, processes, and procedures, ensuring it remains up-to-date and accessible to team members.Collaborate with cross-functional teams such as developers and system administrators, and effectively communicate technical concepts and solutions to non-technical stakeholders.Stay informed about emerging technologies and industry best practices in platform engineering and DevOps, introducing innovative solutions to enhance infrastructure and processes.Encourage and develop a diverse range of people, promote business objectives, and model the behaviours and standards expected of an experienced civil service member.Lead the decision-making throughout the product life cycle and phases of product delivery, from stakeholder engagement to analysis, development of platform designs, and implementation.Act as a DevOps champion, taking responsibility for specific deliverables, promoting DevOps and Agile best practices with passion.Be a team player, empowering team members for success, recognising the bigger picture, and going the extra mile for high quality delivery in a highperforming organisation.Interpret the needs of technical and business stakeholders into technical requirements, manage stakeholder expectations, and facilitate challenging discussions.Apply detailed knowledge of techniques and concepts required for the role, liaise with other technical teams for seamless service delivery, and identify areas for impactful innovation in data tools and techniques.Advance engineering excellence across the Agency through the development and leadership of our engineering community of practice, focusing on sharing knowledge, enhancing standards, and providing a foundation for technical growth. Person specification Essential Criteria Infrastructure as Code: Proficient in designing, implementing & maintaining infrastructure using Terraform to ensure scalability, reliability, and securityAWS Expertise: Extensive experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS) along with a thorough understanding of best practiceGit/GitHub: Use of Git/GitHub for version control, creating & managing repositories, branching strategies, & use of GitHub Actions for CI/CDDevOps Methodologies: In-depth knowledge of DevOps principles & practices, with the ability to orchestrate & automate end-to-end CI/CD pipelinesScripting and Programming: Proficient in multiple programming languagesDisaster Recovery and High Availability: Experience in designing & implementing disaster recovery plansContainerisation and Orchestration: Working knowledge of containerisation technologies such as Docker & container orchestration tools like KubernetesSecurity and Compliance: Strong understanding of security best practices in cloud and infrastructure managementSignificant experience as a Platform / DevOps EngineerLine management experience Alongside your salary of £56,185, UK Health Security Agency contributes £16,276 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window). Learning and development tailored to your roleAn environment with flexible working optionsA culture encouraging inclusion and diversityA Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% Artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use. Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.  Stage 1: Application & Sift  You will be required to complete an application form. You will be assessed on the listed 10 essential criteria, and this will be in the form of a:  Application form (Employer/ Activity history’ section on the application)  750 word supporting statement.   This should outline how you consider your skills, experience and knowledge provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with reference to the essential criteria.     You will receive a joint score for your application form and statement. (The application form is the kind of information you would put into your C.V –please be advised you will not be able to upload your CV. Please complete the application form in as much detail as possible). Please do not email us your CV.  Healthjobs UK has a word limit of 1500, but your supporting statement must be no more than 750 words. We will not consider any words over 750 words.  Longlisting In the event of a large number of applications we will longlist into 3 piles of:  Meets all essential criteria   Meets some essential criteria   Meets no essential criteria   If used, the pile ‘Meets all essential criteria’ will proceed to shortlisting.  Shortlisting In the event of a large number of applications we may conduct an initial sift, on the lead criteria of: Infrastructure as Code: Proficient in designing, implementing & maintaining infrastructure using Terraform to ensure scalability, reliability, and securityAWS Expertise: Extensive experience with Amazon Web Services (AWS) along with a thorough understanding of best practiceGit/GitHub: Use of Git/GitHub for version control, creating & managing repositories, branching strategies, & use of GitHub Actions for CI/CD If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview & assessment.  Feedback will not be provided at this stage.  Stage 2: Interview You will be invited to a single remote interview.  Behaviours and Technical skills will be tested at interview. The Behaviours Tested During The Interview Stage Will Be Manging a quality service (Lead behaviour)Delivering at paceCommunication and influencingMaking effective decisionsChanging and improving There will be a Technical Test and Presentation. The Candidate will be asked to present on the technical test completed prior to interview. Interview dates to be confirmed.  Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.  Location This role is being offered as hybrid working based at any of our Core HQs. We offer great flexible working opportunities at UKHSA and operate using a hybrid working model where business needs allow. This provides us with greater flexibility about how and where we work, to get the best from our workforce. As a hybrid worker, you will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of your contractual working hours (approximately 3 days a week pro rata, (averaged over a month) working at one of UKHSA's core HQs (Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and London). Our core HQ offices are modern and newly refurbished with excellent city centre transport links and benefit from co-location with other government departments such as the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC). Security Clearance Level Requirement Successful candidates must pass a standard disclosure and barring security check before they can be appointed. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Clearance. For meaningful National Security Vetting checks to be carried out individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. You should normally have been resident in the United Kingdom for the last 5 years as the role requires Security Check (SC) clearance. UK residency less than the outlined periods may not necessarily bar you from gaining national security vetting and applicants should contact the Vacancy Holder/Recruiting Manager listed in the advert for further advice. Eligibility Criteria External: Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including internal applicants). Salary Information If you are successful at interview, and are moving from another government department, NHS, or Local Authority, the relevant starting salary principles for level transfers or promotions will apply. Otherwise, roles are offered at the pay scale minimum for the grade, but in exceptional circumstances there may be flexibility if you are able to demonstrate you are already in receipt of an existing, higher salary. Pay increases are through the relevant annual pay award for the role and terms. Grade 7 £56,185- £66,581 (National) (+MPS of £10,000 per annum pro rata)£58,340- £68,574 (Outer London) (+MPS of £10,000 per annum pro rata)£60,494- £70,566 (Inner London) (+MPS of £10,000 per annum pro rata) Qualifications And Registrations For roles where specific qualifications or registrations are required, successful applicants will be asked to provide appropriate evidence. Employment cannot commence until satisfactory documentation has been received and verified. Future location UKHSA is investing in a new state-of-the-art National Biosecurity Centre in Harlow, Essex, which will eventually bring together teams currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale and Porton Down. For more details, please see: Huge biosecurity centre investment to boost pandemic protection - GOV.UK The new facilities will start becoming operational in the mid-2030s, with full completion by 2038. Staff will move in phases as facilities become available. If you're appointed to a role currently based at Canary Wharf, Colindale or Porton Down, please note that we'll continue investing in these sites for the next decade. As we get closer to the transition, we'll provide full information about relocation support available to staff. Reasonable Adjustments The Civil Service is committed to making sure that our selection methods are fair to everyone. To help you during the recruitment process, we will consider any reasonable adjustments that could help you. An adjustment is a change to the recruitment process or an adjustment at work. This is separate to the Disability Confident Scheme. If you need an adjustment to be made at any point during the recruitment process you should contact the recruitment team in confidence as soon as possible to discuss your needs. You can find out more information about reasonable adjustments across the Civil Service here: Reasonable Adjustments , Civil Service Careers International Police check If you have spent more than 6 months abroad over the last 3 years you may need an International Police Check. This would not necessarily have to be in a single block, and it could be time accrued over that period. Internal Fraud Check If successful for this role as one aspect of pre-employment screening, applicant’s personal details – name, national insurance number and date of birth - will be checked against the Cabinet Office Internal Fraud Hub, and anyone included on the database will be refused employment unless they can show exceptional circumstances. Currently this is only for external candidates to the Civil Service. Careers website Please visit our careers site for more information UKHSA Hub , Civil Service Careers Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check. 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. Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check. 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 nationalsnationals of the Republic of Irelandnationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UKnationals 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 2020Turkish 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 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. 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). The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). 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 : Timor MiakhelEmail : timor.miakhel@ukhsa.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : recruitment@ukhsa.gov.uk Further information The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact the UKHSA Complaints team via email at: Complaints@ukhsa.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Visit the Civil Service Commission website for further information: Home - Civil Service Commission http://www.healthjobsuk.com/vacancy/8230671