Senior DevOps Engineer

Bristol, Darlington, London, Manchester, Wolverhampton Job Summary Here at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives. Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all a part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time. We have circa 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK. The Digital Planning Programme is transforming England’s planning system through modern, user-centred digital services, shared technology capabilities and better use of data. As a Senior DevOps Engineer, you will provide hands-on engineering and technical leadership across the Digital Planning Programme. You will help delivery teams build, operate and improve secure, reliable and sustainable services, while creating reusable platform capabilities and engineering approaches that benefit the programme as a whole. You can explore our platform here Planning Data, and as we work in the open, you can find out what we do here at Digital Land. Job Description Find out more about our Digital teams and what they are working on through our MHCLG Digital blog. Please note that MHCLG do not offer visa sponsorship and applicants will need a valid visa for the duration of your employment. As a Senior Development Engineer You'll: Design, build, operate and improve shared cloud infrastructure and platform capabilities, primarily on AWS. Build and maintain automated, repeatable and auditable CI/CD workflows and infrastructure as code. Create, document and support the adoption of reusable modules, templates and delivery patterns across programme teams. Embed security, observability, resilience, backup, recovery and incident response into live services. Work alongside multidisciplinary delivery teams to resolve complex delivery and operational problems, improve reliability and maintainability, and reduce avoidable infrastructure and support costs. Provide technical leadership and coaching across teams and suppliers, and support proportionate technical assurance by identifying risks, testing proposed approaches and helping teams meet programme standards. Improve developer experience through self-service tooling, clear documentation and secure-by-default ways of working. Find out more about our Digital teams and what they are working on through our MHCLG Digital blog. Please note that MHCLG do not offer visa sponsorship and applicants will need a valid visa for the duration of your employment. As a Senior Development Engineer You'll: Design, build, operate and improve shared cloud infrastructure and platform capabilities, primarily on AWS. Build and maintain automated, repeatable and auditable CI/CD workflows and infrastructure as code. Create, document and support the adoption of reusable modules, templates and delivery patterns across programme teams. Embed security, observability, resilience, backup, recovery and incident response into live services. Work alongside multidisciplinary delivery teams to resolve complex delivery and operational problems, improve reliability and maintainability, and reduce avoidable infrastructure and support costs. Provide technical leadership and coaching across teams and suppliers, and support proportionate technical assurance by identifying risks, testing proposed approaches and helping teams meet programme standards. Improve developer experience through self-service tooling, clear documentation and secure-by-default ways of working. Person specification You will combine substantial hands-on engineering experience with technical leadership. You will make sound decisions under uncertainty, explain risks and trade-offs clearly, collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams and suppliers, and improve engineering practice through coaching, reusable approaches and constructive challenge. Required Experience Designing, building and operating secure, reliable AWS-based infrastructure and production services, including making and owning decisions throughout their lifecycle. Using Terraform to design, manage and improve infrastructure as code, including reusable modules, testing, change control and state management. Designing and maintaining CI/CD workflows. Applying secure software-delivery and cloud-security practices, including identity and access management, secrets handling, vulnerability management and automated security checks. Observability, incident response, recovery, performance and capacity planning. Diagnosing complex delivery or operational problems across application, infrastructure and organisational boundaries. Providing technical leadership across multiple teams, coaching engineers, setting or improving engineering approaches, and influencing delivery decisions without relying on direct line-management authority. Communicating technical decisions, risks and trade-offs to technical and non-technical stakeholders. Desirable Experience Containerised, Kubernetes or serverless workloads. Creating reusable platform capabilities or self-service tooling. Government standards and guidance, including the Service Standard, Technology Code of Practice or NCSC guidance. Open source, open standards and working in the open. Alongside your salary of £64,811, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £18,775 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). At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here. 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 Application and Selection The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles: Behaviours , Experience , Technical Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information. Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link. Stage 1: Sift (CV) Experience CV and supporting evidence assessed against the required experience, with the lead criterion focused on designing, building and operating secure, reliable AWS-based infrastructure and production services. Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors. Stage 2: Interview Behaviours: Making Effective Decisions, Communicating and Influencing, Changing and ImprovingExperience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description. Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description. Candidates will be asked to prepare a ten minute presentation assessing on technical success profiles, with details to follow for successful candidates. Sift and Interview Dates Sifting is envisaged to take place from 12th October 2026 with interview dates to follow. Group 1 Digital and Data roles  MHCLG has implemented the Digital and Data capability framework for Group 1 roles. Applicants that are successful and have been offered a position will be required to complete a capability assessment after the interview.      MHCLG will honour completed capability assessments for this role from other Government Departments for existing civil servants on level transfer only. Please provide a copy of your capability assessment to the Hiring Manager when applying. If you have any queries on pay, please contact the Hiring Manager.  Each experience or technical skill is assessed between 1-3, representing working towards, at or above the job level requirements. You are awarded a proficiency level accordingly, and you will be given opportunity to annually re assess your capability and potentially increase your overall remuneration, through payment of allowances, depending on level of assessed capability.  Candidates moving from another government department have the option to retain their current basic pay if this is within our pay band for the relevant grade. G7 Group 1 Digital and Data Salary  The basic pay for this role will be between £70,677 (London), £64,811(National). Candidates will usually be recruited to the median of the payscale.A digital allowance of up to £12,894 (National) or £12,736 (London) may also be payable depending on the level of assessed capability, in order to meet the MHCLG overall targeted remuneration rate for the specific grade, location and capability rating.For applicants in receipt of existing allowances, we will assess each case individually, but we would seek not to exceed the MHCLG overall targeted remuneration rate for the specific grade, location and capability rating for existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply, subject to the statements above. How We Recruit Find out everything you need to know before applying here.. Applying Sifting Interview Interview Results & Feedback Reserve List Near Miss Civil Service Grades We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer Reasonable Adjustments How To Apply What you need to know before applying. Here’s a link to the MHCLG Digital blog You must review the following information from the MHCLG Career's Site before submitting your application. This step is essential to ensure your eligibility for the role and that your application is completed correctly. Security Clearance Requirements Civil Service Nationality Requirements Right to Work Artificial Intelligence Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles CV Declaration Sponsorships Salary and Grade Existing Civil Servants Conflict of Interest Location and Flexible Working Fixed Term Contracts Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register Appeals and Complaints Conflict of Interest Security Clearance Requirements National Office: SC London Office: SC 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. 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 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. 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). 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 : Digital Data JobsEmail : digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk