Principal DevOps - HO - G6
Government Digital & Data -
We are looking for people who are passionate about Engineering to join our community led team in Shared Applications Service (SAS). You will work in agile multidisciplinary teams with over 200 engineers in a modern cloud environment using the latest technologies. Our purpose as a team is to bring technical understanding in-house for over 600 Home Office applications.
You could be creating and maintaining some of the most critical public services in the United Kingdom and transforming how we use data and technology to improve these. We are responsible for designing, building and supporting solutions to help people prove their identity or apply for visas. You could also be working on critical IT systems that support policing and counter terrorism, which helps protect UK borders.
Job description
The Principal DevOps is responsible for key elements of our platforms, CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Delivery) pipelines and overall automation approaches. Your role is to support the delivery, update or evolution of these systems as well as to provide expert technical advice. You will also be expected to set the technical direction for our future platforms, be this through hands on delivery or design.
You will frequently collaborate with and take part in planning with senior business stakeholders to ensure that security, stability and capacity are embedded in the development and deployment of services. You will identify and explore opportunities for technology service and business improvement.
Tools and Technologies we use:
We are keen for Engineers to continue learning new technologies, we have a large range in the Home Office including:
- Backend: Java, Node.js, C#, Python, PHP, Scala, Power platform
- Frontend: React, JavaScript, Typescript, Angular
- Data: PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Mongodb, Apache Cassandra
- DevOps: AWS, Kubernetes, Azure, Jenkins, Docker, Ansible, Terraform
Recruitment events
We are hosting an Engineering online recruitment event on Wednesday 21st May 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Where you can find out more about our roles, working for the organisation and how to apply. Register your interest: Home Office Events
What you will do
Your main day to day responsibilities will be:
- carrying out challenging platform build, maintenance and evolution activities; being the technical expert and on-going support in your area
- developing new platforms/systems as well as maintaining guidance for others building/using them
- developing patterns for platforms use, proposing new and improved approaches
- supporting teams working with our platforms; advising on automation and platform use to meet our systems objectives
- demonstrating an advanced appreciation of security issues and advising delivery teams on how to build secure services
Like many organisations we need to maintain our services 24/7, therefore, on occasions there may be a requirement to work out of hours, for which you will be paid an additional allowance.
Person specification
UK residency and security requirements - You need to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years.
Essential criteria
As a Principal DevOps, you will have experience of many, if not all of below:
- Specifying and designing large, complex cloud platforms and solutions using AWS or Azure, and developing organisational standards for cloud application design.
- Specifying and setting standards for automated testing, scanning and code analysis in collaboration with testers, architects, service owners and developers.
- Specifying and ensuring good use of processes, procedures and tooling for application monitoring, maintenance, and incident response.
- Specifying and leading implementation of data management processes and standards for cloud resources such as naming, tagging, metadata, backups, data onboarding/migration, and documentation.
- Selecting appropriate tooling, and specifying, designing, refactoring, and documenting complex scripts, frameworks, and infrastructure-as-code definitions, to automate build and deployment activities.
- Specifying, guiding, and leading the adoption of CI/CD frameworks and tooling, and contributing to standards on their use.
SFIA capability framework
Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all engineering levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework: All skills A–Z — English (sfia-online.org)
We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process.
SFIA levels of responsibility – Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each Technical Skill listed below.
SFIA Technical Skills
The essential technical skills listed below are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework. Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role.
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Software design (SWDN) - Level 5
- Programming/software development (PROG) - Level 4
- Testing (TEST) - Level 4
- Systems integration and build (SINT) - Level 5
- Data management (DATM) - Level 4
- Application support (ASUP) - Level 4
