Lead DevOps Engineer IBCA Data Platform (Infected Blood Compensation Authority) - CO - G7
Government Digital & Data -
Location
Glasgow, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
About the job
Job summary
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) is responsible for delivering a compensation scheme that has been long awaited by the infected blood community to provide financial compensation to victims of infected blood on a UK-wide basis.
This role will lead our devOps engineering capability within the engineering team of the Data Operations arm of the IBCA Data Directorate.
The Data Operations team is responsible for developing and running safe and secure data solutions that provide a single source of truth for those going through their compensation journey. They are building a new data platform using Amazon Web Services (AWS) and data management and intelligence products using Databricks, Quantexa and Tableau.
We are taking a product-centric approach treating data as a product and are building squads around our products, with a focus on paying compensation to those impacted by the infected blood scandal seamlessly.
You will be responsible for managing the entire application lifecycle, automating the end-to-end delivery of high-quality software and building a culture of data-driven operational excellence.
Working at IBCA gives you a huge opportunity to make an impact on those who deserve compensation, and this role suits a candidate who can lead a team of data engineers to deliver solutions from the ground up to take from ideation to reality so that data is an enabler to everything IBCA does.
Job description
As the Lead DevOps Engineer, you will join a multidisciplinary team to manage the entire application lifecycle and infrastructure using infrastructure as code (IaC), CI/CD pipelines, and DevSecOps best practices, while also driving data quality, mentoring junior colleagues, and fostering a strong devOps engineering community.
You will:
- Provide technical guidance for the development of robust, automated CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code (IaC) for our software platforms, encompassing DevSecOps best practices from security to monitoring.
- Ensure our tools and deployment techniques are scalable, secure, and efficient.
- Be responsible for ensuring the right DevOps practices are embedded consistently and to industry standards across our digital service delivery teams.
- Develop the DevOps capability by creating learning and development (L&D) pathways, shaping career paths, and recruiting new talent to the organization.
- Provide leadership and guidance to a team of DevOps and platform engineers, further developing your own leadership and technical skills.
Main Responsibilities
- DevOps Solution Delivery: Designing, building, and delivering automated, scalable, and secure CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure as code within cloud environments like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. This includes automating software delivery from code commit to production deployment and ensuring seamless integration between platforms.
- Collaboration & Partnership: Drive high build quality and operational excellence by ensuring the stability, security, and resilience of products. This includes embedding modern CI/CD, monitoring, and observability practices.
- Quality & Operational Excellence: Driving high build and data quality, ensuring stability, robustness, and resilience of products, and embedding Agile, CI/CD, and DevOps practices.
- Leadership & Community Building: Mentor and guide junior team members, fostering professional development and building a DevOps community. Review solutions, troubleshoot complex issues, and proactively drive innovation and the adoption of new technologies.
- Stakeholder Engagement & Problem Solving: Communicating complex data solutions and championing innovative approaches to diverse stakeholders, while also anticipating and resolving intricate data engineering challenges and building consensus to align data designs with organizational goals.
- Foster a positive and inclusive team environment that promotes wellbeing, collaboration, and a supportive culture aligned with departmental values.
Opportunities to move to the new Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA)
At the moment all IBCA roles are hosted by Cabinet Office within the Civil Service. However, once IBCA becomes an independent employer, it is anticipated that most of these roles will transfer to IBCA, which means that the post-holder will leave the Civil Service to become a public servant..
Roles that transfer to IBCA from Cabinet Office will maintain the same (Infected Blood Compensation Authority) or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment that are overall no less favourable. Employees who move from Cabinet Office to IBCA will be able to continue to participate in the Civil Service Pension arrangements with no break in their pensionable service.
Roles commencing after IBCA has become an employer may be with IBCA itself on similar terms and conditions. All successful candidates will receive full details of the terms and conditions of employment for their role with their formal job offer.
Please note that the mission of IBCA means that it is likely to be operational for a period of approximately 5 to 7 years. When IBCA’s work begins to wind down, IBCA employees will receive support and practical guidance to find a new role, whether in the Civil Service, another Arms Length Body (ALB), or an external employer.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Strong experience with cloud-native DevOps practices in AWS, Azure, or GCP and building and maintaining complex CI/CD pipelines in a fast-paced delivery setting. This includes knowledge of infrastructure as code (IaC), configuration management, and modern release strategies
- Experience working with different development stacks and operating systems to support both legacy and modern application delivery
- Experience with Agile/DevOps working practices in multi-disciplinary teams, including using CI/CD pipelines, Scrum, and Automation.
- Experience with the full end-to-end software delivery lifecycle, from code commit to production, with a deep understanding of the interactions and dependencies within application development, testing, and operations
- Demonstrable experience setting up new DevOps processes from scratch or implementing large changes to existing processes within an organization that operates in a cloud DevSecOps environment
- Strong experience in managing team dynamics and facilitating difficult discussions within the team or with a diverse set of stakeholders.
Desirable Criteria:
- Management of contracts and 3rd party suppliers for software and professional services.
- Experience with containerization and orchestration tools like Docker and Kubernetes.
Additional information:
A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Changing and Improving
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Data analysis and synthesis (Practitioner)
- Data development process (Expert)
