What you'll do
The Cabinet Office’s Chief Digital Information Office (CDIO) and Government Digital Service (GDS) directorates lead the digital transformation of the UK government so that it works better for everyone.
Following our Government Design Principles, we deliver platforms, standards and digital services to help departments transform how they work and meet the needs of their users.
Our work is user-focused, touching the lives of millions of UK citizens on a daily basis and our culture is dynamic and forward-looking, making our organisation an exciting, rewarding and innovative place to work.
Find out more at the GDS Blog, the Design in Government blog, or from some our Site Reliability Engineers blog
As a Site Reliability Engineer in the Cabinet Office you will:
have and apply broad knowledge of core web technologies
take responsibility for solving complex issues
automate tasks, deployments, and tests by creating infrastructure as code, taking responsibility for the quality of code you produce
implement resilient, highly available systems
share knowledge of tools and techniques with your wider team
act as a digital ambassador, supporting recruitment, identifying good practices to adopt and sharing experiences, eg through blog posts, tech talks at conferences etc.
participate in our in-house (2nd line) support, and the out-of-hours support rota - you’ll be paid an allowance, and a further hourly payment, for any duties you perform when on call
share knowledge among our teams, ensuring that your team is understood by others and understanding the working of the wider organisation
As a Senior Site Reliability Engineer you will also:
provide technical leadership within the team, advising and working with Reliability Engineers and product teams to identify the best solutions
Who you are
We’re interested in people who want to use their skills and experience to make a genuine difference and:
are experienced with UNIX-like operating systems and technologies used for web applications, e.g Linux, databases, backups, CDNs
can demonstrate a working familiarity with at least one programming language such as Ruby, Java, Python, Javascript, Go
are experienced with AWS and the use of orchestration tools such as Terraform, Cloud Foundry, Kubernetes
understand software design principles
take a systematic approach to solving problems
use automated testing to validate solutions
understand agile environments and version control
are familiar with web security
understand network protocols, eg HTTPS, TLS etc
have familiarity with working practices such as test driven development, continuous integration and continuous delivery
Senior Site Reliability Engineers will also have experience of:
leading teams and projects, line management, helping colleagues with their career development and coaching more junior staff members
How you'll be assessed
In the Civil Service, we use our Success Profiles. For each role we advertise we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We will be looking at your experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the specific job role. We may assess your ability, strength, experience, technical/specialist skills and behaviours.
For this role the following behaviours are the most relevant:
Things you need to know
You can find out about the application process and practical details like our office locations on the things you need to know page.
Equal Opportunities
We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organisation. You can find out more about our commitment to diversity and inclusion and read our equal opportunities statement on our Diversity and Inclusion page.
