DDAT – Principal Devops Engineer

Apply before 11:55 pm on Thursday 12th September 2024

Job summary

The Ministry of Defence deploys software globally to hundreds of thousands of users.  From native mobile apps through to massively scaling workloads in AWS, we need to manage these deployments securely and safely.

We are growing our in-house DevSecOps engineering team to address this challenge.

About the Digital Foundry - who are we? The Digital Foundry is part of the MOD's Defence Digital, which provides digital and technology services to our Armed Forces, ensuring they can operate securely via radio, satellite, and the internet 24/7/365.

The Digital Foundry is Defence’s centre of expertise for software, automation and data integration, and provides a range of Platform as a Service (PaaS) for hundreds of digital teams.

DevOps Engineers , Defence Digital Foundry (youtube.com)

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Strategic Command is going through a significant transformation programme which aims to improve the way the Command conducts its business and delivers for Defence and the nation. As a consequence of this, all posts within Strategic Command Headquarters and in time the wider organisation, are/will be subject to review and potential changes as we continuously improve across the period of the transformation programme. These changes may be minor or could be more substantive and will generate new opportunities.  Throughout, the Command’s transformation programme is committed to following the MOD’s framework on managing and supporting people through the change process and places an emphasis on early and open consultation and engagement with the Command’s personnel and Trade Unions.

Job description

Drive Delivery Excellence;

As our Principal Devops Engineer, you'll be part of the senior leadership team in the Digital Foundry and the lead engineer for a segment of our technology stack.

You will balance hands-on delivery with driving the engineering culture and quality across our teams of civil servants, military, contractors, and service providers.  Delivering an exceptional service to our users is at the heart of our mission.

Your responsibilities include:

• Acting as a hands-on expert in many technical areas and/or as a specialist with very deep knowledge in a particular technical area.
• Using this knowledge, and working with related disciplines, to keep multiple teams working effectively.
• Developing capability by facilitating internal mobility, shaping career paths, and recruiting talent.
• Identifying, testing, and championing the adoption of industry best practice.

Ready to take on this pivotal role?

Work with incredible technologies at incredible scale and make a difference for the UK in the Geopolitical context. Join our team and make a real impact.

Person specification

Let's ignite your Devops Career!

Are you a seasoned DevOps engineer craving a challenge?

We're looking for people with a strong engineering background, as well as the analytics and soft skills to make them a great Principal DevOps engineer!

You'll need to be accomplished in one or more programming languages such as Java, Bash, C#, PHP, Python or Go and a solid understanding of languages used by our users such as Javascript, React, and Python.

You will need to have the following Essential Criteria;

• Solid practical experience of cloud architectures and infrastructure in a production environment
• Exposure to supporting technologies and methodologies of cloud architectures and infrastructure
• You will have worked around multiple parts of the software life-cycle and be comfortable presenting and sharing your knowledge.

Ideally you'll also have experience in some of the following, If you meet some but think that you might not meet every last one, then don’t let that stop you from submitting an application!  Aptitude and approach are as valuable to us as straight-out experience.

• Experience with services from Amazon Web Services and other hyperscale cloud providers.
• Experience and/or strong understanding of deploying and managing Kubernetes clusters.
• Experience and strong understanding of source code management and CI/CD pipelines and technologies.
• Good understanding of modern data and messaging technologies.
• Several years’ experience engineering large scale services and systems in multiple industries.
• Experience of leading technical teams with a DevOps culture surrounded by lean / agile delivery methodologies.
• Experience of working in a team using TDD/BDD
• Great planning, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent people skills. Able to deal with non-technical stakeholders and engineers alike.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,820, Ministry of Defence contributes £18,311 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

As well as exciting, meaningful work, joining Defence Digital gives you access to brilliant
benefits to support your well-being, family life and finances.

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• An environment with flexible working options
• 25 days annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service
• Ability to roll over up to 10 days annual leave per year
• In addition to 8 public holidays per year you will also receive leave for HM The King's birthday
• Minimum of 15 Days Special Leave in a rolling 12-month period to for volunteer military or emergency service reserve commitments
• Special Paid Leave for volunteering up to 6 days a year
• Enhanced parental and adoption leave
• Employee Assistance Programme to support your well-being
• Most sites have good travel links with free car parking; many also have other facilities such as a Sports & Social Club and Gyms
• A highly competitive pension scheme.

AI Usage in Job Applications

We encourage the use of technology to streamline the job application process. Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be helpful in generating ideas, improving writing style, and increasing efficiency. However, it is essential that any content submitted as part of a job application is truthful, accurate, and a genuine reflection of the applicant’s qualifications and experiences.

Any use of AI should be supplementary to your own knowledge and abilities. Ultimately, the application should demonstrate your unique skills and suitability for the role.

 Equality and Diversity

Our people are at the heart of everything we do at Defence Digital. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

Hybrid Working

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk .

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

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.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

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.

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).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

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APPLY HERE: DDAT - Principal Devops Engineer