Lead Site Reliability Engineer

at  Government Digital Service

JOB SUMMARY

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is part of the Cabinet Office. We 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, dynamic and forward-looking, making our organisation an exciting and innovative place to work.
Find out more at the GDS Blog and the Inside GOV.UK Blog.

JOB DESCRIPTION

The recently established GDS Engineering Enablement team exists to ensure that GDS has the engineering tools and patterns it needs to drive efficiency, ensure security and enhance developer experience. We report to the GDS Chief Technology Officer and work closely with the GDS Chief Information Security Officer.

As Lead Site Reliability Engineer on the Engineering Enablement team, you will:

• lead a team of engineers to develop, integrate, maintain and support engineering tools and services used by other engineering teams throughout GDS, being directly responsible for service quality
• design, write and deliver technical solutions, infrastructure as code, and automation as part of a multidisciplinary agile team
• identify and mitigate technical risks in relation to infrastructure, operational tooling, and third party services
• lead by example, mentor/line manage team members and establish credibility through quality technical execution
• establish effective and collaborative working relationships with other GDS teams and the wider GDS engineering communities
• be part of our 2nd line and/or out of hours rotas

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals 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 2020
• Turkish 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)

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• an application screening process - send a CV and Cover Letter (up to 750 words). Please make sure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “who you are” section.
• a 20 minute phone screen (which may not be required depending on the volume of applications)
• a 30 minute technical interview (conducted over video conferencing)
• a 75 minute panel interview covering a mixture of technical and interpersonal skills (conducted over video conferencing

For this role we’ll consider the following Civil Service Behaviours that are most relevant to this role:

• working together
• changing and improving
• making effective decision

We will also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the DDaT Lead DevOps Engineer role:

• availability and capacity management
• development process optimisation
• information security
• modern standards approach
• programming and build (software engineering)
• service support
• systems design
• systems integratio