Senior Site Reliability Engineer

at  Government Digital Service

JOB SUMMARY

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is part of the Cabinet Office. We work at the very centre of government to make user-focused digital transformation happen. We build and maintain common platforms, products and tools to use and create great public services that are accessible, inclusive and easy to use. We also work with departments to identify patterns, share learning and create change to make government more efficient.

Our teams are organised around delivering on our priorities:

• make it easier for people to find what they are looking for on GOV.UK
• build common service platforms to make it simpler and cheaper quality digital services
• promote agile, user-centred design practices both in the UK and worldwide

GOV.UK One Login Programme represents a once in a generation and career opportunity to simplify and widen access to all digital government services. Sitting at the heart of the government, we are building one simple, safe and secure way for users to log in and prove who they are that will work across all government services.
Effective identity assurance is central to digital transformation and GOV.UK One Login enables people to prove who they are online, with the necessary level of confidence to access and use particular services. Our technology runs on AWS, using serverless compute and storage products. Backend services are written in TypeScript/Node.js and JVM technologies. Web applications also use TypeScript.
GOV.UK One Login programme is full of talented and passionate people who are focussed on delivering high quality products for services. We’re half way through our build phase and features are being shipped weekly as we work to mature our product so we can expand the range of services and departments benefitting from our work.
GOV.UK One Login is being designed and built for the many. It will unite services across government, revolutionising the way government departments interact digitally with users. One Login will deliver an accessible and essential function that will change lives and help millions.
Come and join a well motivated and multi-disciplined delivery team working to deliver on our commitments and roadmap. We are an ambitious, fast paced and visionary team, have a background in software delivery and are used to working in a scaled agile environment then this could be the place for you!
Find out more at the GDS Blog.

JOB DESCRIPTION

As a Senior Site Reliability Engineer at GDS you will:

• be part of one of our multidisciplinary service teams working with and supporting front-end and back-end developers, delivery and product managers, tech writers and architects
• build and maintain resilient, highly available and secure systems to meet the needs of our users
• take responsibility for solving complex and interesting problems
• create infrastructure as code to ensure our infrastructure and deployment pipelines are reusable, repeatable and reliable
• ensure our systems are appropriately monitored and instrumented to enable our teams to identify and respond to operational issues quickly and effectively
• build CI/CD pipelines to enable our developers to get their code into production as quickly and safely as possible
• act as a digital ambassador, sharing experiences through public speaking and blog posts
• participate in our in-hours 2nd line and out-of-hours support rotas to gain empathy for users and awareness of operational concerns
• share knowledge of tools and practices with your wider team and peers to drive consistency and maintain our high engineering standards
• directly line-manage 2-4 technologists, supporting their career progression, development and wellbeing, and providing regular coaching and performance feedback

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)

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS ROLE REQUIRES SC CLEARANCE, WHICH WOULD NORMALLY NEED 5 YEARS’ UK RESIDENCY IN THE PAST 5 YEARS. THIS IS NOT AN ABSOLUTE REQUIREMENT, BUT SUPPLEMENTARY CHECKS MAY BE NEEDED WHERE INDIVIDUALS HAVE NOT LIVED IN THE UK FOR THAT PERIOD. THIS MAY MEAN YOUR SECURITY CLEARANCE (AND THEREFORE YOUR APPOINTMENT) WILL TAKE LONGER OR, IN SOME CASES, NOT BE POSSIBLE.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• working together
• changing and improving
• making effective decisions
• leadership
• developing self and others

We will also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the GDAD Senior DevOps role:

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

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.
A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.
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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.
Other information: Occasionally, business pressures, priorities or critical delivery may mean that we move you into a different team or work area within GDS. This will always be within the same grade and discipline within which you were hired, but does mean that your focus or objectives may shift in order to deliver GDS business.
You may be aware that there are plans for the Government Digital Service (GDS) & the Central Digital & Data Office (CDDO) to move into the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT). This move is to bring together the digital transformation of public services into one core department. The move itself will offer huge opportunities whilst allowing DSIT to lead the way and drive forward the new Government’s digital agenda.
As the announcement is relatively new, we are awaiting more detailed information. Therefore, we encourage you to apply for this role, and will keep you informed with updated information throughout the application process.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a phone screening (20 minutes)
• a technical test followed by a civil service behavioural interview (90 minutes