Senior Engineer - Infrastructure Operations Newcastle upon Tyne, England
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About the job
Job summary
At HMRC we are committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues; an inclusive and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society we serve.
We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us and we offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career at HMRC accessible to you.
Diverse perspectives and experiences are critical to our success and we welcome applications from all people from all backgrounds with the experience and skills needed to perform this role.
See what it’s like to work at HMRC: find out more about us or ask our colleagues a question. Questions relating to an individual application must be emailed as detailed later in this advert.
Are you an Infrastructure Engineer with experience of using environment management software?
Do you want to work with some of the most cutting-edge technologies with the opportunity to continuously develop your skill set?
Are you interested in working for an organisation that truly champions a healthy work-life balance?
If you answered “yes” then you should consider a career at HMRC. We are looking for people like you to join the Borders and Trade Team to help deliver and support IT solutions for those business areas which manage Customs, Excise and International Trade activities.
Job description
The Role:
This is an exciting and challenging role for those looking to deliver technological change against a background of organisational transformation, as well as an opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives by delivering great digital products.
As a Senior Infrastructure Engineer in the Borders and Trade Environment Guild you’ll responsible for environment and platform management across multiple IT services. You’ll be working with physical and cloud-based environments that both support critical national infrastructure and keep the UK economy and international trade moving. You’ll be part of a larger agile team at the heart of enabling HMRC to move its legacy systems to state-of-the-art cloud-based platforms. Leading a small team of Infrastructure engineers on both build and run activities.
We’re embarking on a wholesale modernisation of our IT estate so you’ll be working on the migration of one of the most complex IT estates in Europe to cutting edge cloud technologies using AWS, MS Azure and other emerging technology stacks. You’ll have opportunities to learn those and other new technologies as they arise and keep your skillset current. The diversity and complexity of our systems mean you’ll always be able to learn something new and we’ll support you all the way. As a Senior Infrastructure Engineer, you will make a key contribution towards the successful development and support of significant projects and programmes; ranging from delivering critical Customs and Border changes which underpin the government’s 2025 UK Border Strategy.
The Team:
The CDIO, Borders & Trade environment guild is a newly mobilised team which has been created to meet the needs of the Engineering and Live Services organisation within which it will be managed. The role will give the successful candidates an opportunity to shape how this team develops over the coming years.
We operate a structure to ensure that we provide skilled resources to enable us to meet the needs of our customers in an Agile way helping to drive high levels of collaboration and innovation. Guilds provide a permanent organisation construct that are set up to bring together people who share technical, functional and professional skills. The Guild responsibility will be to define the technical standards and tools that its members will use. It also ensures that members of the Guild continually improve their skills so that technical skills remain current, are aligned to HMRC/CDIO strategy and in-step with IT industry developments.
Responsibilities
Role Responsibilities as a Senior Infrastructure Engineer:
- Manage and maintain all Borders and Trade platforms across all environments, both physical and virtual. working with 3rd party suppliers and internal teams ensuring out environments are highly available, secure and performant.
- Manage and track Borders and Trade assets using environment management system software and tools to collect agreed statistics and data. Carrying out agreed environment maintenance and administration tasks, ensuring that data is collected to support reporting and analysis. Automating regular tasks where possible.
- Making certain that all Border and Trade platforms and assets are patched and secured to an agreed supported level. Owning and managing the annual patching plan. Working with suppliers and third parties to ensure patches are implemented across all environments in a timely manner. Keeping in line with HMRC’s Patching Policies.
- Ensure environment cyber vulnerabilities or threats identified are verified and addressed with immediate effect with as little impact to the business.
- Maintain and develop infrastructure/environment products and tools working towards a strategic roadmap. Developing and maintaining procedures and documentation for environment management. Contributing to the setting of standards for environment management in Borders and Trade and ensuring conformance to those standards.
- Proactively identify issues or problems working within the team and the wider Border and Trade delivery group or 3rd party suppliers to resolve. Supporting Major Incidents impacting the business where the Environment Team can assist or resolve.
- Ensuring that the Environment Team impacts all relevant Change Requests providing accurate lead times and suitable estimate responses.
- Identification of opportunities for continuous improvements within Borders and Trade systems, services and component.
- Taking a proactive lead on environment activities and advising/leading Infrastructure Engineers on project and support work including line management of a small team.
- Mentoring less experienced team members and sharing technical knowledge and best practice.
- Updating your knowledge and skill level as new technologies appear on HMRC’s technical roadmap.
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
We are looking for people with knowledge and experience of Environment administration and support.
You will already have knowledge and experience of:
- Environment management, across multiple IT services, physical and/or cloud based
- Environment maintenance.
- Strong analytical skills and problem solving
- Working independently and performing your own research
- Producing and maintaining accurate and thorough documentation
Desirable Criteria:
Ideally, you will also have practical experience in the use of some or all the following:
Technologies including Opsview, Power BI Building- Leading and developing a team
- Working in cloud environments (ideally AWS and/or AZURE)
- Experience in the transfer of legacy systems to cloud platforms
- Familiarity with delivery management of patching cycles
- Familiarity with and experience working on Windows, Unix and Linux operating systems
Benefits
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
Team members that are moving offices as a result of the Locations Programme will be entitled to a Moves Adjustment Payment for three years where they incur additional costs. This is calculated based on the difference between the costs of travelling to and from the new and old office, over a weekly period. You will get more detail on this as part of targeted locations move communications.
Find more about HMRC benefits in 'Your little extras and big benefits handbook' for further information or visit Thinking of joining the Civil Service.
Things you need to know
Selection process details
This vacancy is using CV, Personal Statement and Experience.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete a CV and 500-word Personal Statement. Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Please note that your CV and your 500-word Personal Statement should be aligned to the essential criteria required for the advertised role.
A sift of your CV & Personal Statement will be conducted against the essential criteria required for the advertised post.
Candidates that are successful at sift will be invited to an interview, where you will be assessed on your experience and skills.
Sift and interview dates to be confirmed and interviews will be online.
Please take extra care to tick the correct boxes in the eligibility sections of your application form. We understand mistakes sometimes happen but if you contact us later than two working days (Monday-Friday) before the vacancy closes, we will not be able to reopen your application for you. The inbox to contact is: [email protected] - Use subject line to insert appropriate wording e.g. Please re-open my application - 279058 & vacancy closing date 25.04.2023.
Security Update
If you are successful and transferring from another Government Department, we will carry out a check of your identity, nationality, and immigration status (including the right to work in the UK) and a criminal record check before confirming your appointment.
Successful candidates must pass a Disclosure and Barring Security Check/Disclosure Scotland. Please note that HMRC have an exemption under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, which enables us to make enquiries about both unspent and spent convictions.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service /Disclosure Scotland on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing [email protected] stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
For further information on the Disclosure Scotland confidential checking service telephone: the Disclosure Scotland Helpline on 0870 609 6006 and ask to speak to the operations manager in confidence, or email [email protected]
Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment.
A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.
HMRC transformation
HM Revenue and Customs is currently going through an exciting ten-year transformation programme to create a tax authority fit for the future. As part of this, we are committed to providing high-quality jobs and giving employees a great place to work, whichever location you work from.
HM Revenue and Customs has made significant progress with its plans to locate in 14 large, modern, flexible offices, equipped with high-speed digital infrastructure supporting improved customer service and compliance activity. These collaborative workspaces will enable smarter working and great training and development facilities, allowing for the sharing of expertise, local training, promotion, and provide great ongoing career development opportunities.
These offices will be located in central locations in the following towns and cities close to accessible transport links: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Belfast, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Croydon, Portsmouth and Stratford.
In addition, there will also be a small number of specialist sites where the work cannot be done anywhere else, in Gartcosh (near Glasgow), Telford, Ipswich, Worthing and Dover, as well as our headquarters in central London. What’s more, our Welsh language service has people located in Porthmadog, as well as Cardiff.
We are letting you know about our future plans because if you are recruited into an office that is not one of these locations, you will be expected, subject to HM Revenue and Customs applicable policies, to move to one of these locations in the future. In some cases, this will be via one of our nine transitional sites.
For more information please contact the vacancy holder.
Terms and Conditions
We really hope you decide to apply for this role. If you’re successful you need to know that in February 2021 members of recognised trade unions (ARC and PCS) voted to approve a pay and contract reform offer. This means that HMRC will adopt new terms and conditions for all colleagues as part of a multi-year pay deal and contract offer, the pay deal period is 01 June 2020 – 31st May 2023 and terms and conditions changes take place from the 01 June 2021 onwards. These terms will apply to colleagues who already work in HMRC and if you join us, it will apply to you too. We’ve put together a summary of the key changes that will be made and you can find this attached to the Job Advert.
Pay
If you are currently working for an OGD and would like to consider the impact on your pay when joining HMRC, please see the attached document "Pay on Transfer from OGD" for further information. (Please note the attached document could also be called “Combined T&C and OGD Pay English”)
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
Further Information
Customer facing roles in HMRC require the ability to converse at ease with members of the public and provide advice in accurate spoken English and/or Welsh where required. Where this is an essential requirement this will be tested as part of the selection process.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
After interview, a single merit list will be created, and you will only be considered for posts in locations you have expressed a preference for. Appointments will be made in strict merit order in line with the set number of roles in each location.
Any move to HMRC from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility here.
HMRC welcomes applications from those who need to work a more flexible arrangement and will agree to requests where possible, taking into account our operational and customer service needs. We can’t guarantee that we can meet all requests to work flexibly, as agreement will be subject to business ability to accommodate, and any request to work a more flexible arrangement should be made prior to your acceptance of the provisional offer.
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.
Important information for existing HMRC contractual homeworkers:
This role may be suitable for existing HMRC employees who are contractual homeworkers. Occasional attendance to the office will be required where there is a business need, so please take into account the advertised office locations for this role when submitting an application and only select locations from the ‘location preferences’ section that you are able to travel to.
Reasonable adjustment
We want to make sure no one is put at a disadvantage during our recruitment process because of a disability, condition or impairment. To assist you with this, we will reduce or remove any barriers where possible and provide additional support where appropriate. Please see our Disability Matters: How we can support you during our selection process booklet for more details.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
- Contact Government Recruitment Service via [email protected] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
- Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
- UK nationals
- nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
- nationals of the Republic of Ireland
- nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
- relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
- certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals
Working for the Civil Service
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).
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