Norcross - Tomlinson House, FY5 3WP, Abbey Wood North, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, South West, BS34 8QW.
Job Summary
Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?
Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence?
Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.
* Our Vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
* Our Mission – Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability.
DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society.
We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as 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 office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity and any required workplace adjustments. 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). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.
DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2027.
Come and join the DBS community today!
https://youtu.be/gUw0ToaRGgk
Job Description
A Senior Infrastructure Engineer builds, administers, supports and maintains solutions as directed and according to departmental policy.
At This Role Level, You Will:
* Ensure services are integrated, delivered and operated as required.
* Work with and support third parties in providing infrastructure services.
* Work with technical architects to translate architectural designs into operations.
* Provide input into overall management - workforce, budget, technology roadmaps, projects and tasks.
* Lead and direct infrastructure specialist teams in building, managing, supporting and maintaining solutions according to departmental policy.
Specifically, As Senior Infrastructure Engineer (SEO) - You Will:
* Support, patch and administer Oracle databases, E Business Suite applications and related Oracle technologies including Dataguard, RMAN and Oracle Fusion Middleware.
* Support and administration to SQL server Databases.
* Support includes production, testing, disaster recovery and development databases and application services.
* Maintain the performance and availability of production services ensuring we meet prescribed Service Levels and Key Performance Indicators.
* Provide Database Administration support to projects.
Key Responsibilities:
* Provide hands-on day to day technical support for DBS DIT Infrastructure within the bounds of the Service Le Agreements.
* Ensure service availability of all "live" development & DR environments as dictated by SLA and ensure these environments are meeting the expectations of end users, record and log all infrastructure issues and ensure associated actions taken to resolve the issue are also documented using the IT helpdesk ticketing system..
* Manage the development, testing and implementation of Oracle database and E Business Suite patches and updates on a regular recurring cycle, ensuring that critical patches are applied to our systems in a timely manner whilst minimising downtime and risk of disruption to live service..
* Assist other Technical Support team members to ensure that normal service is restored as quickly as possible in the event of an incident, to minimize any disruption to the business.
* Where a forthcoming issue in the infrastructure environment can be pre-empted, identify and take pro-active actions prior incident occurring. (System housekeeping & system checks).
* Configure and manage system security.
* Lead, coach and develop teams where necessary to improve performance and meet objectives.
* Plan and organise workload to optimise performance.
* Possess sufficiently deep and wide specialist technical skills to assess and direct the technical direction of the infrastructure on which the systems are run.
* Deliver system change and enhancements approved by change requests by agreed targets to include assessment of change requests and delivery of solution once approved.
* Ensure documentation regarding server builds, network configuration, fixes, procedures and diagrams are up-to-date date and completed.
* Proactively define and analyse the root causes of specific infrastructure problems and implement the appropriate solutions to ensure rapid recovery ensuring that the Service Support Centre team are kept up to so they can manage business expectation accurately.
* Measure and provide reports on current performance of services and components in the infrastructure and provide these to the Performance Management function and Senior Management as and when required.
A Senior Infrastructure Engineer builds, administers, supports and maintains solutions as directed and according to departmental policy.
Key Responsibilities:
* Provide hands-on day to day technical support for DBS DIT Infrastructure within the bounds of the Service Le Agreements.
* Ensure service availability of all "live" development & DR environments as dictated by SLA and ensure these environments are meeting the expectations of end users, record and log all infrastructure issues and ensure associated actions taken to resolve the issue are also documented using the IT helpdesk ticketing system..
* Manage the development, testing and implementation of Oracle database and E Business Suite patches and updates on a regular recurring cycle, ensuring that critical patches are applied to our systems in a timely manner whilst minimising downtime and risk of disruption to live service..
* Assist other Technical Support team members to ensure that normal service is restored as quickly as possible in the event of an incident, to minimize any disruption to the business.
* Where a forthcoming issue in the infrastructure environment can be pre-empted, identify and take pro-active actions prior incident occurring. (System housekeeping & system checks).
* Configure and manage system security.
* Lead, coach and develop teams where necessary to improve performance and meet objectives.
* Plan and organise workload to optimise performance.
* Possess sufficiently deep and wide specialist technical skills to assess and direct the technical direction of the infrastructure on which the systems are run.
* Deliver system change and enhancements approved by change requests by agreed targets to include assessment of change requests and delivery of solution once approved.
* Ensure documentation regarding server builds, network configuration, fixes, procedures and diagrams are up-to-date date and completed.
* Proactively define and analyse the root causes of specific infrastructure problems and implement the appropriate solutions to ensure rapid recovery ensuring that the Service Support Centre team are kept up to so they can manage business expectation accurately.
* Measure and provide reports on current performance of services and components in the infrastructure and provide these to the Performance Management function and Senior Management as and when required.
Person specification
* Substantial experience of Oracle Database administration required.
* Experience of Oracle Applications Database administration required.
* Experience of supporting Oracle Database and Oracle EBS Applications and technologies on an AIX and/or RHEL platform desirable.
* Ensure database are available, secure and performing within departmental service level agreements.
* Perform regular backup, checks and restores for business continuity and resilience.
* Ensure Disaster Recovery databases are up to date to enable failover.
* Support the maintenance of associated technical documentation to ensure they are up-to-date and produce as necessary.
* Develop, test and implement upgrades & patches to Oracle (and other) databases and E Business Suite application components to ensure MOD security requirements are satisfied.
* Provide 2nd and 3rd line support in response to service calls.
* Lead on the creation or migration of new or cloned databases / application tiers.
* Support Access control to databases.
* Liaise with other relevant functions for incident management, issue resolution (including root cause analysis), lesson learned and project support.
* Take an active role in the support/management of the DBA Team maintenance activities in support of the wider Infrastructure Programme.
* Perform maintenance activities including the Installation of patches, updates and bug fixes on a regular basis.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
* Leadership
* Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - IT Infrastructure
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Systems Integration
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Technical Understanding
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution
Alongside your salary of £44,590, Ministry of Defence contributes £12,917 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
* An environment with flexible working options Monday-Friday
* 25 days paid annual leave rising (1 day per year) to 30 days upon completion of 5 years’ service (pro rata). In additional to 8 public holidays per year, you will also receive leave for HM The Sovereign's birthday
* Hybrid working where role permits
* An opportunity to be considered for Reward and Recognition
* Family-friendly policies including - parental leave and adoption leave
* Learning and development tailored to your role
* Professional and personal development of skills
* A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
* Minimum of 15 days special leave in a rolling 12 month period for volunteer reserve commitments
* Special paid leave to volunteer up to 6 days per year
* A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
Allowances
The post does not offer relocation expenses.
Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.
External recruits who join the MOD who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a six-month probation period. This post is eligible for a Digital Skills Allowance of up to £11,400 per annum.Eligibility for this allowance will be assessed at interview against the 4 core technical skills only and reviewed annually in line with departmental policy.
Employment Hours
This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Please ensure that at the application and interview stages of the campaign you review the Success Profiles Framework to assist you in the demonstration of your skills and experience.
Your suitability for the role will be assessed using the Success Profile elements that have been chosen for this campaign. Each element will be scored accordingly, and the successful candidate will be appointed on merit.
Applications Will Be Sifted On All Success Profile Elements, But In The Event Of a High Number Of Applications, An Initial Sift Will Be Conducted On The Following Success Profile Elements:
Primary: Career - Personal Statement
Secondary: Career - Previous Skills
At application stage, you will be assessed against the following:
Experience:
* Candidates will be required to provide CV details to include job history; qualification details and previous skills and experience.
* Candidates will be required to provide a statement of suitability. (Word count: 1000)
Please provide information of how you meet the criteria set out in the job description. You may wish to further include examples of how you have tackled similar tasks or demonstrated the skills outlined in the job advert.
At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following:
Behaviours
* Leadership
* Communicating and Influencing
Technical Skills
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - IT Infrastructure
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Systems Integration
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Technical Understanding
* DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution
Technical Skills Framework - https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/infrastructure-engineer
In The Rare Case Where Individuals Have Exact Matching Scores, The Order Of Merit Will Be Determined Based On The Behaviour Scores At Interview In The Following Order:
* Technical - DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Troubleshooting and problem resolution
* Technical - DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - IT Infrastructure
* Technical - DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Technical Understanding
* Technical - DDaT Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Systems Integration
* Behaviour - Leadership
* Behaviour - Communicating and Influencing
If Candidate Scores Are Still Exact, The Merit Order Will Then Be Determined On The Sift Score In The Following Order:
* Career - Personal Statement
* Career - Previous Skills
* Career - Job History
* Career - Qualification Details
We want to offer opportunities to all who are successful at interview for our roles, but this isn’t always possible, so we do hold candidates on an active reserve list for 12 months.
Application sifting to take place Late June 2025 with interviews to follow currently taking place via Ms Teams and to be conducted the week commencing Early July.
A minimum of 2 full working days’ notice will be provided for interviews. We endeavour to stick to these dates, but these are subject to change around business needs. 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: DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk
MOD Recruitment Satisfaction Survey – we may contact you regarding your experience to help us improve our customer satisfaction. The survey is voluntary and anonymous. You may however be given the opportunity to provide additional information to help us improve our service which includes the collection of some personal data as defined by the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). The MOD Privacy Notice sets out how we will use your personal data and your rights.
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.
To assist with your application please find attached -
DBS Candidate Information Guide - Working for Defence Business Services - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
(26) UK Ministry of Defence: Life, LinkedIn
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
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.
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
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
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)
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.
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).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact :
* Name : Iestyn Lewis
* Email : iestyn.lewis369@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
* Email : DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@mod.gov.uk
Further information
Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. If you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact DBS-EnhancedRecruitmentTeam@MOD.gov.uk in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitment/complaints/ #J-18808-Ljbffr