Principal Infrastructure Engineer – Automation

Location: National*

Closing Date: 22^nd June

Interviews: w/c 6^th July

Grade: 6

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary**: National: £71,381-£88,900 which may include an allowance up to £17,519: London: £75,674- £93,025 which may include an allowance up to £17,351

Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working

Contract Type: Permanent

Number of vacancies: 1

Vacancy number: 18506

*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP

Please note that unless you are an existing member of staff at Justice Digital, Data and Science, the only London location being recruited to is 10 South Colonnade, E14 4PU. We are no longer recruiting to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ.

The Role

Please note this role requires you to pass Security Check clearance. Please click on the link for details.

We’re recruiting for a Principal Infrastructure Engineer for our Technology Services area here at Justice Digital, Data and Science, to be part of our warm and collaborative Digital Infrastructure and Security Operations (DISO), team.

This role aligns against Principal Infrastructure Engineer from the Government Digital and Data framework.

DISO is part of Technology Services in Justice Digital, Data and Science, a modern and diverse workplace that promotes a healthy work-life balance and flexible working options.

DISO designs, builds and supports user-centred digital and technology services for the justice system: services that make a real difference to our staff and users. Millions of people every year interact with our services, and DISO plays an important role in improving access to justice and making communication and connectivity experiences simpler and more efficient for all users.

We want to hear from people who want to make a difference by building excellent services that meet user needs and change their experience by creating a simpler, faster and better system for everyone. Our mission is to deliver a world-class justice system that works for everyone in society.

As a Principal Infrastructure Engineer at MoJ, you will work with colleagues across Technology Services and build strong relationships with Service Owners, Information Security, Customer Service Operational Teams, Delivery Managers, Product Managers and other key stakeholders. You will share knowledge of tools and techniques with the wider team and community. You will be comfortable working across multi-disciplinary teams and flexible enough to adjust, at short notice, to immediate demand.

The role will provide a dedicated support function dealing with service requests, tickets and major incidents. Occasionally you will participate in support during Out of Hours (OoH), for which you’ll be paid an allowance and further payment if dealing with incidents.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide technical leadership for infrastructure automation, infrastructure workflows, cloud platform engineering, with a focus SaaS Infrastructure services and capabilities leveraging AI-assisted development (e.g. LLM-based tooling) to accelerate delivery of infrastructure-as-code (IaC) and operational workflows.
• Define and lead automation practices, embedding infrastructure as code, CI/CD pipelines and platform engineering principles across MoJ Technology services.
• Lead on resilience, reliability and cost optimisation, ensuring infrastructure platforms are efficient, observable, and sustainable.
• Collaborate with security and architecture teams to ensure secure-by-default infrastructure environments (EUCS, Networks, Voice & Video), aligned with government standards.
• Champion the use of automation, monitoring and analytics within end user computing, networking, voice and video services to improve efficiency, service performance, service quality and user experience.
• Build capability through mentoring, communities of practice and leadership of engineering excellence initiatives.

If this role feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!

Please note in addition to the Principal Infrastructure Engineer – Automation we will be recruiting for a Principal Infrastructure Engineer – Security Operations & a Principal Infrastructure Engineer – Network Operations, these will be advertised shortly.

Benefits

Person Specification

Essential

• Demonstrable understanding of AI-augmented engineering (“vibe coding”) practices, including prompt design for infrastructure code generation, validation and governance of AI-generated outputs, and integration of LLMs into developer toolchains.
• Proven experience leading infrastructure automation at scale, including deep expertise in infrastructure as code (Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi) and CI/CD pipeline engineering. Strong understanding of modern infrastructure and DevSecOps principles, with experience supporting reliable live services in infrastructure environments.
• Experience building and operating secure, scalable cloud platforms in large (30k+ user) complex organisations.
• Ability to define and implement engineering standards, patterns and governance at scale.
• Extensive experience of core infrastructure services such as Firewalls, RADIUS and DHCP, or Voice & Video or Azure and Microsoft enterprise technologies, including Entra ID (Azure AD) and hybrid/domain services, and experience supporting or automating End User Computing (EUC) environments (e.g. Intune or equivalent).
• Strong leadership skills, including mentoring engineers and supporting the development of high-performing teams.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance.

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.

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.

Salary Information** Base salary for this role is from London: £75,674- £85,257 | National: £71,381-£80,419

• New entrants to the Civil Service joining the MoJ are expected to start at the minimum of the pay band.
• Existing Civil Servants moving on a level transfer will retain their current base salary or move to the minimum of the pay band for the role, whichever is higher.
• Existing Civil Servants who are promoted will either move to the bottom of the new grade’s pay band or receive a 10% uplift, whichever provides the greater increase.
• Candidates may also be eligible for a non‑pensionable Government Digital & Data Allowance of up to £17,351 per year (London) or £17,519 (National). This is a temporary allowance, reviewed annually and may be retained, amended, or withdrawn.

The final offer will reflect the skills and experience you demonstrate during the assessment process.

How to Apply

In Justice Digital, Data and Science, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We shall assess a combination of your Experience, Technical skills and Behaviours during the assessment process.

Stage 1 - Application and sift:

To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:

• A CV detailing your career history (including any relevant qualifications). Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Person Specification of this advert.
• A Personal Statement (up to 1000 words) which should outline your experience and skills, giving clear examples of work undertaken. It should specifically address the criteria listed in the Person Specification above, using a separate paragraph for each.

A diverse sift panel will review the information in your CV and Personal Statement to assess the sift criteria specified above. We operate an anonymous shortlisting process. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement do not include your name or any other identifying details.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on Pre-Sift Criteria will be conducted before the sift.

• Extensive experience of core infrastructure services such as Firewalls, RADIUS and DHCP, or Voice & Video or Azure and Microsoft enterprise technologies, including Entra ID (Azure AD) and hybrid/domain services, and experience supporting or automating End User Computing (EUC) environments (e.g. Intune or equivalent).
• Demonstrable understanding of AI-augmented engineering (“vibe coding”) practices, including prompt design for infrastructure code generation, validation and governance of AI-generated outputs, and integration of LLMs into developer toolchains.
• Experience building and operating secure, scalable cloud platforms in large (30k+ user) complex organisations.

Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance

Stage 2 - Interviews:

Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a panel interview held via Microsoft Teams. At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements - Experience, Technical and the following Behaviours:

• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership

Appointments are made strictly in merit order. In the event that two or more candidates receive identical interview scores, the Leadership behaviour will be applied as the primary lead criterion to determine the final merit order.

Should you be unsuccessful in the role that you have applied for but demonstrate the capability for a role at a lower level, we reserve the right to discuss this opportunity with you and offer you the position without needing a further application.

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, from which further appointments may be made.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Terms & Conditions

Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact digitalanddatarecruitment@justice.gov.uk