Principal Infrastructure Engineer - Network Operations

Location: National*

Closing Date: 29^th June

Interviews: w/c 13^th July

Grade: 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: 18752

*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 Networks service area here a 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.

The relevant DISO service area is:

Networks – ownership of our Local Area and Wide Area Networks, Secure Access Service Edge and Data Centre connectivity services.

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 an enterprise-scale engineering team, covering LAN, Wi-Fi, WAN, SASE, data centre connectivity, VPN services, routing protocols and remote access technologies, ensuring alignment with MoJ and cross-government architecture principles.

• Act as a technical authority for network engineering, setting standards, patterns and best practices across teams and suppliers.

• Act as the senior escalation point for complex service issues, major incidents and cross-service dependencies.

• Collaborate with security, architecture, and product teams to ensure secure-by-design network services that meet compliance and risk requirements.

• Build and maintain strong relationships with suppliers and internal stakeholders, influencing technical direction and ensuring value for money.

• Champion the use of automation, monitoring, and analytics within networking to improve efficiency, service performance, service quality, and user experience.

• Mentor and develop senior engineers, fostering a high-performing engineering culture and capability uplift across the organisation.

If this 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 – Network Operations we are currently advertising for a Principal Infrastructure Engineer – Automation (closes 22^nd June) and will be recruiting for a Principal Infrastructure Engineer – Security Operations, which will be advertised shortly.

Benefits

You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:

• A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
• 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.
• Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
• A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best-in-class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!

You can find more details of the Benefits we offer here. To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital, Data and Science please take a look at our blog.

Person Specification

Essential

• Extensive experience implementing, operating and supporting large-scale (>5k node) multi-vendor enterprise networks in the following technical areas: LAN/WiFi, SD-WAN, SASE, hybrid/cloud networking, VPN, routing protocols including BGP and remote access technologies.
• Strong understanding of network security, including zero trust and secure access models.
• Experience driving reliability, performance and resilience improvements in critical services.
• Experience leading major incident response and service recovery.
• Proven leadership capability, including mentoring senior engineers, building high-performing teams, and setting engineering standards.

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 the following criteria will be conducted before the sift:

• Extensive experience implementing, operating and supporting large-scale (>5k node) multi-vendor enterprise networks in the following technical areas: LAN/WiFi, SD-WAN, SASE, hybrid/cloud networking, VPN, routing protocols including BGP and remote access technologies.  
• Proven leadership capability, including mentoring senior engineers, building high-performing teams, and setting engineering standards

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