Job Description

Details

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Reference number

424525

Salary

67,140
66,475 per annum, rising to 67,140 per annum on successful completion of probation.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Grade 7
Band APT

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

OFSTED - Digital and Information

Type of role

Information Technology

Other

Working pattern

Full-time

Number of jobs available

1

Contents

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Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information

Location

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23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham

2 Rivergate, Bristol

Piccadilly Gate, Manchester

Loxley House, Nottingham

About the job

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Job summary

Are you ready to take a leading role in shaping Ofsted's digital future? We're looking for an experienced and forward-thinking Lead Engineer, Platform to join our Digital and Information team.


The Lead Engineer for Platform Services will provide expert technical engineering leadership, ensuring that Microsoft Azure Platform Services:

meet user needs, align with the Government Service Standard, integrate coherently across the organisation, and deliver value for money.

As a key member of Ofsted's Digital and Technology extended leadership team, you will play a vital role in shaping the design and delivery of Ofsted's digital services. You will work collaboratively with colleagues and partners across Ofsted and the wider public sector.


You will lead the development and enhancement of Ofsted's Common Data Platform Service - a suite of .Net applications hosted in Microsoft Azure, using Rest and GraphQL APIs with SQL Server and CosmosDB databases. This platform underpins critical data integrations across the organisation and supports the delivery of our target architecture and Digital, Data and Technology Strategy.


This is a fantastic opportunity to further your experience in Ofsted's well-established team. The post holder will work with high-achieving professionals at all levels, surrounded by a friendly and supportive team. They will have access to amazing benefits, such as flexible working hours, the Civil Service Pension Scheme, and 32.5 days annual leave + 8 bank holidays. We offer a hybrid working model, so you may also choose to spend a proportion of time working from home.

Job description

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Person specification

Please refer to the job specification for further information.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:


Seeing the Big Picture Making Effective Decisions Communicating and Influencing Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:


Experience of leadership, motivation and development of technical teams. Demonstrable credibility with senior business and technical stakeholders. Ability to explain, persuade and influence. Demonstrable commercial awareness in the context of procurement and supplier management. Experience and practical knowledge of common cloud platforms, patterns and services, specifically Microsoft Azure. Experience and practical knowledge of .Net (C#) based API development with an understanding of GraphQL as a query language. Knowledge and experience of working with Microsoft Azure SQL Server and/or Cosmos DB. Knowledge and experience of CI/CD Pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps Tooling, and Microservices architectures. Extensive experience of supporting complex technical infrastructure and services at scale.

We only ask for evidence of these technical skills on your application form:

Experience of leadership, motivation and development of technical teams. Experience and practical knowledge of .Net (C#) based API development with an understanding of GraphQL as a query language. Knowledge and experience of working with Microsoft Azure SQL Server and/or Cosmos DB. Knowledge and experience of CI/CD Pipelines, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), DevOps Tooling, and Microservices architectures. Extensive experience of supporting complex technical infrastructure and services at scale.

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 67,140, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills contributes 19,450 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Full details of the benefits available can be found in our Ofsted Offer brochure


Ofsted is devoted to equality, diversity and inclusion. Within our Ofsted Strategy 2023-2027 we have stated that we will improve the representation of under-represented groups across the organisation and publish our progress on this annually. We are always looking to expand on our diverse workforce by recruiting candidates from varied backgrounds and differing experiences. We are proud to be a Disability Confident - Leader, we continually engage with our 5 staff networks for protected characteristics, and highlight the work of our Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Group. We ensure all candidates are treated with fair and open competition, with all appointments being made on merit and we use our Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) to provide assurance to all candidates of this.

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

Application and Shortlisting:

The selection panel will assess your application based on your evidence you have provided against the essential criteria as set out in the person specification.


You will also be asked to provide information within the "Employer/Activity History" section of the application form. This information is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV setting out your career history (this may be used in the sifting process).


In the event that we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift based on the lead criteria outlined below:


Ability to assist with the end-to-end governance cycle for key meetings, including scheduling, agenda planning, paper commissioning, minute-taking, and action tracking.

Assessment and Interviews:

Candidates who pass the benchmark at the shortlisting stage will be invited to an assessment and interview where you will be assessed against a combination of the the Civil Service behaviours and the technical/experience skills set out in section 3 of the job specification.


Assessment and interviews will be held on either

29 and 30 September or 2 October

2025

at

23 Stephenson Street, Birmingham, 2 Rivergate, Bristol or Piccadilly Gate, Manchester. The location of the interview will be confirmed near the time.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
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) 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

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code 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 .
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 and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

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This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
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

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Job contact :

Name : People Services Delivery Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk Telephone : 03000 131 487
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Recruitment team

Email : Jobs@ofsted.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles, and you wish to make a complaint, you should email Ofsted recruitment at jobs@ofsted.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at: https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recrutiment/