Job summary
Job title - Senior Specialist Engineer - Voice & Collaboration
Profession- Workplace Platforms
Directorate - Technology
Full Time equivalent - 37.5 hours
No of Roles - 1
Contract Type - Permanent
Location - Home/local office hybrid, with travel to other UKHSA sites as required
UKHSA offers hybrid working or home working for its employees - this means that whilst the role will be based in one of our UKHSA offices, there will be opportunities for an element of working from home. The balance between home and workplace working is to be agreed with the line manager, determined primarily by business need and in line with departmental policy. Some business travel will be required to other UKHSA offices.Please be aware that this role can only be worked from within the UK and not overseas. Relocation expenses are not available
Working Pattern - Full Time /Flexible Working / Hybrid Working
Grade & Salary - Grade 7. National banding - £49,592 - £58,769 per annum. Outer London -£51,494- £60,528 per annum. Inner London - £53,396 - £62,286 per annum.
New entrants to the Civil Service are expected to start on the minimum of the pay band.
The internal roles rules apply to existing Civil Servants, i.e. level transfers move on current salary or the pay range minimum, transfers on promotion move to new pay range minimum or receive 10% increase. Either case is determined by whichever is the highest.
Main duties of the job
Within UKHSA, Senior Specialist Engineers are broadly equivalent to industry-standard 3rd line engineering roles. They are responsible for ensuring technical excellence in their field of specialism and ensuring that all systems are optimally configured to provide a high-quality
service to UKHSA users. They are responsible for ensuring that all resources are used efficiently and that the service delivered is reliable, cost effective and fit for purpose.
This role will specialise in Microsoft M365, including Teams, Skype for Business and Telephony across the organisation along with other Microsoft technologies as highlighted below.
The role holder will work with their Team Manager to ensure that there is a clear strategy for the delivery of their specialist systems, supported by an appropriate plan for delivery and that this plan is adequately resourced and rigorously delivered. They will be required to manage or supervise the activities of several junior Specialist Engineers and contribute to their training and development, providing support and guidance.
About us
The Technology Directorate provides business-critical systems and services to UKHSA business users at all locations at which UKHSA staff work. Technology has primary responsibility for technical infrastructure and the corporate services running upon it. Technology has staff at a number of locations throughout UKHSA.
The Workplace Platforms and Infrastructure Department within the Technology Directorate provides infrastructure services and corporate applications to all UKHSA users. A dedicated in-house communications and collaboration team manages telephony, unified communications systems and collaboration services for over 15,000 business users nationwide, in a range of public health settings
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Ensuring that any hardware, software, operating systems or associated technology is designed, procured and delivered in the most efficient and cost effective manner and that all resources are used in such a way that maximises the benefit to UKHSA.
- Hold a strategic view of their own specialist area, keep Team Manager apprised of strategic developments and contribute to the wider Tech strategy and delivery plan.
- Supervising the activities of other specialist engineers and working in a collaborative manner with other Tech colleagues to deliver tasks successfully.
- Ensuring that there are adequate licenses for the resources used and working with colleagues in the commercial team to undertake negotiations with providers for the appropriate numbers and types of licenses. Ensure that UKHSA follows the most cost-effective purchasing strategy.
- Plan, configure, manage and maintain all hardware and software components of specialist area to deliver optimum system availability to users, and ensuring all supplier provided patches and upgrades to the operating system, database, tools and utilities are applied in a timely manner.
- Maintain the security and integrity of all systems related to specialist area including managing all user access rights and implementation of disaster recovery procedures.
- Providing technical and administrative support for specialist systems, including the production of system specification documentation and the production of relevant procedures and protocols.
- Monitoring and managing system performance and capacity growth, providing advice on necessary upgrades and replacement of hardware and software so as to maintain the reliability of the systems. Implement hardware changes and upgrades and database upgrades and migrations to maintain system performance and growth capacity.
- Ensuring compliance with UKHSA Technology and other relevant policies.
- Supervising and training suitable backup resource to cover system support during periods of absence of the administrator.
- To maintain awareness of technical developments and research new technologies with a view to providing advice to the Team Manager and Tech Senior Management Team on suitable deployment strategies for UKHSA.
- To conduct such work as directed by the Team Manager consistently with departmental standards and to agreed timescales
- Responsible for maintaining own specialist skills with appropriate professional training.
- To provide the Team Manager with estimates of effort and timescales for tasks as required.
- Ensuring the provision of support and service to all customers during the agreed working hours, including any out of hours working.
- To comply with departmental and UKHSA requirements for the reporting of all absences.
- To use own initiative to achieve defined goals, and set and achieve own goals.
- Provide a level of work that adheres to the high standards and best practices in line with the SLAs as agreed with UKHSA Users.
Essential Experience
- All Specialist Engineers must hold an industry recognised qualification or accreditation in their field of expertise, such as MCSE or MCITP.
- This is a role that demands detailed knowledge and considerable experience of specialist technologies. Therefore, each candidate must be able to demonstrate qualification and expertise in most of UKHSAs integral communications technologies, such as: Microsoft M365 cloud services and productivity tools; Microsoft Teams; Microsoft Exchange/Exchange Online; SIP trunks and ISDN telephone lines; Session border controllers; Mobile Telephony systems and mobile device management
- Must have significant previous experience of undertaking a senior specialist role and of managing systems at enterprise scale.
- Must have experience of operating at a senior level within an organisation and engaging and influencing senior stakeholders, both within ICT and in the wider business.
- Experience of developing strategic plans and implementation strategies for ICT infrastructure and platforms.
- Evidence of leading and managing a high performing technical team.
- Ability to speak credibly and authoritatively to technical and non-technical audiences and assimilate technical language quickly and effectively, for example delivering training and briefings to colleagues and/or business users
- Clear communicator with excellent writing, report writing and presentation skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately for diverse audiences, for example writing all-user emails, change requests or business cases
- Evidence of excellent customer service skills and a commitment to improving services and performance for end users.
- Evidence of effective leadership skills and the ability to set direction for a diverse, multiskilled team
- Evidence of strong team building skills
- Capable of managing conflict positively and using a range of abilities to best effect.
- Skills for communication on complex matters and difficult situations, requiring persuasion and influence, for example managing business customers through large changes or projects
- Skills for nurturing key relationships and maintaining personal networks
- Ability to analyse and interpret information, pre-empt and evaluate issues, and recommend and appropriate course of action to address the issues, for example analysing usage data to inform recommendations on future projects
- Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands
- Good planning and risk management skills, with the ability to pre-empt potential issues and mitigate effectively to stop system disruptions occurring.
- Ability to engender trust and confidence and demonstrate integrity in the provision of advice and support
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload without supervision working to tight and often changing timescales
Desirable Experience:
- Educated to degree or postgraduate level
- A supporting qualification in methods such as DevOps or Agile
- This role works within a team that is responsible for all communications and collaboration technologies. The candidate would benefit from knowledge of the following technologies, although they are not essential: Microsoft SharePoint; Microsoft Endpoint Manager; Asset control and management; Analogue Telephone Adapters and SIP; Gateway; Polycom Videoconferencing and MTRs; Microsoft licensing; Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server; TCP/IP networking
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.
UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.
Selection Process
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths
Stage 1: Application & SiftAs part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Statement of Suitability in no more than 1000 words. This part of the selection process should outline how you consider your skills, experience and achievements, and provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria outlined.
When completing your statement of suitability, please read and understand the Essential Criteria thoroughly as this is what your written evidence will assessed against.
Please ensure you evidence the key personal requirements and what you have done that relates to these requirements. You dont have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us why you are most suited to this role, what you can do, the skills you have that are transferable to the key requirements, and the life experiences or passion you have that are linked to this role.
You will also be asked to provide information within the Employer/ Activity history section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history. This will be used in sifting process and will be scored.
If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview
Stage 2: Panel Interview
All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be invited to an interview on site at Colindale, where you will do a presentation on a topic given to you prior to the interview
The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:
- Leadership
- Managing a Quality Service
- Seeing the Bigger Picture
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- Range of health and wellbeing support
Eligibility Criteria
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)
Nationality requirements
Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rulesThis 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 theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
Job description
Job responsibilities
- Ensuring that any hardware, software, operating systems or associated technology is designed, procured and delivered in the most efficient and cost effective manner and that all resources are used in such a way that maximises the benefit to UKHSA.
- Hold a strategic view of their own specialist area, keep Team Manager apprised of strategic developments and contribute to the wider Tech strategy and delivery plan.
- Supervising the activities of other specialist engineers and working in a collaborative manner with other Tech colleagues to deliver tasks successfully.
- Ensuring that there are adequate licenses for the resources used and working with colleagues in the commercial team to undertake negotiations with providers for the appropriate numbers and types of licenses. Ensure that UKHSA follows the most cost-effective purchasing strategy.
- Plan, configure, manage and maintain all hardware and software components of specialist area to deliver optimum system availability to users, and ensuring all supplier provided patches and upgrades to the operating system, database, tools and utilities are applied in a timely manner.
- Maintain the security and integrity of all systems related to specialist area including managing all user access rights and implementation of disaster recovery procedures.
- Providing technical and administrative support for specialist systems, including the production of system specification documentation and the production of relevant procedures and protocols.
- Monitoring and managing system performance and capacity growth, providing advice on necessary upgrades and replacement of hardware and software so as to maintain the reliability of the systems. Implement hardware changes and upgrades and database upgrades and migrations to maintain system performance and growth capacity.
- Ensuring compliance with UKHSA Technology and other relevant policies.
- Supervising and training suitable backup resource to cover system support during periods of absence of the administrator.
- To maintain awareness of technical developments and research new technologies with a view to providing advice to the Team Manager and Tech Senior Management Team on suitable deployment strategies for UKHSA.
- To conduct such work as directed by the Team Manager consistently with departmental standards and to agreed timescales
- Responsible for maintaining own specialist skills with appropriate professional training.
- To provide the Team Manager with estimates of effort and timescales for tasks as required.
- Ensuring the provision of support and service to all customers during the agreed working hours, including any out of hours working.
- To comply with departmental and UKHSA requirements for the reporting of all absences.
- To use own initiative to achieve defined goals, and set and achieve own goals.
- Provide a level of work that adheres to the high standards and best practices in line with the SLAs as agreed with UKHSA Users.
Essential Experience
- All Specialist Engineers must hold an industry recognised qualification or accreditation in their field of expertise, such as MCSE or MCITP.
- This is a role that demands detailed knowledge and considerable experience of specialist technologies. Therefore, each candidate must be able to demonstrate qualification and expertise in most of UKHSAs integral communications technologies, such as: Microsoft M365 cloud services and productivity tools; Microsoft Teams; Microsoft Exchange/Exchange Online; SIP trunks and ISDN telephone lines; Session border controllers; Mobile Telephony systems and mobile device management
- Must have significant previous experience of undertaking a senior specialist role and of managing systems at enterprise scale.
- Must have experience of operating at a senior level within an organisation and engaging and influencing senior stakeholders, both within ICT and in the wider business.
- Experience of developing strategic plans and implementation strategies for ICT infrastructure and platforms.
- Evidence of leading and managing a high performing technical team.
- Ability to speak credibly and authoritatively to technical and non-technical audiences and assimilate technical language quickly and effectively, for example delivering training and briefings to colleagues and/or business users
- Clear communicator with excellent writing, report writing and presentation skills; capable of constructing and delivering clear ideas and concepts concisely and accurately for diverse audiences, for example writing all-user emails, change requests or business cases
- Evidence of excellent customer service skills and a commitment to improving services and performance for end users.
- Evidence of effective leadership skills and the ability to set direction for a diverse, multiskilled team
- Evidence of strong team building skills
- Capable of managing conflict positively and using a range of abilities to best effect.
- Skills for communication on complex matters and difficult situations, requiring persuasion and influence, for example managing business customers through large changes or projects
- Skills for nurturing key relationships and maintaining personal networks
- Ability to analyse and interpret information, pre-empt and evaluate issues, and recommend and appropriate course of action to address the issues, for example analysing usage data to inform recommendations on future projects
- Problem solving skills and ability to respond to sudden unexpected demands
- Good planning and risk management skills, with the ability to pre-empt potential issues and mitigate effectively to stop system disruptions occurring.
- Ability to engender trust and confidence and demonstrate integrity in the provision of advice and support
- Ability to work on own initiative and organise own workload without supervision working to tight and often changing timescales
Desirable Experience:
- Educated to degree or postgraduate level
- A supporting qualification in methods such as DevOps or Agile
- This role works within a team that is responsible for all communications and collaboration technologies. The candidate would benefit from knowledge of the following technologies, although they are not essential: Microsoft SharePoint; Microsoft Endpoint Manager; Asset control and management; Analogue Telephone Adapters and SIP; Gateway; Polycom Videoconferencing and MTRs; Microsoft licensing; Microsoft Windows Server and SQL Server; TCP/IP networking
We pride ourselves as being an employer of choice, where Everyone Matters promoting equality of opportunity to actively encourage applications from everyone, including groups currently underrepresented in our workforce.
UKHSA ethos is to be an inclusive organisation for all our staff and stakeholders. To create, nurture and sustain an inclusive culture, where differences drive innovative solutions to meet the needs of our workforce and wider communities. We do this through celebrating and protecting differences by removing barriers and promoting equity and equality of opportunity for all.
Selection Process
This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Strengths
Stage 1: Application & SiftAs part of the application process, you will be asked to provide a Statement of Suitability in no more than 1000 words. This part of the selection process should outline how you consider your skills, experience and achievements, and provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria outlined.
When completing your statement of suitability, please read and understand the Essential Criteria thoroughly as this is what your written evidence will assessed against.
Please ensure you evidence the key personal requirements and what you have done that relates to these requirements. You dont have to explain the whole process, just what you have done and the skills and experience you have used. Share with us why you are most suited to this role, what you can do, the skills you have that are transferable to the key requirements, and the life experiences or passion you have that are linked to this role.
You will also be asked to provide information within the Employer/ Activity history section of the application form. This is equivalent to the information you would provide on a CV, setting out your career history. This will be used in sifting process and will be scored.
If you are successful at this stage, you will progress to interview
Stage 2: Panel Interview
All candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be invited to an interview on site at Colindale, where you will do a presentation on a topic given to you prior to the interview
The Behaviours tested during the interview stage will be:
- Leadership
- Managing a Quality Service
- Seeing the Bigger Picture
- Delivering at Pace
Benefits
- A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
- Learning and development tailored to your role
- An environment with flexible working options
- A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
- Range of health and wellbeing support
Eligibility Criteria
Open to all external applicants (anyone) from outside the Civil Service (including by definition internal applicants)
Nationality requirements
Appointments to roles within UKHSA will be made in accordance with the Civil Service nationality rules. These can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rulesThis 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 theEuropean Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
- Relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
Person Specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential
- oAll Specialist Engineers must hold an industry recognised qualification or accreditation in their field of expertise, such as MCSE or MCITP.
Person Specification
Education & Qualifications
Essential
- oAll Specialist Engineers must hold an industry recognised qualification or accreditation in their field of expertise, such as MCSE or MCITP.
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
Additional information
Disclosure and Barring Service Check
This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.
Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).
From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).
