Senior Infrastructure Operations Engineer

Are you passionate about IT ready to embrace a new challenge?

Are you experienced in a range of systems?

If so, we would love to hear from you!

At the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) we build world class digital services and you'll be part of a team delivering both change and service excellence. As we continue the transformation journey there will be opportunities for you to support programmes that help migrate legacy technology onto cloud-based platforms paving the way for the future business and service transformation.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at DVLA - Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency – Civil Service Careers

As a Senior Infrastructure Operations Engineer (SEO), you will play a key role in supporting and maintaining the critical infrastructure and operational services that underpin DVLA's digital platforms. Working within a 24/7 operational environment, you will help ensure services remain secure, reliable and available, supporting both day-to-day operations and the delivery of strategic technology change.

You will use your technical expertise and operational knowledge to support the monitoring, management and continual improvement of infrastructure and application services across physical, virtual and cloud-based environments. The role requires the ability to respond to incidents, problems and changes, whilst ensuring services are delivered in line with organisational standards, service requirements and operational best practice.

Working closely with engineers, service teams and business stakeholders, you will contribute to maintaining service resilience, improving operational effectiveness and supporting DVLA's ongoing technology transformation. Whether leading operational activity, driving service improvements or providing technical expertise, you will play an important role in delivering reliable outcomes for millions of DVLA customers.

Your responsibilities will include, but are not limited to:

• Supporting the operation, monitoring and maintenance of critical Server infrastructure (Windows, UNIX & Linux) and application services.
• Providing technical leadership and expertise in the investigation and resolution of incidents, problems and changes.
• Ensuring services are proactively managed through effective monitoring, alerting and automation.
• Working collaboratively across operational and technical teams to deliver resilient and reliable services.
• Contributing to service improvements that enhance performance, reduce risk and improve efficiency.
• Supporting the delivery of technology change, including the adoption of modern and cloud-based platforms.
• Maintaining effective communication with stakeholders and ensuring operational activities are managed safely and efficiently.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public.

For further information on the role, please read the attached role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

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)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply:

Our selection process ensures a comprehensive assessment of each applicant's qualifications, skills, and potential fit within our organisation.

The selection process for this role will be:

Stage 1: Sift of CV and personal statement

Stage 2: Interview

You must be successful at each stage to progress to the next stage.

Stage 1: Sift

At sift, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

Experience – you will be asked to provide a CV (unlimited wordcount) and personal statement (750-word count). Please provide evidence of your Experience of the following:

• Provide a time when you have been accountable for leading an IT operational environment or shift.
• Evidence of how you brought together people from different technical or operational disciplines to work as a single team
• Experience of how you have led improvements to processes including monitoring, alerting or automation within an IT operations environment.

The sift will take place 24/09/26.

Stage 2: Interview

At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements:

Behaviours

• Leadership
• Working Together

Technical

• Government Digital & Data Skills: Incident Management (Skill level: Working)
• Government Digital & Data Skills: Technical Understanding (Skill level: Working)
• Government Digital & Data Skills: Continuous service improvement (Skill level: Working)

Please note that the technical elements of the role will be assessed against Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (Skills) which you will be able to access here.

The interviews will take place week commencing 05/10/26.

This interview will be conducted in person at our DVLA Swansea office (Longview Road, Morriston, SA67JL). Further details will be provided to you should you be selected for interview.

You can find out more about our hiring process, how to apply, and application and interview guidance on our careers site (opens in a new window).

Please note that we will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change.

Further information on the selection process

Feedback on your application can only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

We will also hold a 12-month reserve list for this role, which may lead to potential opportunities beyond the role you applied for. You can read more about our reserve lists here.

Reasonable Adjustments

As a Disability Confident Leader employer, we are committed to ensuring that the recruitment process is fair, accessible and allows all candidates to perform at their best. If a person with a visible or non-visible disability is substantially disadvantaged, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

Complete the “Assistance required” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need during the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at an interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.

If you need a reasonable adjustment so that you can complete your application, you should contact Government Recruitment Service via dftrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.

Document Accessibility

This job advert contains links to the DfT Careers website. Our website provides useful guidance and information that can support you during the application process. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert or the information on our website, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section.

Further Information

For more information about how we hire, and for useful tips on submitting your application for this role, visit the How We Hire page of our DfT Careers website. You can find detailed information about the recruitment process and what to expect when applying for a role.

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the Demystifying Vetting website.

Pre-employment Checking

If your application is successful but you have been dismissed from the Civil Service, your application could be removed at the pre-employment checking stage depending on the nature of the dismissal.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5-year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

All External applicants and current employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) will be required to undergo a Social Media Check. A Social Media Check is a review of your publicly available online activity, typically across platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and others. The purpose is to identify any public posts or content that could raise concerns for employers, such as:

• Hate speech or discriminatory behaviour
• Threats or acts of violence
• Illegal activity or substance misuse
• Sexually explicit material
• Extremist views or affiliations

Importantly, this check does not involve hacking into your accounts or accessing private messages. It only considers content you have chosen to make public. Employers use this kind of screening to help ensure their workplace remains safe, inclusive, and aligned with company values. It’s not about judging your personality or lifestyle—it’s about checking for potential red flags that might affect the role or company culture. If you have questions or concerns about the social media check, we would be happy to explain in more detail what’s being looked at and how your data is handled securely and fairly.

Feedback

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