The Scottish Government
Lead Infrastructure Engineer
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Job Description
Are you ready to lead cloud transformation at scale in a team as passionate about public service and technical excellence as you are? Join us as a Lead Cloud Engineer and drive innovation, resilience and operational excellence across our AWS estate.
As Lead Cloud Engineer within the Agriculture and Rural Economy (ARE) Digital and Data Division, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the cloud engineering capability that underpins critical digital services across the Scottish Government. Our mission is to provide the technical expertise and capacity needed to deliver secure, reliable and future-ready digital solutions that support sustainable economic growth in agriculture, the food industry and rural communities.
You will lead the development and implementation of cloud strategy, architecture and engineering standards across our AWS estate, working closely with Product, Platform, Software Engineering, Data, Site Reliability Engineering and Cyber Security teams. Your primary objective will be to ensure our cloud platforms are robust, scalable and secure, enabling the successful delivery of key digital outcomes while driving continuous improvement, innovation and best practice across the organisation.
Responsibilities
- Coding and implementing scalable, secure and supported cloud infrastructure.
- Presenting recommendations for technologies or system improvements to support project goals, based on IT knowledge and analysis of business and system needs.
- Evaluating the success of integrated solutions, identifying best practices and lessons learned.
- Ensuring high availability and performance of critical services.
- Building internal cloud capability and mentoring engineers.
- Supporting innovation and continuous improvement in service delivery.
- Contributing to the department’s overall technical strategy and roadmap, while owning the technical roadmap for services within your defined domain.
Success Profile
We use an assessment framework called 'Success Profiles' which lists the elements we test and provides detailed descriptions of each. Find out more about how we assess the Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot
Experience
Lead Criteria 1: You lead – Your experience enables you to lead strategic improvements across cloud platforms and infrastructure operations. You drive initiatives that enhance the performance, reliability, and scalability of engineering systems, while fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement within the Cloud Platform Team.
Lead Criteria 2: You design – Your experience engineering cloud-based systems using a range of technologies and the AWS Well Architected Framework enables you to design robust, scalable, and secure solutions. You confidently select the most appropriate cloud services and approaches - embedding security controls by design and ensuring alignment with performance, compliance, cost, and operational requirements.
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You write it - Your experience of building solutions to highly complex problems using modern cloud technologies allows you to use agreed specifications to independently design, code, test and document infrastructure modules of high complexity, using the right standards and tools.
You run it - Your experience developing and deploying live cloud infrastructure allows you to define the monitoring, alerting, and operational procedures of a service to consistently identify, locate and fix faults.
Behaviours
- Making a Quality Service - Level 4
- Making Effective Decisions - Level 4
Find out more about Success Profiles.
Technical Skills
This role is aligned to Lead Infrastructure Engineer role within the IT Operations Design Job Family.
These skills will be tested during the Technical Assessment if you are successful at sift stage. They will not be assessed at the application stage. Please review the following to understand the skill expectations: Infrastructure engineer - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework
How To Apply
Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement of no more than 750 words which provides evidence of how you meet the Experience and Behaviours listed in the Success Profiles above. Be sure to provide specific examples of work that you’ve done that showcase your relevant experience.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples 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, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.
If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and (insert assessment type). Assessments are scheduled for w/c (insert date) however this may be subject to change.
Skilled Worker Sponsorship not being offered
Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.
Candidates will have their applications assessed against all Experience criteria. If a large number of applications are received an initial sift will be conducted on the Lead Criteria highlighted above.
Candidates who are successful at sift stage will be invited to attend an Interview and Technical Assessment. The interview will further assess the Experience and Behaviours listed in the job advert and the Technical Assessment will evaluate the Technical Skills relevant to the role.
Candidates who pass the sift and are invited to the Interview and Technical Assessment stage will receive a Technical Assessment Candidate Pack, which will outline the skills to be assessed and the assessment methods to be used.
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Following the application sift, there may be a telephone interview as part of the assessment process before the main interview.
Assessments are scheduled for w/c 7th September 2026 however this may be subject to change.
Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
About Us
The Scottish Government is the devolved government for Scotland. We have responsibility for a wide range of key policy areas including: education, health, the economy, justice, housing and transport. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.
Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service, observing the Civil Service Code and working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.
We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer.
As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
Working pattern
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week and we offer a range of flexible working options depending on the needs of the role, including Flexi-leave. Scottish Government staff in hybrid-compatible roles should aim to work in-person 40% of the time, either in an office or other agreed work location. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.
Security checks
Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).
You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website, and read about the Government Vetting Charter, or about all the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide.
Internal candidates may need to gain higher security clearance than they currently hold if successful in their application.
Equality statement
We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.
Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.
Further information
Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website.
Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.
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