Scottish Government
Senior Application Operations Engineer
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Would you like the opportunity to grow and develop your digital skills in a role that covers leading a small team managing the operation, maintenance, support and testing of services that impact on the lives of the people of Scotland? If the answer is yes, then this exciting opportunity could be for you!
National Records of Scotland (NRS) Strategy, Delivery and Digital Transformation directorate provides technology for the services we deliver to our customers, including Architecture & Business Analysis, Project and Programme Delivery, Service Management, Cyber Security, Infrastructure Engineering & Support, Data and Digital Engineering & Support. This role sits within the digital and data engineering team in the IT Operations area, which is comprised of software engineers, data engineers, a data analyst, a test engineer, an application operations engineer, and a senior application operations engineer (this post).
You will lead a small team in the day-to-day management of a suite of applications, including deploying releases, carrying out maintenance activities, supporting the resolution of technical issues, testing, and liaising with end-users as required. You will lead and contribute to the ongoing management of these applications, developing specialist knowledge of the systems they support and help maintain the underlying platforms and environments that enable their effective operation.
Responsibilities
- Maintain secure and accurate configuration management of IT assets and service components, verifying asset location and status, ensuring services meet business needs and performance targets, and managing routine configuration, installation, and reconfiguration of database and related products.
- Analyse, assess, document, and implement change requests, evaluating potential impacts and contributing to continuous service improvement by identifying process optimisation opportunities and supporting the implementation of approved solutions.
- Diagnose, prioritise, investigate, and resolve incidents, taking ownership of issues through to mitigation, resolution, or appropriate handover, while consulting specialists where necessary to achieve effective outcomes.
- Investigate problems and trends, initiating and monitoring actions to identify root causes, determine appropriate remedies, assist with their implementation, and establish preventative measures to reduce recurrence.
- Develop structured solutions and frameworks by gathering inputs, applying logical methodologies, and using management systems, software tools, and technical concepts to support effective decision-making and service delivery.
- Monitor, analyse, and report on system performance, using logical schemata to investigate issues, collect performance statistics, create reports, optimise performance, and forecast future resource requirements.
- Support testing activities by reviewing requirements and specifications, defining test conditions, identifying risks and issues, executing tests, and analysing and reporting on test activities and outcomes.
- Engage with users and stakeholders to understand needs, gathering and analysing qualitative and quantitative user evidence, defining appropriate research approaches, and translating user insights into meaningful service and business outcomes.
Success profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.
Technical / Professional Skills:
- Asset and configuration management - Level: working
- Availability and capacity management - Level: working
- Change management - Level: working
- Continual service improvement - Level: working
- Incident management - Level: awareness
- Ownership and initiative - Level: working
- Problem management - Level: working
- Service focus - Level: working
- Service management framework knowledge - Level: working
- Technical specialism - Level: working
- Technical understanding - Level: working
- Testing - Level: working
- User focus - Level: working
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This role is aligned to the senior application operations engineer role within the Digital and Data Profession [https://ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk/role/application-operations-engineer#senior-application-operations-engineer].
Please review the above link to understand the skill expectations.
Experience
- Lead criteria Experience managing and supporting systems including providing application support and delivering effective, user‑focused solutions that meet the needs of stakeholders across operational environments.
- Experience of the Systems Development Lifecycle (SDLC), including experience of database design, coding, and documentation, with the ability to analyse, troubleshoot, and resolve technical issues efficiently while supporting continuous service improvement.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, building collaborative relationships across technical and non‑technical audiences, influencing outcomes and translating complex issues into clear, accessible solutions that deliver customer value.
Behaviours:
- Communicating and influencing (Level 3)
- Managing a Quality Service (Level 3)
- Working together (Level 3)
You can find out more about Success Profiles Behaviours, here: Behaviour levels - Success profiles: candidate guide - gov.scot [https://www.gov.scot/publications/success-profiles-candidate-guide/pages/introduction/]
Additional Information
Dealing with more complex issues, a senior application operations engineer is responsible for code deployment and co-ordinating change-based activities, such as taking services live. Depending on the complexity and size of a project and the likely impact it will have on the business, you might manage and maintain certain aspects of an application.
How to apply
Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1000 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the Experience listed in the Success Profile above.
Both the CV and the supporting statement provided will be assessed against the criteria for the role.
We will test your experience as part of the sift process, and if successful, you will be invited to an assessment and interview where we will test these again, along with the behaviours and technical skills listed above. Full details of the selection process will be made available to shortlisted candidates once the sift has been completed.
In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted using the CV and supporting statement on Lead Experience 1 as listed above. Candidates who pass the initial sift will have their applications fully assessed against the other Experience criteria.
If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and a practical coding exercise, which candidates will be asked to summarise and demonstrate as part of a presentation, to test the required technical skills. Details of the exercise and presentation will be shared in advance of the interview. Candidates will also be asked a series of questions to test their behaviours and experience.
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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 [https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/artificial-intelligence-and-recruitment/] for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.
Assessments are scheduled for w/c 5th October 2026, however this may be subject to change.
This role is open to internal candidates and Common citizenship [https://www.jobs.gov.scot/common-citizenship] organisations only.
Sponsorship
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.
Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles [https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/document/02a-recruitment-principles-april-2018-final/] and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
Qualifications
About us
National Records of Scotland (NRS) is Scotland’s record keeper. Our purpose is to collect, preserve and produce information about Scotland's people and history and make it available to inform current and future generations. We offer rewarding careers and employ people across Scotland in a wide range of professions and roles.
NRS is a Non-Ministerial Department of the Scottish Government [https://www.gov.scot/] and our staff are part UK Civil Service [https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/about-us/], 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 [https://www.jobs.gov.scot/what-we-offer].
As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules [https://www.gov.scot/publications/recruitment-candidate-guide/pages/nationality-requirements/].
Working pattern
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week, we offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options depending on the needs of the role. 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 [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-baseline-personnel-security-standard], or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide [https://www.gov.scot/publications/recruitment-candidate-guide/pages/introduction/].
In addition to the standard pre-employment checks, this vacancy will also require all candidates to obtain National Security Vetting (NSV) at Security Check (SC) clearance level. This type of check normally includes meeting a minimum UK residency period, which for SC level
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