Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Senior Infrastructure Engineer - Network Automation

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This role may be located in one of the following locations; Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester or Newcastle.
Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here.
Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, the role will initially be based at Benton Park View. It will then move to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.
Job Summary
Please note this role requires you to pass Security Check clearance. For further information, please see 'Selection process details'.
Are you passionate about transforming complex networks through automation?
Do you thrive on solving infrastructure challenges at scale while driving innovation and service reliability?
Want to play a key role in shaping and maintaining the network services that support one of the UK's largest organisations?
If so, come and join us as a Senior Infrastructure Engineer specialising in Network Automation.
You will help shape the future of DWP's network services through the design, development and implementation of automated infrastructure solutions. Working at the heart of a modern, large-scale digital environment, you will champion automation best practice, influence engineering standards and support teams in delivering secure, resilient and high-quality network services.
Collaborating with architects, engineers, suppliers and stakeholders across DWP, you will contribute to the design and continuous improvement of network infrastructure services, ensuring they remain robust, reliable and available for millions of users. You'll play a leading role in driving automation initiatives that reduce manual effort, improve operational efficiency and enhance service performance, while balancing ongoing service needs with project delivery priorities.
This is an exciting opportunity to combine technical expertise, innovation and leadership to help modernise network operations and deliver reliable digital services that make a real difference to citizens across the UK.
There will be a requirement to work out of normal office hours where change restriction require and to cover incident support.
Job Description
The role will involve influencing and developing our network automation culture in the team as we increase our automation capabilities and transition to new ways of working.
You will help to develop and modernise Network Services applications and security posture and the ways we deliver to our customers with speed and consistency.
You will be working with engineers with cloud and on-premise specialisations and be an early contributor to automation and continuous improvement initiatives.
You will have responsibilities across products and services with different delivery and improvement models, including formal project management, ITIL, and agile methodologies.
You will have responsibility across the full service management lifecycle, including:
- Lead with impact – manage and improve the work backlog, drive reliability enhancements and lead automation initiatives that free up time for what really matters.
- Design with purpose – create secure, high-availability hybrid cloud connectivity solutions across AWS, Azure, and OCI.
- Deliver with confidence – implement complex technical solutions, manage dependencies and risks and see projects through to successful delivery.
- Communicate with influence – build strong relationships across engineering and leading continuous feedback processes relating to services and ways of working.
Person specification
See selection process for further details.
If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Richard.hanley@dwp.gov.uk.
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Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Technical Breadth
Alongside your salary of £57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
- Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
- Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
- Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
- Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
- Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
- An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.
Hybrid Working
This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.
If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.
If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.
Salary Information
Pay for this role is from £57,946 to £73,205.
The maximum salary for the grade is £68,205, however a Digital Allowance of up to £5,000 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed.
Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.
Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary.
See selection process for further details Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase applied to their current substantive salary, whichever is greater.
Any temporary allowances that you are currently in receipt of will not form part of the calculation to determine your pay. Any allowances that are in payment will cease when you move into your new role.
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements 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, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.


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Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.
Stage 1: Application
Your Application Will Consist Of Four Parts
- A Personal Details application form.
- Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed.
- Personal statement - up to 1250 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below:
- Demonstrable knowledge of writing and maintaining Infrastructure, and Configuration as Code.
- Strong experience of using Unix/Linux/Windows in a support and/or development environment including scripting languages.
- Demonstrable experience of working in a NetDevOps environment – Continuous Integration & Deployment, Delivery methods and techniques, including agile scrum experience.
- Demonstrable knowledge of implementing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience of supporting, guiding, and developing Engineers across multi-disciplinary teams in an agile environment.
- Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of Technical Breadth. This statement should be used to provide example(s) of how you meet the criterion below:
- Demonstrable experience of developing and supporting cloud-based network solutions across a multi-cloud environment.
Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.
The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge.
An initial sift will be conducted using the technical statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift.
If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement.
For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.
Important Information
- You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
- Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
- If your employment history, personal statement or technical statement contain any personal details your application will be withdrawn.
Stage 2: Face to Face Interview
If you’re successful at sift stage you will be invited to a face to face interview in your chosen Hub location. During the interview, you’ll be assessed against the experience listed under both the essential criteria and technical skill.
You will also be asked to perform a 30 minute task using terraform, gitlab and
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