Government Digital Service Location Bristol, London, Manchester Job grade Grade 7 Contract type Permanent Working pattern Adaptable working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed hours Salary £58,975
- £79,215 Closing date Sun 22 Nov 2026 Reference 488361 Profession Digital, Data & Technology Apply now SREs at GDS develop infrastructure and support application teams. This involves working with a diverse range of other technologists and non-technical stakeholders so communication and empathy are as important as technical capability. We’re Interested In People Who Want To
• be part of one of our multidisciplinary service teams working with and supporting front-end and back-end developers, delivery and product managers, tech writers and architects
• build and maintain resilient, highly available and secure systems to meet the needs of our users
• take responsibility for solving complex and interesting problems
• create infrastructure as code to ensure our infrastructure and deployment pipelines are reusable, repeatable and reliable
• ensure our systems are appropriately monitored and instrumented to enable our teams to identify and respond to operational issues quickly and effectively
• build CI/CD pipelines to enable our developers to get their code into production as quickly and safely as possible
• act as a digital ambassador, sharing experiences through public speaking and blog posts
• participate in our in-hours 2nd line and out-of-hours support rotations to gain empathy for users and awareness of operational concerns
• share knowledge of tools and practices with your wider team and peers to drive consistency and maintain our high engineering standards Person specification We're Interested In People Who Have
• a high level of proficiency in at least one programming language (we use Java, Typescript, and Python), modern development standards, awareness of development process optimisation and strong Git skills
• a working knowledge of Agile best practices, the benefits of focusing on user needs and have used quantitative and qualitative data

about us
ers to turn user focus into outcomes
• a deep understanding of Linux operating system internals and are comfortable working with Linux virtual machines or containers, including the ability to identify, locate and fix service faults, capacity management and availability strategies
• strong experience of supporting large production services with infrastructure technologies including databases, web servers, DNS, CDNs, reverse proxies, message queues and load balancers. Systems design experience, working with well understood technology and identifying appropriate patterns. Have established design patterns and iterated them
• extensive experience of building and maintaining services in the cloud (preferably AWS), creating infrastructure as code using Terraform and CloudFormation, and using container orchestration systems like Kubernetes or ECS or serverless application design with AWS Lambda
• knowledge of setting up pipelines in a CI/CD tool like Github Actions or AWS Codepipeline, and will have built and tested simple interfaces between systems and worked on more complex integrations as part of a wider team
• a good understanding of information security principles and how to keep large operational services secure Benefits There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:
• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk Office attendance The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of

working hours
from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period. DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home). Things you need to know 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. Selection process details The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:
• a simple application screening process
- We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 500 words. Important tip
- please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 30 minute preliminary interview (conducted over teams video conferencing)
• a 150 minute video interview consisting of a technical test and a Civil Service Behavioural panel interview Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise. In The Event We Receive a High Volume Of Applications, We Will Conduct The Initial Sift Against The Lead Criteria Which Is
• a high level of proficiency in at least one programming language (we use Java, Typescript, and Python), modern development standards, awareness of development process optimisation and strong Git skills In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role. For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:
• working together
• changing and improving
• making effective decisions Skills We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the DevOps Engineer role:
• availability and capacity management
• development process optimisation
• information security
• modern standards approach
• programming and build (software engineering)
• service support
• systems design
• systems integration Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here Recruitment Timeline Sift completion: week commencing Monday 30th November 2026 Preliminary interviews: week commencing Monday 7th December 2026 Panel interviews: week commencing Monday 14th December and week commencing Monday 4th January 2026 Please note that, due to the timelines for this role, we will be progressing applications as they are received rather than waiting for the closing date. This means that sifting, phone screening and interviews will take place on an ongoing basis throughout the campaign. Once you have submitted your application, we aim to complete the initial sift and let you know within one week whether you will be progressing to the next stage of the process. Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade. A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made. The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I; Strategy. Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible. For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers. Sponsorship DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality Requirements 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) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window). Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job Contact Name: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Recruitment team Email: [email protected] Further information If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact [email protected] in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: [email protected]. Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ. Apply now Similar jobs More Lead Developer (£59,816
- £82,430) Multiple £59,816 Head of Physical and Personnel Security Multiple £59,816 Site Reliability Engineer Bristol, London, Manchester £58,975
- £79,215 Senior UiPath Software Developer (Ref: 23483) Multiple £58,511
- £70,725 Related content 26 Oct Civil Service Reform National School of Government to have physical campus in Yorkshire 22 Oct HR Why you should treat your career stories like old friends 19 Oct HR Latest civil service & public affairs moves – 22 September to 19 October 16 Oct HR EY partner appointed as Government Internal Audit Agency’s new chief 15 Oct HR Feedback: The difference between good and great leaders Government Digital and Data About Government Digital And Data Government Digital and Data is a community of experts leading digital transformation in government, creating more efficient services that have a meaningful impact on people’s lives. The profession has technical specialists of all levels and backgrounds. They share a commitment to put users first and deliver world-leading government products and services. Job roles within the profession range from trainee to Senior Civil Servants who lead on the very future of government itself. Working in Government Digital and Data Building the government of tomorrow The UK government is recognised as a global leader in digital transformation. Government Digital and Data experts design, build and manage essential services that impact millions of peoples lives daily. With an unprecedented number of digital transformation projects underway, the potential to help solve complex problems and shape our society’s future is enormous. Examples Of Government Digital And Data Roles
• User Researcher
• Test Engineer
• Content Designer
• Software Developer
• Delivery Manager
• Business Analyst
• DevOps Engineer
• Product Manager
• Infrastructure Engineer
• Technical Architect As a Government Digital and Data specialist you will be working at the cutting edge of how people interact, and are empowered by government. You’ll work in collaborative multidisciplinary teams on a range of projects and services that focus on user needs and deliver real value to society. You’ll be part of a cross-government profession with clearly defined career paths, support and learning and development. View more jobs by this recruiter Featured jobsAll Head of Policy and Technical Expertise East of England Competitive Chief Executive and Accounting Officer Wales £185,000
- £195,000 About CSW Jobs Connecting Government Employers with Policy-Aware Professionals. A curated jobs board and recruiter directory embedded within the UK’s leading publication for the civil service. Hosted within a high-trust editorial environment, with direct access to engaged professionals, CSW Jobs benefits from integration with content, events and policy conversations in a platform aligned with the realities of government recruitment. Find your next role Recruiters
• Connect with new talent via a trusted media brand
• Choose package options to suit your hiring needs
• Find professionals already engaged in public sector issues
• Build your government talent strategy Post your jobs today

📌 Site Reliability Engineer (Newmarket)
🏢 Civil Service World
📍 Newmarket