4121 Application Operations Engineer (SAP)

Job summary

Welsh Government

The Welsh Government delivers digital services to people and business across Wales. Led by our Chief Digital Officer, the Welsh Government is increasingly delivering more services online and has a vision (outlined in the Digital Strategy for Wales) of improving the lives of everyone through collaboration, innovation and better public services.

To achieve this vision, the Welsh Government needs specialist digital, data and technology skills across all departments in the organisation to improve the services and policies we develop for Welsh citizens.

For more information about the benefits of making a difference with us, please see the Employee Benefits Pack.

Team/Division Overview

As the organisation continues to invest in and modernise its critical business systems, we are reviewing and evolving the way we support and sustain our corporate application landscape. Our focus is on building a resilient, knowledgeable, and customer-focused capability that can effectively support both current and future business needs.

To support this ambition, we have brought together responsibility for a number of key corporate applications within a dedicated HR & Finance System Applications Support function. The team provides operational support, maintenance, continuous improvement, and technical expertise across a range of business-critical platforms, ensuring they remain stable, secure, and fit for purpose while enabling the organisation to deliver its strategic objectives.

Job description

Job Role

We are recruiting an Application Operation Engineer to join the HR & Finance System Applications Support Team.

These are exciting opportunities to support and enhance critical business systems that underpin essential services across the organisation. We are looking for motivated individuals with strong technical, analytical and problem-solving skills who are passionate about delivering reliable, high-quality application support.

The available post is:

• Application Operation Engineer – SAP

The post requires experience of supporting, testing and maintaining SAP applications within a production environment, including incident management, system monitoring, configuration activities and the delivery of system enhancements.

The post will play a key role in the day-to-day operation of service activities, support and ongoing development of business-critical systems. They will work closely with colleagues, suppliers and stakeholders to deliver excellent customer service and continuous improvement.

The post is mapped to the Application Operations Engineer role/level in the DDaT Profession Capability Framework. Follow the link to understand the role and the required skills.

We are looking for people who are:

• Customer focused with a commitment to delivering reliable, responsive services
• Proactive team players who are eager to learn, solve problems, and improve user experience

Clear and confident communicators who can support a wide range of users

Person specification

Your main day to day responsibilities will include:

• Deliver second- and third-line support, including investigating, replicating and resolving complex production incidents.
• Undertake configuration changes to HR and Finance applications to support issue resolution and system enhancements.
• Contribute to regression testing activities during system upgrades and patching cycles.
• Document business requirements and produce functional specifications and user guidance to support system changes.

• Provide support across the team and wider service as required, undertaking other reasonable duties and responsibilities requested by management to meet changing business needs and priorities.
• Engage with Business Process Owners to advise on and promote ERP best practice and standardised processes.
• Analyse and validate business requirements, using structured approaches such as workshops, interviews and process mapping.
• Support the delivery of change requests, ensuring alignment with Welsh Government strategies and optimisation of end-to-end HR and Finance processes.
• Collaborate with Business Support Analysts and wider stakeholders to design and deliver system and process improvements.
• Assess the impact of system and process changes on wider finance activities and accounting practices, providing constructive challenge where appropriate.
• Develop and maintain strong functional knowledge of HR and Finance systems to support users and colleagues.
• Contribute to communities of practice, sharing knowledge and supporting continuous improvement across the function.
• Support wider team and organisational objectives in line with role and grade expectations.
• Any other tasks commensurate with the grade and role requested by the line manager

As a member of the Digital, Data and Technology profession in Welsh Government you will have access to a range of learning and development opportunities.

You will have the opportunity to work on various projects and engage with colleagues at all levels from within the profession and business areas across the organisation.

Welsh Government is supportive of your learning and development and has a range of training and opportunities available including a suite of online training, coaching and mentoring and short-term experience placements which you will be able to take advantage of depending on your learning and development needs and discussions with your line manager.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Leadership

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Change Management – You can implement changes based on requests for change
• Continual service improvement – You can show an awareness of developing process efficiency and common ways in which processes are optimised

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £37,111, Welsh Government contributes £10,751 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).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

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

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

The selection process and stages are:

Number of Stages:2 stage processStage 1Application FormStage 2Interview

information

A reserve list may be held for this opportunity. Any candidate who is successful in being offered a reserve status, will remain on the reserve list for 12 months.

In the case of more than one candidate scoring the same, the panel has agreed the following criteria will determine merit order:

1. Experience - Experience of providing support and advice for a wide range of users on specific software
2. DDaT Skill –Change Management
3. DDaT Skill - Continual service improvement

In the event of a large number of applications, an initial sift will be conducted against the lead assessment criterion: Experience 2. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift or progressed straight to assessment/interview.

Candidates who successfully demonstrate that they meet the minimum Experience Criteria will be invited to interview. You will receive a technical scenario for you to prepare a response to ready for your interview. The technical scenario and instructions will be emailed to you 5 days before your interview.

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil 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.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 : IT Services
• Email : ICTServiceControl@gov.wales

Recruitment team

• Email : SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales

Further information

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition. Please see the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles on the Commission's website.

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and wish to make a complaint please email complaints@gov.wales. Please ensure that you refer to the vacancy reference number.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Welsh Government, you can contact the Civil Service Commission: info@csc.gov.uk.