AWS Engineer

Job summary

Here at the Ministry of Housing and Local Communities (MHCLG), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives. Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we’re all a part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you’re thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time. We have circa 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK.

We’re looking for an "AWS Engineer”, who will sit within Cloud platform team. The AWS Cloud Platform team are responsible for managing Service Control Policies (SCPs) to enforce governance across accounts. This included the implementation of AWS Security Hub, GuardDuty, and Config for continuous monitoring and the use tools like Terraform and CloudFormation to automate infrastructure deployment.

The team works in a fast-paced environment with a high degree of autonomy. You’ll be someone who enjoys a challenge, self-motivated, likes to explore new things and be able to respond quickly to new requirements. We support teams that work in an Agile manner with rapid prototyping, and for larger production applications that need to sit on robust and flexible infrastructure.

Find out more about our Digital teams and what they are working on through our MHCLG Digital blog. Please note that MHCLG do not offer visa sponsorship and applicants will need a valid visa for the duration of your employment.

Job description

As an AWS Engineer, you’ll:

• Be responsible for supporting the design, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the department’s AWS Organisation and shared services
• Work closely with architecture, security, and delivery teams to ensure cloud infrastructure is secure, scalable, and aligned with departmental goals
• Be critical in supporting the migration of services, deploying new cloud-native capabilities, and ensuring operational excellence across environments
• Maintain and evolve the department’s AWS Organisation, including SCPs, account structure, and billing controls
• Collaborate with delivery teams to design, review, and deploy new services into AWS, ensuring alignment with architectural and security standards
• Support on updating and modernising key infrastructure services, including patching, automation, and performance tuning
• Support to ensure infrastructure as code (IaC) practices are followed using tools such as Terraform or AWS CloudFormation
• Support in the monitoring and improved cost optimisation, resilience, and operational performance of cloud services
• Participate in incident response, root cause analysis, and post-incident reviews
• Contribute to the cloud strategy, standards, and best practices across the department

Person specification

As an AWS Engineer, you’ll have:

• Strong hands-on experience with AWS core services, including VPC, IAM, EC2, S3, CloudWatch, and Route 53
• Experience managing multi-account AWS Organisations and shared services • proficiency in Infrastructure as Code (Terraform preferred)
• Solid understanding of networking, security controls, and identity management in cloud environments
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines and automation tools (e.g., GitHub Actions, AWS Code Pipeline).
• Familiarity with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., CloudWatch, ELK, Datadog)
• Ability to work in agile, cross-functional teams and communicate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders
• AWS Certification (e.g., Solutions Architect Associate/Professional, DevOps Engineer
• Experience with cloud security posture management tools (e.g., Wiz)
• Experience with UK Government cloud security principles and NCSC guidance.
• Experience working in agile, multidisciplinary teams within large organisations or government departments
• ITIL Foundation certification or experience working within ITIL-aligned service environments
• At least 18 months of professional experience

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £61,374, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government contributes £17,780 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.At MHCLG we offer many benefits that range from tailored career pathways and flexible working to MyLifestyle Childcare Voucher and Cycle to Work Schemes. For more information, please click here.

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

Application and Selection

The application process will be split into 2 stages, testing the following Success Profiles:

Strengths , Experience , Technical

Please ensure your CV does not contain any personally identifiable information.

Note: We do not consider direct CV applications. All applications must be submitted via the provided application link.

Stage 1: Sift (CV)

Experience: In your CV, please include:
a. why you are interested in the role;
b. how you meet the essential skills and experience required

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that each of your answers would be viewed by different assessors.

In the event that we receive a large number of applications, we may conduct an initial sift using the lead sift question listed in the advert. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to interview.

Lead sift question (Technical): Can you describe a recent project where you used Terraform to provision infrastructure? What challenges did you face and how did you resolve them?

Stage 2: Interview

• Strengths: The strength-based questions will require natural responses from the candidates.
• Experience: Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.
• Technical: Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

Sift and Interview Dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place the week commencing 16th February 2026.

Interviews are envisaged to take place the week commencing 2nd March 2026 and are currently being held remotely via videocall. This could be subject to change.

Group 1 Digital & Data Roles

MHCLG has implemented the Digital and Data capability framework for Group 1 roles. Applicants that are successful and have been offered a position will be required to complete a capability assessment after the interview.

MHCLG will honour completed capability assessments for this role from other Government Departments for existing civil servants on level transfer only.Please provide a copy of your capability assessment to the Hiring Manager when applying. If you have any queries on pay, please contact the Hiring Manager.

Each experience or technical skill is assessed between 1-3, representing working towards, at or above the job level requirements. You are awarded a proficiency level accordingly, and you will be given opportunity to annually re assess your capability and potentially increase your overall remuneration, through payment of allowances, depending on level of assessed capability.

Candidates moving from another government department have the option to retain their current basic pay if this is within our pay band for the relevant grade.

Grade 7 Group 1 Digital and Data salary

• The basic pay for this role will be between £66,929 - £81,112 (London), £61,374 - £75,581 (National). Candidates will usually be recruited to the median of the payscale.
• A digital allowance may also be payable depending on the level of assessed capability, in order to meet the MHCLG overall targeted remuneration rate for the specific grade, location and capability rating.
• For applicants in receipt of existing allowances, we will assess each case individually, but we would seek not to exceed the MHCLG overall targeted remuneration rate for the specific grade, location and capability rating for existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply, subject to the statements above.

How We Recruit

Find out everything you need to know before applying here..

• Applying
• Sifting
• Interview
• Interview Results & Feedback
• Reserve List
• Near Miss
• Civil Service Grades
• We are a DCS, RIS & GPTWV employer
• Reasonable Adjustments

How to Apply

What you need to know before applying.

• Security Clearance Requirements
• Civil Service Nationality Requirements
• Right to Work
• Artificial Intelligence
• Civil Service Code and Recruitment Principles
• CV Declaration
• Sponsorships
• Salary and Grade
• Existing Civil Servants
• Conflict of Interest
• Location and Flexible Working
• Fixed Term Contracts
• Internal Fraud Database - Internal Fraud Register
• Appeals and Complaints
• Conflict of Interest

Security Clearance Requirements

National Office: +SC

London Office: +SC

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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 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

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Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Digital Data Jobs
• Email : Digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : Digitaldatajobs@communities.gov.uk