Linux Identity Engineer

Job summary

Total remuneration: £58,281-£68,621
Pay Supplement: The base salary for this role is £50,243-£59,156. This job qualifies for Digital, Data and Technology Annual Pay supplement 16% is included in the total remuneration above.
Pension: 28.97% (RoS contribution)
Annual leave: 38 days annual holiday, increasing to 42 days with length of service.
Duration: Permanent
Working Pattern: 35 hours per week. We are a flexible employer and will consider a variety of working patterns on a case-by-case basis. For example, compressed hours, term-time working or part-time working.
Location: Hybrid working model. Contractual base either at Meadowbank House, Edinburgh (EH8 7AU), or St Vincent Plaza, Glasgow (G2 5LD). You will be expected to attend one of these locations as required by the role.
Department: Cyber Security
Directorate: Digital, Data and Technology
Grade: Senior Executive Officer
Closing date: 14 June at 11.59pm
Number of vacancies: 1

Registers of Scotland (RoS)
Join an award-winning organisation recognised for its technology and innovation. Registers of Scotland is a world-leading pioneer in land and property registration. Our full-stack teams design, architect, and build all our registration products in-house. We work to create digital solutions for the people of Scotland. You will get an opportunity to nurture your creativity and develop with us through access to the latest data, software engineering and product delivery techniques.

Job description

The Role
We’re looking for a Senior Linux Identity Engineer to join our Cyber Security team at Registers of Scotland, playing a critical role in securing and modernising our technology estate.

In this position, you’ll be the subject matter expert for Linux identity and access management, shaping how we design and deliver secure authentication and privileged access across our estate. You’ll be at the forefront of strengthening least-privilege access, embedding security controls, and driving automation and consistency as we expand our cloud capabilities.

Working across cyber security, identity engineering, infrastructure, and cloud teams, you’ll act as a trusted technical authority, helping to ensure our platforms are resilient, scalable, and secure. The role offers the opportunity to influence key decisions, contribute to major transformation initiatives, and play a vital part in protecting critical national services.
We’re looking for someone who combines deep technical expertise with strong collaboration skills, someone who can confidently engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders, particularly in high-impact situations such as incidents and major changes.

On a typical day you will…

• Design, deploy, and manage Linux identity and authentication services across RHEL and Ubuntu estates, including Red Hat Identity Management (IdM).
• Lead the implementation and continuous improvement of Privileged Access Management (PAM) controls for Unix/Linux systems, including policy enforcement, just-in-time access, and least-privilege models.
• Deploy and integrate security controls to support vulnerability and threat management tooling within the Linux estate.
• Develop and maintain a standardised role-based access control (RBAC) approach for Linux systems.
• Support the design and delivery of secure, automated builds for RHEL 8 & 9.
• Develop and maintain automation using Python and shell scripting to support identity, access, and security operations.
• Create and maintain documentation, including architecture diagrams, operating procedures, and technical standards.
• Act as a senior technical escalation point for Linux identity and access-related incidents and complex issues.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate Linux identity services with enterprise identity platforms, cloud services, and security tooling.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of disaster recovery readiness, supporting recovery time objectives of 2 hours and recovery point objectives of zero.
• Provide mentorship and technical guidance to junior engineers and colleagues across the wider cyber and infrastructure teams.

Person specification

Essential Criteria – Skills and Attributes for Success

Experience/Technical:
We will assess you against the following Experience and Technical skills during the application and assessment process:

• Significant commercial experience in a senior Linux / Unix engineering or identity-focused role.
• Strong hands-on experience with RHEL 6/7/8/9 system administration.
• Experience implementing and managing Red Hat Identity Management (IdM).
• Strong automation and scripting capability using Python and shell scripting.
• Proven experience applying principles of least privilege, just-in-time access, and privileged access controls.
• Experience integrating Linux systems with enterprise identity, PAM, and security platforms.
• Solid understanding of networking fundamentals, including TCP/IP, DNS, and authentication flows.
• Strong documentation skills and experience producing maintainable, supportable designs.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Experience managing and implementing Privileged Access Management solutions, role-based access control, least privileged, and just-in-time controls
• Experience with directory / identity service integration with custom applications and 3rd party identity providers.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a keen attention to detail and the ability to prioritise and manage multiple tasks simultaneously.
• Excellent communication skills and experience of communicating effectively to different audiences, including senior management, with the ability to describe technical issues in a non-technical manner.

Behaviours
At application stage, you will be scored against the bolded Behaviours and against all Behaviours for the assessment:

Analysis and making effective decisions

• Makes decisions when they are needed, even if they prove difficult or unpopular.
• Identifies a broad range of relevant and credible information sources; Recognises when it is necessary to collect new data from internal and external sources.
• Recognises patterns and trends in a wide range of evidence/ data and draws key conclusions, outlining costs, benefits, risks and potential responses.
• Ensures all government and public data and information is treated with care in accordance with security policies and protocols.

Delivering a quality service

• Uses a range of skills and techniques to deliver outcomes, including identifying risks and mitigating actions.
• Develops, implements, maintains, and reviews systems and service standards to ensure professional excellence and expertise is delivered.
• Develops proposals to improve the quality of service with involvement from a diverse range of colleagues, stakeholders, or delivery partner.

Collaborating and partnering / building capabilities for all

• Establishes relationships with a range of stakeholders to support delivery of business outcomes.
• Acts as a team player, investing time to generate a common focus and genuine team spirit.
• Readily shares resources to support higher priority work, showing pragmatism and support for the shared goals of the organisation.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £58,281, Registers of Scotland contributes £16,884 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.This job is for you if you want…
Work with purpose: working for the people of Scotland to set the bar for land and property registration worldwide.
Flexible and hybrid working: depending on the role and team requirements, work when and where it’s best for you and your stakeholders.
Benefits: enjoy pay progression, pension contributions of up to 28.97%, up to a year’s parental leave, and 38 days annual holiday, increasing to 42 days with length of service.
Investment in professional development: we invest in all our people so that they have the right skills to be productive and confident in their job.
Diversity and Inclusion: We are an ‘Investor in People’ and a ‘Disability Confident’ employer. We are inclusive, stronger together, and committed to putting our people first.
Positive work culture: RoS is an agile, digital organisation using leading-edge technology. Colleagues understand their role in achieving our strategy and have the autonomy to deliver.

To learn more about RoS and what we offer visit our careers pages or watch this short video.

Hear from our colleagues about their experience of working within our Digital, Data and Technology teams on our website.

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

Stage one - Application Process
To apply, click on 'Apply now' and complete the online application form.
You will need to submit:

• A CV outlining your career history and how you meet the technical/experience criteria (max 4 pages).
• Responses explaining how you meet the required Making Effective Decisions and Delivering a Quality Service behaviours of the role (maximum 300 words per answer in the spaces provided).

Please note:

• If we receive a high volume of applications, we may complete an initial sift on technical/experience criteria
• We reserve the right to invite candidates to participate in a telephone interview prior to being further assessed.
  
  Applications that are not accompanied by CVs or responses exceeding 300 words per behaviour will not be considered.
• We would strongly recommend that your statement is written in the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action & Result) and preparing your answers using software such as MS Word or Google Docs, and then uploading the file.
• We strongly advise you review our policy on responsible use of AI in the application process. RoS may check answers with an AI detection tool and will contact you for a pre-screening call to verify your responses.
• Applications and appointments are subject to a strict merit-based assessment process, in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.

Stage two – assessment
If successful at application stage, you will be invited to an in-person interview which will include the following:

• Technical Exercise – an exercise will be shared in advance for completion prior to the interview via the Hackerrank Platform. Candidates will attend a technical discussion on the day to explore their approach and rationale.
• Behaviour based interview

Campaign Schedule:

Vacancy Closes:14 June, 11.59pm

Sift: 15-17 June

Invite to interview: 18 June

Interview: 24-25 June

(Dates subject to change)

Information on Success Profiles

For further information on success profiles, visit our Success Profiles.

Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you progress to interview stage.

Reserve List
In the event that further posts are required, a reserve list of successful candidates will be kept for up to 12 months.

Nationality and immigration status
In general, only nationals from the following countries (and associations of countries) are eligible for employment in the Civil Service: the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, and the Commonwealth. EU nationals (with settled or pre-settled status), certain EEA nationals, Swiss and Turkish nationals are also eligible for employment. Detailed provisions on determining eligibility on the grounds of nationality and, where relevant, immigration status can be reviewed here.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a Level 1 Disclosure check.
Individuals working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard checks.

Equality, diversity and inclusion
As a proud member of the Disability Confident Scheme, we welcome applications from disabled candidates. We’re not as diverse as we’d like yet, and we’re working on it. We especially welcome applications from underrepresented groups – people who are disabled, minoritised ethnic groups, and younger people (16-24 years of age). To learn more please see our EDI strategy.

As part of the application process, we would like to invite you to please complete our diversity monitoring form. This information is not shared with recruitment panels.

If you require any adjustments to our recruitment process, please let us know via talent@ros.gov.uk. Please see this page for more information on adjustments.

DDaT supplement

This post is part of the Digital, Data and Technology profession (DDAT) and attracts a pay supplement. The DDaT allowance is applied to the role and not you as an individual. Therefore, in future, if you move to a role that does not attract this allowance, the allowance would be withdrawn. Similarly, if you move to a different role which attracts a DDaT allowance, the amount of that allowance would be driven by that role's Job Family alignment to the DDaT Pay Framework.
The allowance is based on market benchmarking data and will be reviewed biennially. Following such review, the allowance may be increased, decreased or withdrawn where salary benchmarking data indicates this is appropriate

Further information
For further information relating to RoS, including:

• Additional details on pay & benefits
• The Civil Service Code
• Complaints process
• Use of AI in the application/recruitment process

Please view our additional information page online.

If you have any questions, please contact talent@ros.gov.uk

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.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

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 : talent@ros.gov.uk
• Email : talent@ros.gov.uk
• Telephone : talent@ros.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : talent@ros.gov.uk