Senior Applications Operations Engineer

Job summary

The Senior Applications Operations Engineer is a senior technical and people leader responsible for ensuring the operational resilience, performance, security, and continual improvement of a broad portfolio of enterprise applications that support critical organisational services.

Working with a high degree of autonomy, the role provides expert leadership across application operations, incident and problem management, service improvement, operational change, and technical assurance.

The post holder acts as a senior escalation point for complex or high-impact issues, making sound, evidence-based decisions that balance service continuity, user experience, security, and value for money.

This is a role for someone who can lead beyond day-to-day support. The successful candidate will set and embed technical standards, strengthen operational practices, develop Applications Operations Engineers, and ensure services are managed in line with organisational priorities, governance requirements, and recognised good practice.

The role also works closely with architecture, delivery, cyber security, suppliers, and service management colleagues to ensure applications are operable by design, sustainable at scale, and ready to support future organisational needs.

Senior Applications Operations Engineers are expected to influence service roadmaps, identify operational risks and opportunities, and drive continual improvement across multiple services rather than focusing only on individual applications.

This is an opportunity to play a key role in shaping how critical enterprise applications are operated, improved, and protected, while leading others and contributing to a modern, resilient, and user-focused application service.

The Crown Prosecution Service is based in England and Wales. If you’re applying for this role and live in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you must let us know when accepting this offer as you need permission to work from your home address if hybrid working is part of your role. There’s no guarantee that we will grant this approval.

You must be aged 16 or over at the point of starting in this role. The expected start date is approximately 8–12 weeks after the application closing date. Candidates are expected to commence employment as soon as possible following the expiry of their notice period. Requests for significantly later start dates may not be accommodated.

As part of this role, you are expected to undertake direct line management responsibilities.

This role is available as a full time position only. However, if you have any flexible working requests, please email erin.morgan@cps.gov.uk

Job description

Your roles and responsibilities:

• Own and assure application service health: Take end-to-end accountability for the stability, performance, security and resilience of critical enterprise applications, ensuring live services meet organisational demand and deliver value.
• Lead incident and operational management: Drive the response to major incidents, complex issues and service risks, making timely, evidence-based decisions and ensuring lessons learned translate into sustained service improvements.
• Provide technical leadership and develop engineers: Set clear technical direction, manage and coach the Applications Operations team, build capability, and foster a culture of learning, knowledge sharing and continuous improvement.
• Embed best practice and influence service design: Work across service management, delivery, architecture, security and suppliers to ensure applications are operable by design, scalable and aligned to user needs through effective change and roadmap planning.
• Manage risk and guide decision-making: Assess and challenge technical and operational risks, assure readiness and non-functional requirements, and provide clear, balanced recommendations that consider continuity, security, cost and long-term sustainability.

A copy of the full job description is attached.

Person specification

To be eligible to apply, you need

• Experience managing core Microsoft 365 services like Exchange Online, SharePoint, Teams and Entra ID
• Able to keep services stable, available and performing well for users
• Experienced in leading the response to serious service issues
• Able to bring the right people together, make decisions quickly and restore service
• Able to spot recurring issues and take action to fix them properly
• Uses monitoring, data and user feedback to make services better
• Experience managing or supporting engineers in a team
• Able to set clear direction, share knowledge and help others develop their skills

It is desirable that you have the below experience but this is not required to apply:

• Experience understanding risks to services and helping reduce them
• Awareness of things like resilience, security and testing before changes go live
• Experience of working with tools like Entra ID, Conditional Access and Microsoft Purview.
• General understanding of how access, identity and data protection are managed
• Experience using PowerShell or similar tools to automate routine tasks
• Able to reduce manual effort and improve consistency
• Experience working with different teams and external partners
• Able to communicate clearly and challenge where needed to improve services
• Comfortable using reports, dashboards and service data
• Able to explain what the data means and support decision-making

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Developing Self and Others

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,800, Crown Prosecution Service contributes £12,688 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).

Join the Crown Prosecution Service and find your purpose.

The Crown Prosecution Service is passionate about ensuring that we're a top performing organisation and a great place to work. We're a committed equal opportunities employer, creating a culture where you can bring your whole self to work, and individuality is truly appreciated.

This culture of inclusion is underpinned by our staff networks covering disability, faith and belief, LGBTQI+, race, social mobility alongside our mental health first aiders programme and wellbeing sessions.

The Crown Prosecution Service commits to offer its employees the following experience.

• You can do impactful, purposeful work that’s making a difference to your local communities.
• You are able to learn and grow, with access to the right opportunities and resources.
• We care about your wellbeing.
• We want you to feel valued, trusted and included.

We also offer the following range of benefits:

• Civil Service contributory pension of up to 28.9%
• 25 days’ leave, increasing to 30 days after 5 years
• £350 each year to spend on personal development
• lawyer training programme for all new prosecutors
• an extra privilege day to mark the King's birthday
• competitive maternity, paternity and parental leave
• flexible working including flexitime, and a family friendly approach to work
• Cycle2Work scheme, employee savings.

Diversity at the Crown Prosecution Service is about inclusion, embracing differences and ensuring our workforce truly reflects the communities we serve. We want you to feel that you belong and can thrive, whatever your background, identity or culture. As a Disability Confident employer, we're happy to support requests for reasonable adjustments and improve your recruitment experience. If you'd like any reasonable adjustments made to our recruitment process, let us know within your application or contact Erin.Morgan@cps.gov.uk

We want to ensure our employees can thrive at work and home and offer a range of support to achieve a balance. This includes flexibility of working hours, flexibility to support caring responsibilities and a flexible approach to deployment. We offer a hybrid working policy. You must spend at least 40% of your contracted hours over a four-week period at court, in an office or another official workplace depending on business need and the kind of work you're doing.

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, Strengths and Experience.

Recruitment process

The recruitment process consists of an online application, assessment and interview. These are expected to take place on 17th August 2026.

Your interview takes place online through Microsoft Teams. A member of our recruitment team will be in touch with guidance. If you have any queries about this, contact Erin.Morgan@cps.gov.uk

You should keep this date free or notify us if you're not available. We'll make every effort to accommodate your date preferences but we can't guarantee it.

Personal Statemant

We ask you to complete a personal statement of no more than 1,000 words. You need to address the core behaviours for this role, which are:

1. Making Effective Decisions - Lead Behaviour

In addition, you need to demonstrate the following experience skills required for this role:

• Significant experience operating at a senior level, translating organisational priorities into actionable digital, data or technology-enabled change.
• Proven experience of building and sustaining stakeholder relationships across complex organisations, including influencing without direct authority.
• Experience of leading and coordinating engagement, including national networks, cross-directorate forums, or multi-agency partnerships (e.g. CJS or equivalent).
• Some experience working with user-centred design, product, or service teams to understand user needs, define problem spaces, and influence solution development.
• Some experience of leading and managing teams, setting direction, assuring quality, and developing capability in others.

You also need to demonstrate the Crown Prosecution Service or Civil Service values.

The panel has the right to assess the lead behaviour ‘Making effective decisions’ first. If the standard on this behaviour isn’t met, the other behaviours won’t be considered and your application won’t progress. The panel also has the right to raise the minimum standard pass mark. The panel may also refer to the lead behaviour at the interview stage to determine merit order.

Interview

We use behaviours to help us understand your experience, to see if you're a good fit for the role. You are assessed against SEO in the Civil Service success profiles behaviours framework. We are assessing 2 behaviours at interview stage:

1. Making Effective Decisions
2. Developing Self and Others

CV

Please upload an up-to-date CV which should include:

• three years’ employment and/or academic history
• skills and experience
• achievements
• qualifications.

You need to attach your CV as an anonymised document of no more than two A4 pages, to provide the panel with an insight into your work history and experience. We ask that you do not provide personal details which could identify you like name, age, home address.

It’s your responsibility to provide the specified application information in the requested format to ensure that you’re considered for the post.

If you’re unable to cover three years through employment and/or academic history, you need to provide a character reference for clearance purposes. The reference will be required at onboarding if you’re offered the role.

Strengths

Strengths are tested at interview stage - the strengths tested are not shared before the interview.

Other

This is a full-time post. We do consider requests for flexible, part-time working and job share, always considering the operational needs of the department.

Clearance

If successful, you are required to secure a Security Check clearance, for which you must have a current valid UK address.

If successfully appointed, we ask you to complete a character enquiry form, nationality and immigration questionnaire and national security vetting form.

If you're a Crown Prosecution member of staff, you won’t need to do a Disclosure and Barring Service check as you already hold this clearance.

The job you’re applying for is covered by Article 3(a) of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975, consequently Section 4(2) of that Act doesn’t apply. You’re required to disclose all previous convictions and cautions including spent convictions. Failing to make a full declaration will result in withdrawing your offer of employment if our checks reveal convictions that haven’t been disclosed.

To be cleared to Security Check clearance level, you have to be able to meet the residency requirement in the Cabinet Office guidance. For the Crown Prosecution Service, this is three years within the last five years.

Reserve list

If you're recommended by the selection panel but not appointed to the current vacancy, you’re put on a reserve list for 12 months. You may be offered another Senior Applications Operations Engineer post in the CPS if a vacancy comes up during this period. We may also approach candidates on the waiting list to fill other roles that require similar knowledge and experience.

Fraud check

The Crown Prosecution Service provides a Fair Processing Notice to all new applicants after they’ve been successful at interview. These candidates are informed that, as one aspect of pre-employment screening, their personal details – name, National Insurance number and date of birth – are checked against the Internal Fraud Database. We won't employ anyone included on the database unless they can demonstrate exceptional circumstances.

The Strategic Resourcing team in the Crown Prosecution Service will, on behalf of the vacancy holder, inform applicants when they are refused employment because of their inclusion in the Internal Fraud Database.

Current civil servants

As a current civil servant, if you are currently undergoing any of the following formal actions, your application won’t be progressed any further.

• formal discipline action
• any formal action regarding attendance or poor performance
• any restriction of duties as a result of disciplinary action
• currently subject to probation.

Civil Service Commission

If you’re dissatisfied with the recruitment process and wish to make a complaint, please contact Strategic.Resourcing@cps.gov.uk with your concerns.

If you remain dissatisfied and wish to make a further complaint, please click on the following link to the Civil Service Commission complaints page Recruitment Complaints - Civil Service Commission

Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/

Details of the Civil Service Nationality Rules are located at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Candidates are subject to UK immigration requirements. For the most up-to-date information on the requirements of working in the UK, please go to the UK Visas and Immigration website at https://www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration/work-visas

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

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 : Erin Morgan
• Email : Erin.Morgan@cps.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : strategic.resourcing@cps.gov.uk

Attachments

CPS Terms and Conditions Opens in new window (docx, 255kB)NEW CPS Personal Statement Guidance 2023 Opens in new window (docx, 269kB)B3 Senior Applications Operations Engineer Opens in new window (docx, 62kB)