Senior WebOps/DevOps Engineer

Job summary

Join Companies House at a pivotal time as we transform our digital services to better support millions of users across the UK.

As a Senior DevOps/WebOps Engineer within our Digital and Technology Directorate, your work will enable delivery of secure, resilient, and high-performing services that underpin the UK company register.

Within our diverse and collaborative engineering community, this role partners with software engineers, analysts, and product teams. Together, we support and enhance a wide range of critical internal and customer-facing services, maintaining and continuously improving levels of service availability and delivery.

The role offers the opportunity to lead technical delivery. You will influence DevOps practices and strengthen service reliability through automation, monitoring and problem-solving. If you are customer-focussed, enjoy working as part of a team and want to develop your skills all while contributing to meaningful public services, we encourage you to apply.

Watch this video to find out more about working in Digital at Companies House

Why choose Companies House?

At Companies house we take a proactive approach to wellbeing by promoting a welcoming culture, healthy work life balance and supporting colleagues to be their best in work because we know people are the key to our success.

Our benefits include:

• Flexible working with no core hours (6am – 8pm flexible options)
• 30 days annual leave
• 8 bank holidays & 1 privilege day
• Enrolment into Civil Service Pension scheme average 28.97%

Find out more about what a great place Companies House is to work

Give yourself the best opportunity to apply!

Join our Outreach team for a virtual ‘find out more’ session on Wednesday 27th May at 18:30 - 19:15, to feel confident about applying – click on this Teams link to join.

Please note:

• Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign.
• Security Clearance is an essential requirement for this campaign. You'll need to have been in the UK for at least 3 out of the last 5 years to be eligible to apply for SC.
• This role is based at either our Cardiff or Edinburgh office, with a hybrid contract, as the standard offering. This role can only be worked in the UK. However, remote contracts may be considered as an exception whereby commuting to the office location of your team is not reasonable.

Job description

We are proud to have consistently achieved a 99.5% service availability target over the past five years, and you will be joining a team committed to maintaining and exceeding this standard across both existing and newly developed systems.

In this role you will be responsible for:

• Playing your part in the IT Services Digital team in a time of great change, an integral role in the way that Companies House systems are developed delivering secure, resilient and high-performing IT services
• Support and improve services within a cloud-based (e.g. AWS) Linux/Unix environment, using scripting, automation, monitoring and CI/CD practices
• Carrying out maintenance, upgrades, automation, and continuous service improvements to ensure optimal performance and reliability
• Aligning services to new responsibilities introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill
• Maintaining and supporting live services to ensure high availability and performance
• Delivering system upgrades, enhancements, and automation initiatives
• Reporting and data management as requested by the Directorate
• Release, maintenance, upgrades, automation, and service improvements, including ServiceNow Incident issues and instigating root cause analysis
• Contributing to the development of projects to improve the range and quality of digital services available to the customer and take an active part in the transformation of our services and smarter ways of working
• Coaching and mentoring colleagues and other IT professionals to support team development and wellbeing
• Continuous improvement activities through collaborative working both within and outside of the team
• Participating with the on-call rota providing cover 24/7/365 as an essential element of this role

You can read more about a career in Digital and Data within the Civil Service in the Government Digital and Data Candidate Information Pack.

Person specification

For this role you will need:

• Experience within a cloud-based (e.g. AWS) Linux/Unix environment, and confidence using scripting, automation, monitoring and CI/CD practices
• Experience of incident management, root cause analysis, ability to troubleshoot complex issues and implement preventative solutions using databases, querying and coding knowledge
• Strong understanding and practical experience of modern DevOps principles, including automation, CI/CD, and monitoring. An ability to communicate and share this knowledge, contributing to a high-performing team culture and providing guidance to others navigating complex environments
• Proven experience in supporting business-critical live services, ensuring high availability, performance, and reliability
• Ability to proactively monitor, manage, and improve service performance
• Experience delivering continuous improvements, reducing manual processes, and improving service resilience
• Ability to embed best practice ways of working within teams
• Demonstrable experience of providing technical leadership, setting direction and guiding teams in delivering solutions
• Ability to make informed technical decisions in complex environments
• Strong problem-solving skills, with the ability to resolve complex technical issues
• Experience of working with secure systems and services, ensuring appropriate controls are in place
• Understanding of how systems align with organisational and legislative requirements (e.g. data protection, regulatory change)
• Experience of working within multidisciplinary agile teams, collaborating with engineers, analysts, and product professionals
• Ability to contribute to shared goals, delivering user-focused services
• Ability to communicate technical concepts clearly to a range of audiences
• Experience of working with stakeholders to improve services and resolve issues
• Experience of supporting and developing others, sharing knowledge and promoting a positive team culture
• Ability to contribute to capability building within a team
• ITIL 4 Foundation (training can be provided)

Technical skills:

• Demonstrable experience working with Unix/Linux environments, including shell scripting
• Experience of automation and monitoring within a support environment
• Experience supporting cloud-based infrastructure (e.g. AWS or similar)
• Experience of database querying and investigation (SQL, PLSQL)
• Experience of coding or scripting (e.g. shell, Python, Java, or similar)
• Working knowledge of DevOps principles and tools, such as:

Experience in similar or equivalent technologies will be considered.

Behaviours

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

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

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

• Knowledge and usage of SQL in a support role
• Cloud infrastructure support
• Shell script

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £41,509, Companies House contributes £12,025 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

We believe that our success is driven by the well-being and satisfaction of our team members at all levels of the organisation. At Companies House we’re committed to providing a comprehensive benefits package that goes beyond the ordinary, ensuring your career journey with us is not only fulfilling, but also rewarding. We pride ourselves on offering a quality work-life balance with our employee wellbeing being central to our working practices.

Head to Our benefits - Working for us - Recruitment (companieshouse.gov.uk) to find out more about the fantastic benefits package we have at Companies House.

We celebrate diversity...

As an equal opportunity employer, we celebrate diversity, being committed to ensuring we’re representative of the citizens we serve and creating an inclusive environment. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. To fulfil our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups. We also welcome applications from Welsh speakers.

We are proud to be a disability confident leader. Our recruitment process is fully inclusive and we can make adjustments as needed through our process. These could include having an interview buddy, extra time at interviews/assessments and receiving interview questions in advance, to name a few.

If you require any reasonable adjustments at application stage, or if you'd like to discuss any person-centred adjustments, please contact us by emailing recruitmentCH@companieshouse.gov.uk.

Read our 'Applying under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS)' guide to find out how to successfully complete an application under the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS).

Where will you be working?

You will be based at either our Cardiff or Edinburgh office and will be expected to attend your chosen location on a regular basis. As part of the application process, you will be asked to select your preferred location from those advertised. Any offer made will be for that specific office. Please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas.

Our preferred hybrid approach to the way we work provides opportunities for you to be adaptable in the way you work so that you can achieve a healthy balance between your work and home life. The degree of choice you have will depend on your role and your day-to-day work activities. Your manager will agree regular patterns of attendance with you; you may be required to make yourself available to attend the office more frequently when required to meet business needs.

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, Experience and Technical skills.

What will the process look like?

Stage 1 – Sift

An initial sift of applications will be carried out to create a shortlist. This will be based on the evidence provided for the following Success Profile elements: Experience.

In your application form we’d like you to:

Write a CV: tell us about your employment history, including key responsibilities and achievements.

Write a Personal Statement of 1000 words: tell us, using examples, how you meet the following criteria:

• Experience within a cloud-based (e.g. AWS) Linus/Unix environment, and confidence using scripting, automation, monitoring and CI/CD practices
• Experience of incident management, root cause analysis, ability to troubleshoot complex issues and implement preventative solutions using databases, querying and coding knowledge
• Strong understanding and practical experience of modern DevOps principles, including automation, CI/CD, and monitoring. An ability to communicate and share this knowledge contributing to a high-performing team culture and providing guidance to others navigating complex environments

We'd encourage you to structure your application form so that it addresses the key criteria listed above in a focused way, and use the full word count. Give examples and evidence of the different elements which can be drawn from your background experience (professional, voluntary or education).

We’re committed to being diverse and inclusive, so please make your application anonymous by removing all identifying personal information (such as your name and age) from your personal statement.

Once the advert has closed, we will sift applications - this involves reading through them all, please bear with us as this can take some time.

We may raise the score required if we receive a high number of applications.

At sift we may choose to take through the highest performing candidates to the next stage. If, after the final stage is completed and roles are unfilled, we will proceed to invite lower scoring candidates to interview.

Stage 2 - Interview

Companies House uses a blended interview technique, allowing us to find out more about you. We use the Success Profile framework and at interview we will use Success Profiles assessing the Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills listed in the advert, and Strengths.

Successful candidates from the sift stage will be invited to a virtual interview, which will be conducted using Microsoft Teams.

The lead criteria to distinguish between tied candidates will be Behaviour: Working Together.

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.

All offers will be made in merit order.

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of recruitment based on fair and open competition with decisions made on the basis of merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles.

Dates (dates are indicative only and could be subject to change)

• Closing date: 3rd June at 23:55
• Webinar: 27th May at 16:30 - 19:15
• Sifting: w/c 4th June
• Interview: w/c 24th June

Sponsorship

Companies House cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. Companies House holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles, and this campaign does not qualify. Should you apply for this role and require sponsorship, your application may be rejected, and any provisional offers of employment withdrawn.

Security Clearance

Successful candidates must pass a Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) check before they can be appointed.

BPSS is an entry level security check. It uses the Police National Computer (PNC) to make sure a candidate has no convictions. The check returns evidence of any current criminal record and un-spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements for Security Check (SC) before they can be appointed.

The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.

Further information on National Security Vetting

Pre-Employment Checking

In line with Government guidance, successfully appointed candidates will need to provide documents for our Right to Work checks.

From June 2026, applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). Your personal details (name, National Insurance number, and date of birth) will be checked against the Civil Service Resourcing Extract IFD.

This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued.

If your details appear on this database, you will not be offered employment unless you can demonstrate exceptional circumstances. Companies House, acting on behalf of the vacancy holder, will inform you if your application is refused for this reason.

Please note: You are not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

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.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 : Saskia Aubrey
• Email : saubrey@companieshouse.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitmentch@companieshouse.gov.uk

Further information

We welcome applications in Welsh / Rydym yn croesawi ceisiadau yn y Gymraeg. Selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. In accordance with the Civil Service Commissioners’ Recruitment Principles, our recruitment and selection processes are underpinned by the requirement of appointment on the basis of merit by fair and open competition. 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 infopoint@companieshouse.gov.uk in the first instance. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission .

info@csc.gov.uk

Civil Service Commission, Room G/8, 1 Horse Guards Road SW1A 2HQ