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Site Reliability Engineer

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Contract Type: Permanent

Salary: London £49,734 to £60,993, National £45,835 to £57,176.

Closing date: 17th August 2026 at 12pm (noon)

Number of open roles: 1

Location: London, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Salford, Edinburgh

Grade: SEO

Join a team at the heart of the global economy! The Department for Business and Trade (“DBT”) and Inspire People are partnering together to bring you an exciting opportunity for a Site Reliability Engineer to join a team that ensures DBT’s digital services work as users expect, working with development teams giving them the tools for their job, including application performance monitoring, exception, log and metrics aggregation, dashboards, and declarative CD/CI pipelines. £45,835 to £60,993 (including allowances) London £49,734 to £60,993, National £45,835 to £57,176. (including allowances) plus excellent Civil Service benefits and pension. Salary is dependent on location and technical skills as assessed at interview. Flexible, hybrid working from London, Cardiff, Darlington. Birmingham, Salford, Edinburgh or Belfast.

Please note, following a recent change to the Machinery of Government, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) will be renamed to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) as of 20th July 2026.

BIST will connect the UK’s world-class science and technology base directly to the businesses, places and workers that will drive good growth across the country.

Such changes will not affect the selection process for this campaign however; we wanted to take this opportunity to advise you of the recent changes to our department.

The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate develops and operates tools and services to support us in this mission.

As a Site Reliability Engineer, you will pro-actively engage development teams and use initiative to develop the tools for their job, including application performance monitoring, exception, log and metrics aggregation, dashboards, and declarative CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous delivery) pipelines.

You’ll work alongside senior members of the team to pro-actively engage product teams about service-level indicators, objectives, and error budgets. You’ll contribute towards building and scaling our shared tooling for the platform and participate in an on-call rota.

Our tech stack includes:

AWS and Azure
GitHub Actions and AWS CodePipelines/CodeBuild
Terraform
Containerisation such as Docker, Elastic Container Service (ECS), Elastic Container Registry (ECR) and Kubernetes
ElasticSearch/OpenSearch
Python and Django framework
PostgreSQL as a service (Amazon RDS)
Datadog, Logstash
Redis/Elasticache

Skills and experience:

Cloud experience with either Amazon Web Services, Azure or Google Cloud.
Exposure to building code-defined and reliable infrastructure on top of cloud computing systems (e.g. Terraform, CloudFormation, Pulumi).
Working knowledge in one or more programming languages, writing clean and effective code.
Working knowledge of Linux/Unix fundamentals and TCP/IP networking.
Ability to see user impact in the infrastructure or application changes, including a drive to improve the end user experience at every turn
Strong communication skills when dealing with both technical and non-technical stakeholders

How to apply

As part of the application process you will be asked to upload a 2-page CV which outlines your experience, skills and fit for the role, and go through a multi-stage screening process. If you’re longlisted, you’ll be asked to complete a short, pre-recorded video screening interview (alternately you can provide written answers to questions). Inspire People will assess your full application against the essential criteria listed above to compile a shortlist of applications, which will then be sifted by DBT hiring managers. If you are successful, you will be invited to interview.

It is likely that the sift will take place 1-2 weeks after the closing date and interviews 3-5 weeks after the closing date, though this is subject to change.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a useful tool to support your application, but all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate, and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism is identified (such as 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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

How we interview

At the interview stage for this role, you will be asked to demonstrate relevant Technical Skills and Behaviours from the Success Profiles framework. These are role specific and in line with the DDaT Capability Framework.

The technical element within the interview, where you will be asked a series of questions to demonstrate your specific professional skills and knowledge related directly to the job role and context, will assess against capabilities which are outlined under DevOps engineer within the DDaT framework which can be found here. As part of this process, you will be asked to complete a technical problem-solving exercise during your interview. More details will be provided following sift.

Technical Skills

Availability and capacity management
Development process optimisations
Information security
Modern standards approach
Programming and build (software engineering)
Prototyping
Systems integration
User focus

Behaviours

Communicating and Influencing

How we offer

Offers may be made in merit order based on location preferences. If you pass the bar at interview but are not the highest scoring you will be held on a 12-month reserve list in case a role becomes available. If you are judged a near miss at interview, you may be offered a post at the grade below the one you applied for.

This role requires SC clearance. DBT’s requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet this requirement will result in your application being rejected and your offer will be withdrawn.

Checks will also be made against:

departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
security services record
location details

Benefits

If you join us, you will get:

learning and development tailored to your role
a flexible, hybrid working environment with options like condensed hours
a culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%
annual leave starting at 25 days rising to 30 days with service
three paid volunteering days a year
an employee benefits programme including cycle to wor

More about DBT

This role can only be worked from within the UK, not overseas. If you are based in London, you will receive London weighting. DBT employees are contracted to work in a hybrid pattern, spending 2-3 days a week (pro rata) in the office. Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DBT, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

You can find out more about our office locations, how we calculate salaries, our diversity statement and reasonable adjustments, the Recruitment Principles, the Civil Service code and our complaints procedure on our website.

Find out more about life at DBT, our benefits and meet the team by watching our video or reading our blog!

BIST will connect the UK’s world-class science and technology base directly to the businesses, places and workers that will drive good growth across the country.

Such changes will not affect the selection process for this campaign however; we wanted to take this opportunity to advise you of the recent changes to our department.

You can find further information here regarding recent governmental changes Machinery of Government changes: Fact Sheet – GOV.UK

The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate develops and operates tools and services to support us in this mission. The team have been nominated four times in a row for ‘Best Public Sector Employer’ at the Women in Tech awards and won the award in 2025!

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Do you meet the nationality requirements for this role?*

To apply you must meet the eligibility requirements to work in the UK Civil Service. You can apply if you are a UK, EU, EEA or Swiss national. You may be able to apply if you are a Commonwealth or Turkish national or a family member of an EU, EEA or Swiss national. Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

Location of Residence*

Have you lived in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years?*

This registration process collects personal details about yourself and your employment history so that we can process any applications you make as well as find suitable employment for you. Under General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), we must obtain consent from you in order to process your information. Please contact us via our website regarding our Privacy Policy for further information on how we protect and manage your data, or to withdraw at any time.

This role requires SC clearance. DBT’s requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet this requirement means we are unable to progress further with your application. Thank you for your interest in DBT.

This role requires you to meet the above nationality requirements to work in the UK Civil Service. Failure to meet this requirement means we are unable to progress further with your application. Thank you for your interest in the DBT

Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS)

You may be eligible to apply via the Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) if you have a disability as defined by the Equality Act 2010. This means you must have:

– A physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long term (over 12 months) adverse effect on your ability to carry out normal day to day activities

– A long term health condition; and

– Demonstrated that you meet the minimum qualifying criteria set out in the job advertisement.

For more information please use this link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guaranteed-interview-scheme

Do you feel that you meet the criteria and would like to apply under the GIS scheme?*

Will you require a reasonable adjustment during the interview/assessment stages? For instance, you may require wheelchair access?*

If you require assistance during the selection stages, please provide further details

Veteran Interview Scheme (VIS)

You may be eligible to apply as of 1st April 2022 if:

– You are currently serving in the Armed Forces and are within 12 months of your discharge date

– The Armed Forces were your last long term substantive employer and no more than 3 years has elapsed since you left the Armed Forces.

– You meet the minimum qualifying criteria set out in the job advertisement.

Do you feel that you meet the requirements and would like to apply for the Veteran Interview Scheme?*

Redeployment Interview Scheme

You may be eligible to apply as of 1st April 2022 if you are an existing Civil Servant and if:

You are at risk of redeployment in your current role
You have already been made redundant and placed on a RRR list
You have demonstrated that you meet the minimum qualifying criteria set out in the job advertisement.

Do you feel that you meet the requirements and would like to apply for the RIS Scheme?*

Please confirm if you have any UK Government Security Clearance:*