Job title: Senior Engineer (Applications)
Salary: PO2 £39,862 - £42,839
Hours: 37
Contract: Full Time – Permanent
Location: Hybrid Working both Home and Office Based Merrion House/Apex Centre as required.
Leeds City Council is transforming local public services by putting technology at the heart of the organisation.
The Integrated Digital Service works across Leeds City Council and the Integrated Care Board (Leeds) - opening up a number of exciting prospects to work within the health and care sector and local authority. The Integrated Digital Service is improving how services are delivered, using user research to inform technology solutions that are accessible, easy to use and reliable. We are innovating and changing services by investing in automation through technologies such as power platform and RPA. It is an exciting time to join the growing team within a city renowned for excellence in the digital sector. We hope to attract people who want to innovate and transform IT to help improve the services we provide and ultimately improve individual’s lives.
Integrated Digital Service (IDS) is seeking to appoint two Senior Engineers to work in one of its applications teams. The applications environment is a complex mix of new and legacy 3rd party applications as well as in-house developments. There is a range of on-premise to cloud-hosted offerings and the direction of travel is towards cloud solutions. As the Senior Engineer you will be responsible for supporting, managing and maintaining a single application or a suite of applications. You’ll thrive on technical challenges, troubleshooting, supporting projects while researching and implementing new solutions.
Leeds City Council is one of the largest employers in the region with over 14,000 employees. We seek to recruit and develop talented individuals who embody our council values and ambitions.
About you
As a Senior Engineer you will:
- Supports delivery of activities contained within the core Service Offering as well as delivery of agreed projects.
- Support junior staff
- Work with a high degree of independence
- Produce and update support documentation
- Ensure applications support process and templates are followed
- Ensures items within Remedy queues are addressed in line with SLAs
- Implement workflows and system changes (may involve the production of new code)
- Monitoring and tracking supplier performance in line with Contract Management Plans
- Assess both business as usual and project risk and present realistic options based on current/known information
- Provide estimates for all areas of application support (core offering and new functionality etc) based on known information and experience
About the role
The team and these positions are already focused on key projects that generate income or achieve cost savings. The primary activities include BAU efforts, some development and working on the Core Business Transformation programme. Further, the skills and knowledge associated with this role are instrumental in meeting the Target Operating Model requirements for the deployment and support of the future Dynamics platform.
What we offer you
We take pride in offering the best employee experience, with benefits including:
- A competitive salary and annual leave entitlement plus statutory holidays
- Membership of the West Yorkshire Pension Fund with generous employer contributions
- Flexible and hybrid working arrangements subject to service requirements
- A clear career pathway and continuing professional development opportunities
- A range of staff benefits to help you boost your wellbeing and make your money go further
How to apply
Please upload your CV and complete a personal statement of no more than 500 words.
Read our guidancefor further advice. Please check your information carefully and ensure you complete all sections before submitting your application.
If you have any queries or would like an informal chat about the role please contact Salma.Ahmed@leeds.gov.uk
We welcome applications from everyone and actively seek a diverse range of applicants from all backgrounds and cultures. We particularly encourage applications from, but not limited to, women, carers, veterans as well as LGBT+, ethnically diverse, disabled and care experienced people.
This role is based in the UK. Home Office guidance states that candidates must evidence their right to work in the UK prior to commencing employment, either as a UK or Irish citizen, under the EU Settlement scheme or having secured any other relevant work visa.
If you do not have the right to work in the UK, you must consider your own eligibility for sponsorship for a particular role through the Skilled Worker visa route before applying. To be eligible for sponsorship you'll usually need to be paid the standard salary rate of at least £41,700 per year or meet one of the other eligibility criteria. Please ensure you are eligible before applying.
Job Description
Are responsible for supporting, managing and maintaining a single application or a suite of applications. Engineers make sure applications are available within service level agreements and are working to design. They maintain software levels and the security of the applications and carry out activities in incident, problem, change and configuration management and continual service improvement processes.
Engineer – Application Operation roles
There are 5 levels of Engineer role in Application Operations:
- Principal Engineer – PO6
- Lead Engineer – PO4
- Senior Engineer – PO2
- Engineer – SO2
- Associate Engineer – C3
Each role has a set of essential and desirable technical skills associated with it alongside complimentary essential core competencies. The roles require a wide range of skills. The essential and desirable skills shown below demonstrate this, it is not expected for any one individual to have every skill at the identified level. There follows five tables which supply an overview of all the roles alongside the levels of skill and competency expected of them.
Responsibilities for Grade:
- Supports delivery of activities contained within the core Service Offering as well as delivery of agreed projects.
- Support junior staff
- Work with a high degree of independence
- Produce and update support documentation
- Ensure applications support process and templates are followed
- Ensures items within Remedy queues are addressed in line with SLAs
- Implement workflows and system changes (may involve the production of new code)
- Monitoring and tracking supplier performance in line with Contract Management Plans
- Assess both business as usual and project risk and present realistic options based on current/known information
- Provide estimates for all areas of application support (core offering and new functionality etc) based on known information and experience
ESSENTIAL REQUIREMENTS: Candidates will only be shortlisted for interview if they can demonstrate on the application form that they meet all the essential requirements
Systems Management –Extensive experience in undertaking effective systems management across multiple systems of varying degrees of size and complexity – covering Cloud and on-premises solutions
Compliance - Experienced in undertaking activities required to maintain system compliance
User Management – Proficient in the establishment and maintenance of role-based access controls and the implementation of processes to support effective licence management
Change & Release Management – Extensive experience in progressing changes to systems through the formal IDS process
Environment Management – Experienced in ensuring all system environments are maintained in synch and all changes documented – full audit trail in place
Upgrades & Patching – Extensive experience in participating in and leading on system upgrades
Incident Management - Highly experienced in effectively managing / overseeing incidents to successful resolution. Putting in place measures to ensure lessons learnt
Testing Activities - Experience in undertaking system testing activities, documenting results and effectively managing any bugs / faults. Working with business resources to ensure UAT is completed and documented
Data Management - Extensive experience in data management activities ensuring systems supported are compliant in terms of retention and disposal rules
Supplier & Contract Management - Experience in undertaking supplier and contract management activities as defined in the Core Service Offering
Legal & Statutory - In depth understanding of legal and statutory requirements on systems that are supported and the processes that must be followed
Operational Integrity - Experience of undertaking Disaster Recovery activities, security assessments and implementation of remediation plans. Maintain documentation in relation to changes made to systems, incidents etc, as part of managing technical debt
Lifecycle Planning - Experience of inputting into system lifecycle plans and what activities are incorporated into lifecycle planning
Application Governance - Experience in delivery of the activities that constitute Application governance in the Core Service Offering
DESIRABLE REQUIREMENTS: Candidates are not required to meet all the Desirable requirements however these may be used to distinguish between acceptable candidates.
Project Management Concepts - Experienced in delivery of work in line with Project Management Concepts – Waterfall and Agile
Business Knowledge & Workflow Concepts - Proficient understanding of the business processes behind supported systems and the impact of any changes made within the system on business processes. Understands in detail the system workflow capabilities and how these support business processes
Database Schemas – Oracle/SQL - Proficient in analysing database schemas to help identify underlying issue / understand the implications of applying patches / releases / changes
SQL Developer Tool - Extensive experience of utilisation of the SQL Developer tool
File Formats - Proficient in appropriately utilising different file formats
Integration Mechanisms - Extensive experience in implementing and maintain system integrations / interfaces in line with DIS standards for integration
Non-.Net Languages – C#, HTML - Proficient in relevant programming languages and in the production and deployment of efficient code
Essential Behavioural & other Characteristics
- Understand and embrace Leeds City Council Values and Behaviours and codes of conduct
- Committed to continuous improvement in all areas and work towards delivering the Best City Ambition of Health & Wellbeing, Inclusive Growth and Zero Carbon
- Able to understand and observe Leeds City Council policies and procedures.
- Carry out all duties having regard to an employee’s responsibility under Health, Safety and Wellbeing
- Willingness to actively participate in appraisal, training and development activities to ensure up, to date knowledge and skills.
- Flexible and adaptable to change to assist other services as required commensurate to grade.
- Be aware of and support difference and ensure equality for all working in an anti-discriminatory manner, upholding, equality & diversity of Leeds City Council.
- Recognise and appropriately challenge any incidents of racism, bullying, harassment, victimisation, and any form of abuse, reporting any concerns to the appropriate person
- The Council has adopted a flexibility protocol and the role will be expected to work within these parameters.
