Principal Infrastructure Engineer

About the jobJob summaryThis is an exciting opportunity in the Digital and Datateam. We are looking for an enthusiastic Principal Infrastructure Engineer (Database) with great leadership and technical skills and a drive to improve.
You will be responsible for the leadership of the Database Operations and Development teams and feeding into the strategy of the Companies House database approach. You will be user and service focused ensuring that value is delivered through improvement of database services.
You will be aligned to our Cardiff Office, where we are currently using a hybrid approach to the way we work. Our approach to hybrid working 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 business need, your role and your day-to-day work activities and will be discussed at offer stage.
Job descriptionThe position is leading two database teams in the infrastructure profession and responsible for managing workload, leading on technical workstreams and some contract and licence management. The database teams are responsible for the support and development of Companies House databases across different technologies and platforms. The role will balance leading on delivery at pace whilst maintaining a service availability focus.
Companies House is an executive agency of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Our role is to maintain the public register of companies for the UK. This includes incorporation of new companies, registering of changes to the details of existing companies and dissolving companies which are no longer active.
We provide corporate transparency, making the public register available online, free of charge. This allows individuals and businesses to make effective decisions about engaging with a company, as well as supporting industries such as credit reference agencies.
Currently there are more than four million companies on the register, and we incorporate around 600,000 new companies every year. The register is searched using our API over 10 billion times per year (delivered through an architecture built on Elasticsearch and MongoDB), and our systems support over 12 million transactions a year, as companies maintain their compliance with UK Companies Law.
Companies House employs around 1,300 staff. The majority are based in our head office in Cardiff, but we also have a regional presence with offices in Belfast and Edinburgh. We are committed to our staff development and are assessed as Platinum standard for Investors in People. We strive for excellence in all we do and have recently embarked on an exciting organisational transformation programme which will see us develop outstanding digital services for our customers and better-quality jobs for our staff.
Responsibilities
You will be responsible for the leadership of the Database Operations and Development teams and feeding into the strategy of the Companies House database approach.
You will be user and service focused ensuring that value is delivered through support, development and improvement of database services.
In addition you will:
Lead two teams in the design, implementation, administration of database support and development whilst encouraging engagement and wellbeing.Be?responsible?for developing their capability?to support this transition, shaping the right talent and identifying skills gaps within the teams.?Be part of the Digital and Datateam in a time of great change and play an integral part in improving Companies House digital services, infrastructure and continuous delivery approach.Learn new skills and develop your career working on diverse projects with a focus on continuous improvement.Work closely with Digital and Data colleagues of all disciplines to design, implement and improve a resilient platform architecture which can be scaled to accommodate service demand, ensuring appropriate logging, monitoring and alerting are in place.
The nature of this post may occasionally require you to do overtime during the week and at weekends.
About Us
Companies House is an award-winning employer, building brilliant services on cutting edge technology. Youll join our digital team at a time of transformation and you will be a part of shaping the future of our department. We use Agile methodologies and promote a culture of continuous improvement.
Inclusive and diverse teams are important to us. Wherever we can, we provide opportunities to work part-time, job-share or look for smarter ways of working. We'll support you to meet other commitments and help you find a better work-life balance. Were keen to create an environment that works for everyone.
Our aim is to be the best registry in the world achieved through?brilliant people?working on?brilliant systems?delivering?brilliant services. We are currently delivering an organisation wide transformation programme focussing on a complete redesign of our digital services, target operating model and culture. This change will need different skills, capabilities and mindset where adaptable, bold and curious behaviours are the norm and empowerment is encouraged and utilised.
We are an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Everyone in Companies House brings something different, and so will you. We are committed to ensuring that we are representative of the citizens that we serve. To fulfill our commitment to recruiting and attracting diverse talent we welcome applications from underrepresented groups.
We encourage professional development, celebrate success and live our values to effect real change.
Person specificationExperience
We are looking for someone with experience in:
Leadership of database administration and/or development teams with a focus on workload management, people engagement and wellbeing.Support or development of database services whilst focussing on performance, reporting and alerting.Automation of manual processes, including database or release deployments.Commercial or contract experience with technology (preferably database)
Technical Skills
Experience of database technologies (preferably Oracle / Mongo)Unix/LinuxExperience of some of the following is desirable;AWS, Cloud technologies, Shell scripting. Experience in similar technologies will be considered.BehavioursWe'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
LeadershipWorking TogetherManaging a Quality ServiceMaking Effective DecisionsBenefitsAlongside your salary of £42,991, Companies House contributes £11,607 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Join us atCompanies Houseand experience the difference of working within a culture that values you, not only as an employee, but as an integral part of our Companies House team.
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 were 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.