The ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations working between office and remote throughout the week. The locations for this role are Newport, Titchfield (Fareham), Manchester, London.
All colleagues are required to work from their contractually allocated site for at least 40% of their working time. Due to current capacity constraints there is currently an exception for colleagues based at the Manchester office with office attendance being 20%, this is expected to move to 40% attendance in 2025-26.
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person
Job Summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution, and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime, and migration.
We are looking for an Infrastructure Engineer to join our DAP (Data Access Platform) team working with in our Corporate IT & Services Division. You will be supporting a newly commissioned big data platform (Cloudera) where we are looking for someone to establish and embed best practices into the team. A passion for delivering good customer service putting users at the heart of every decision whilst maintain a secure system.
ONS are committed to flexible ways of working that support a healthy work-life balance. ONS has already considered how this job could be right sized for applicants working flexibly and we are happy to explore options with you about working part time, in a job share or flexibly, in line with our hybrid working policies.
Job Description
The Role
As an Infrastructure Engineer you will manage third party provision of infrastructure services and the provision of expertise to develop architectural solutions for infrastructure services, throughout the service product life cycle.
Responsibilities:
- Lead and direct the team in in building, managing, supporting, and maintaining the Cloudera Data Platform (version 7.2.18 or 7.3.1) according to departmental policy.
- Work with technical architects to translate the architectural designs into Live operation in a supportable way
- You will work in a technical leadership role and ensure coherence in the team’s application of infrastructure / technology (Cloudera Data Platform and AWS)
- You will work under the direction of the Grade 7 Senior IT Service Manager for DAP
- You may be seconded to the Project Delivery profession as technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Cloudera Data Platform
- You will contribute to the upskilling of team members and peers
The Role
As an Infrastructure Engineer you will manage third party provision of infrastructure services and the provision of expertise to develop architectural solutions for infrastructure services, throughout the service product life cycle.
Responsibilities:
- Lead and direct the team in in building, managing, supporting, and maintaining the Cloudera Data Platform (version 7.2.18 or 7.3.1) according to departmental policy.
- Work with technical architects to translate the architectural designs into Live operation in a supportable way
- You will work in a technical leadership role and ensure coherence in the team’s application of infrastructure / technology (Cloudera Data Platform and AWS)
- You will work under the direction of the Grade 7 Senior IT Service Manager for DAP
- You may be seconded to the Project Delivery profession as technical Subject Matter Expert (SME) for the Cloudera Data Platform
- You will contribute to the upskilling of team members and peers
Person specification
Essential Criteria:
- Service Focus - Expert - You can maintain focus on the entire life cycle of the service and ensure it’s at the forefront of readiness activities. You can understand and communicate service benefits to end users. You can ensure that service focus is championed within your team and actively recommend its adoption.
- IT Infrastructure - Expert - You can lead teams in the design, implementation, administration and support of infrastructure solutions and services. (Cloudera Data Platform on AWS)
- Coding and Scripting - Working - You can interact with and read code. You can carry out baseline repair activities.
- Problem Management - Practitioner - You can ensure that the right actions are taken to investigate, resolve and anticipate problems. You can co-ordinate the team to investigate problems, implement solutions and take preventive measures.
- Testing - Expert - You can manage testing activities within development or integration activities. You can manage risks and take preventative action when risks become unacceptable. You can manage customer relations.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Changing and Improving
- Communicating and Influencing
- Managing a Quality Service
- Working Together
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Information Security
- Ownership and Initiative
- Troubleshooting and Problem Resolution
- Technical Understanding
Alongside your salary of £58,594, Office for National Statistics contributes £16,974 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our 5400 valued colleagues across the business.
Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that the benefits pack attached (bottom of page) will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues and our fantastic working culture.
This Role Is Part Of The Cross-government Government Digital And Data (formerly DDaT) Profession Framework. As a Role Within Government Digital And Data (formerly DDaT) At The ONS, We Also Offer Benefits Such As:
- Protected Learning Time to spend on your personal development and side-projects.
- A supportive and active Community of Practice which you will be expected to contribute to, helping ensure you and your colleagues get the training, development and opportunities you need to progress your careers.
We are committed to supporting our people’s wellbeing by offering flexible ways of working that support a healthy work life balance. We are happy to explore opportunities with you about working flexibly in line with our hybrid working policies.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Security Clearance
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- 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 records
All applicants will have access to AI resources, it is therefore important to remember these tools, although helpful in streamlining the writing process, cannot fully understand the organisational context, or requirements for the role you are applying for.
To maintain authenticity and credibility of the application process, should you choose to use generative AI tools, you need to ensure the information you provide in your supporting evidence accurately reflects your skills, knowledge, and experience.
ONS does not advocate relying solely on generative AI to write your application. Doing so may negatively impact your chances of success during the selection process.
If you are invited to interview, please be aware the use of AI tools is prohibited, and any suspected use may result in the termination of your interview and subsequent withdrawal from the campaign.
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience, CV, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
If a personal statement is required at application stage, it will state the maximum wordcount allowed, which should not be exceeded. Where it is a requirement to make a personal statement, you should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions, ideally utilising the STAR technique (Situation, Task, Action, Result).
Please note that Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage of the application process.
In instances where a high number of applications are received, the sift pass mark may be adjusted, and candidates will be invited to interview based on merit order, i.e., those with the highest scores.
Stage 2 – Interview
If invited to interview, you will be assessed using techniques aligned with the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all behaviours listed in the job advert and any required technical skills.
A presentation may be required at interview.
Interviews may be in person or via Microsoft Teams.
A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made.
GDD Pay
This role falls within the remit of the GDD Pay Framework that was introduced at the Office for National Statistics from May 2022. This means that in the event that you are successful at interview, your starting salary will be calculated based on the scores achieved during the Technical section of the interview. Full feedback will be provided to you at the point of offer.
The Sift will be conducted from 07/08/2025
Interviews will be conducted from 19/08/2025
For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
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.
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.
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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
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 :
Recruitment team
Further information
If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact
[email protected]. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission
