We are seeking a talented Lead Cloud Platform Engineer to join the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI). You will collaborate with AI engineers, researchers and other roles to architect and implement the platform that powers our cutting-edge AI products and services.
This is an innovation team, and we hire people who are collaborative, energetic, and are motivated to "get stuff done", as well as being optimistic big-picture thinkers. This role is perfect for somebody looking to operate in a start-up environment, using their skills and experience in central government to make things happen for the public good. You will be expected to take initiative, playing a convening function to bring together the whole team, and make i.AI the best it can be. This might mean working outside of your direct remit, for example getting stuck into AI projects or helping with the debugging of a full-stack application.
Near-missed opportunities for this role will be considered, which means that if you're passionate about the job, but don't tick every box, we'd still love to hear from you., + Building and designing cutting-edge cloud architecture that can support rapid development of in-house prototypes, and then be rolled out and leveraged across government for transformational impact across the public sector
+ Supporting the team to develop our AI capability and build out a modern and flexible architecture that can be leveraged for a whole variety of projects
+ Collaborating across the civil service, working with existing technical solutions and understanding how to best build into existing architectures
+ Building robust and secure infrastructure that is capable of meeting security standards when handling sensitive data
+ Working flexibly with all team members to deliver on the mission of i.AI - to act on government's duty to harness AI for public good. This means sometimes you will be working outside of your direct brief., We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
+ Changing and Improving
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Delivering at Pace
+ Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
+ Technical skills relating to the essential criteria, This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
As part of the application process you will be asked to submit a name-blind CV demonstrating how you meet the skills and experience set out in the person specification above.
If successful at sift, you will be invited to undertake a technical assessment. We will send further details about what this will entail to invited candidates.
If successful at the technical assessment, you will be invited to attend a panel interview, to explore your experience and ask questions related to the behaviours listed above and your technical skills. We will send further instructions about this prior to the interview.
We reserve the right to hold an additional round of interviews should we have a large volume of candidates. Should the published timeline change, we will contact all candidates to confirm this.
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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We'll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.
For this role we'll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:
+ Changing and Improving
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Delivering at Pace
+ Managing a Quality Service
Recruitment Timeline
Sift completion: w/c 1 September
Technical assessments: w/c 15 September
Panel interviews: w/c 29 September
These dates are subject to change, and candidates will be informed if this is the case.
Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.
A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.
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 and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.
If you have any questions about the application process, please reach out to us at i-dot-ai-recruitment@ai.gov.uk
National Security Vetting
Please note that this role requires national security vetting at security check (SC) level, which would normally require 2 years' UK residency in the past 5 years, 12 months of which must be consecutive. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your vetting (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.
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 the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

+ Deep experience in designing production architectures on Cloud Platforms eg. AWS
+ Well versed in Infrastructure-as-code e.g Terraform
+ Strong experience working in a DevOps Environment and configuring CI/CD pipelines
+ Comfortable working in codebases using Python or TypeScript
+ Detailed knowledge of Networking and Security concepts
Experience of any of the following would be beneficial, but are not essential:
+ Good familiarity with Docker and containerisation
+ Detailed experience running workloads at production scale on AWS compute such as ECS, EKS and serverless technologies such as SQS and Lambda
+ Some experience with the infrastructure required to train and run Large Language Models
+ Experience with LLMOps technologies like Langfuse and LiteLLM
+ Knowledgeable about scaling challenges with container workloads
Strong candidates come from many different backgrounds, and we encourage a broad range of applications to ensure we have a well-balanced team. Studies show that talented people, especially those from groups underrepresented in their field, are more likely to doubt themselves and feel like an "imposter". Unique perspectives enrich teams, so we urge you to have confidence in your potential contributions. If aspects of this role resonate with you, please apply. We look forward to your application.

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:
+ flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
+ a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
+ 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
+ an extra day off for the King's birthday
+ an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
+ career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
+ paid volunteering leave
+ a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
+ job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
+ advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
+ death in service benefits
+ cycle to work scheme and facilities
+ access to an employee discounts scheme
+ 10 learning days per year
+ volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
+ access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning
Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
Sponsorship
DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.
Office attendance
Our team is based across London, Bristol and Manchester, and we work in a hybrid manner as default. A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance. We will consider part-time and flexible working arrangements - we encourage you to discuss your needs with the hiring manager if you are offered the role.