Lead Application Operations Engineers

Location: Liverpool, Darlington, Hybrid / Remote Help us transform how safeguarding services are delivered across the UK. The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) plays a vital role in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults by helping employers make safer recruitment decisions. As part of our ongoing transformation, were strengthening the technology that underpins this mission, and creating new roles to help us run it better. Were looking for Lead Application Operations Engineers to take ownership of key business applications and ensure they deliver stable, secure, and evolving services that meet the needs of our users and teams. About the roles These are trusted delivery roles within our Technology and Innovation Directorate, created to support DBSs shift from legacy systems to a modern, cloud-based environment. Each engineer is responsible for the day-to-day reliability, improvement, and future direction of key business applications. These roles carry significant responsibility and visibility, particularly during periods of service disruption, change, or transformation. Working closely with service owners, DevOps teams, product managers and other specialists, you\’ll help ensure the applications you support are resilient, secure, and aligned with wider service goals. Whether focused on integration, case management, or digital evidence platforms, your work will directly impact how DBS delivers critical safeguarding services to the public. About you: These roles are ideal for a delivery professionals who thrive on complexity and understand how to lead teams through ambiguity. Youll be given the space to shape delivery approaches, influence cross-government working practices, and help embed a culture of continuous improvement and agile thinking across DBS. Youll also play a key part in strengthening our delivery profession internally, supporting capability building, mentoring peers, and sharing best practice. Youll bring significant experience of digital delivery in technical environments, with a strong grasp of Agile and Lean methodologies, tooling (such as Jira and Confluence), and user-centred design principles. Youll be confident engaging across a range of technical and non-technical stakeholders, able to align delivery with both operational needs and wider policy context. Experience within the public sector or similarly regulated environments is desirable, but not essential. Why choose a career at the Disclosure and Barring Service: At DBS, we are proud of the work we do and the people we work with. Our culture values collaboration, inclusion, and professionalism. We offer flexibility, trust and room to grow, recognising our people require support, not just responsibility. Benefits include: Civil Service pension with generous employer contributions 25 days annual leave, rising to 30 days with service, plus public holidays Flexible and hybrid working options, including remote working A supportive and inclusive organisational culture Ongoing learning and professional development opportunities Remote working is available for this role. Office attendance (Liverpool or Darlington) may be required in accordance with business needs. How to apply To learn more about the individual roles and choose the one that best matches your expertise, please click on the apply button. Monday 4 th August (closes at 10am) Sift to take place: The initial sift to shortlist applications is the week commencing: Monday 4th August 2025. Interviews are due to take place the week commencing: Monday 11 th August 2025 Interviews will be held via Microsoft Teams. Whilst we will endeavour to provide some flexibility with regards to dates wherever possible, it is unlikely that we will be able to offer an alternative date once an appointment has been scheduled **SC clearance level is a requirement for this role.** You must meet the security requirements before you can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check. For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers. The DBS is an accredited Disability Confident Employer, and we are an equal opportunities employer, welcoming suitably qualified applicants from all backgrounds. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission\’s recruitment principles. TPBN1_UKTJ