Software Services Deputy Director

Digital Data and Technology (HO DDT)

Minimum Requirement:

Security Clearance: SC – must be valid and in date

Requirements

1. Defining the strategic direction for Product Support and Software Service Management structure for the delivery of live operational service across the large and complex Home Office systems.
2. Effectively communicating the strategic direction to senior stakeholders and DDaT staff through effectively strong credible relationships at all level with stakeholders covering all elements of DDaT live operations delivery including the most complex transactional environments understanding developers and user needs in order to engage and instigate change.
3. Increase the number of applications onboarded to SAS ways of working and resources from 10% to 20% with no loss of operational service delivery and application performance the same if not better once onboarding has been completed.
4. Successfully lead the delivery of software services for all SAS onboarded live applications by more than 150 people located in Sheffield, Croydon and Manchester to ensure the target of zero production hours lost is achieved.
5. Lead the transformation of onboarded applications to enable agile product centric DevOps culture across all of the SAS live service delivery teams championing the sharing of source code and building on existing application functionality rather than increasing the number of Home Office applications.
6. Lead the SAS engagement with the major programmes in MBTP, HMPO, PPPT and Enablers to support the software engineer and DevOps delivery of the required functional and non-functional changes to ensure adherence to the business requirements and timescales.
7. Successfully embed the SAS Operating Model into the Portfolio delivery teams ensuring the adoption of the new ways of working through the agreed key role of Product Owner, Product Manager, Delivery Manager, Project Manager and User Researcher.

Qualifications and experience

1. Proven history of building large DevOps teams capable of producing significant change to government’s ability to deliver service and reform.
2. Skills and experience is understanding customer requirements and building teams of software engineers capable of enacting developments that satisfy the requirements and needs of the users of the services.
3. Ability to structure and organise work across matrix managed multi-disciplinary teams to satisfy an appropriate set of prioritised backlog items to support the continuation of development and support services for highly important, critical and high availability systems and services.
4. Ten years DevOps experience in government.
5. Proven history of successfully leading large government digital delivery programmes.
6. Proven history of building government DevOps teams of 500 plus engineers.
7. Detailed understanding of secure data exchange between government departments.

A key member of the Share Applications Service leadership team working with other Optimus workstream leads the role holder will lead the software engineering strategy to facilitate the delivery of the SAS vision and £194m of savings on software service spend over the next 4 years.

This role will be responsible for the end-to-end software engineering accountability through design, build and live service provision for all SAS onboarded applications and the ending of expensive outsourced contracts.

Work across the organisation to ensure alignment of the SAS delivery of live services alongside the wider strategic priorities set out by Optimus, DDaT and the Home Office with a particular focus on data, security and architectural compliance for the onboarded applications. This must be achieved with disruption to the agreed functional delivery commitments of the Department and must also deliver a service as good as if not better than the current provision.

Leading a senior team of technology professionals to create and maintain software services targeting zero production hours lost whilst continuing to develop new application functionality across a range of Portfolio delivered services. After transition this role will be responsible for the transformation of services to enable a DevOps culture that supports both functional and non-functional requirements delivery through a backlog prioritised by the Product Owner.

Drive a comprehensive and cohesive software engineering strategy across medium and large-scale agile delivery programmes, including the incorporation of the Department’s accessibility, engineering, architecture and testing standards through the building and deployment of a robust DevOps culture across all SAS teams.