Illustrative Reference profiles for a generic digital health care organisation, not official job descriptions. About this reference.

Lead DevOps engineer

Band 8b · DevOps engineer · 604 job evaluation points

UK GDaD PCF level: Lead DevOps engineer

Most often performed at Civil Service grade G7 or G6.

A lead DevOps engineer leads one or a small number of related project teams and contributes to the development of the strategic direction.

At this role level, you will:

  • act as a technical product owner, developing medium to long term strategies for product lines
  • provide technical leadership and guidance through coaching and mentoring
  • lead the sharing of knowledge and good practice

There are 2 different roles at this level - a technical role and a management role.

Contains public sector information from the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (https://understand-digital-data-roles-skills.service.gov.uk/), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.

Responsibilities

Skills

SkillExpected levelWhat this level means
Availability and capacity managementUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • manage service components to ensure they meet business needs and key performance indicators (KPIs)
Development process optimisationUK GDaD PCFWorking (2)

You can:

  • work under guidance to identify process optimisation opportunities
  • contribute to the implementation of proposed solutions
Information securityUK GDaD PCFPractitioner (3)

You can:

  • design solutions and services with security controls included, specifically engineered to mitigate security threats
Modern development standardsUK GDaD PCFExpert (4)

You can:

  • identify and apply modern development standards to support complex projects and programmes
  • lead others in applying modern development standards
Programming and build (software engineering)UK GDaD PCFPractitioner (3)

You can:

  • collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications
  • use the agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using the right standards and tools
PrototypingUK GDaD PCFPractitioner (3)

You can:

  • approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others
  • establish design patterns and iterate them
  • use a variety of prototyping methods and choose the most appropriate
Service supportUK GDaD PCFExpert (4)

You can:

  • identify, locate and fix complex service faults
  • advise others on different methodologies and types of service support
Systems designUK GDaD PCFPractitioner (3)

You can:

  • design systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact, and business or technical complexity
  • select appropriate design standards, methods and tools, and ensure they are applied effectively
  • review the systems designs of others to ensure the selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology
Systems integrationUK GDaD PCFExpert (4)

You can:

  • establish standards and procedures across a service product life cycle, including the development product life cycle, and can ensure that practitioners adhere to these
  • manage resources to ensure that the systems integration function works effectively
User focusUK GDaD PCFPractitioner (3)

You can:

  • collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally
  • explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user
  • champion user research to focus on all users
  • prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so
  • offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use
Understanding health and care servicesThis referencePractitioner (3)

You can:

  • analyse how a service fits into care pathways across organisations
  • work with clinicians, care staff, and patients to shape digital services
  • explain the effect of digital decisions on care, safety, and staff workload
Clinical risk managementThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • take part in hazard workshops and contribute to a hazard log
  • follow the clinical risk management process for your work
  • provide evidence for a clinical safety case, such as test results
Information governance and data protectionThis referencePractitioner (3)

You can:

  • lead data protection impact assessments and information sharing agreements
  • advise teams on lawful basis, consent, confidentiality, and retention
  • investigate incidents and recommend improvements
Vulnerability managementThis referencePractitioner (3)

You can:

  • prioritise vulnerabilities by risk, including to patient services
  • scope and manage penetration tests and remediation
Security operationsThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • monitor alerts and triage them using runbooks
  • gather evidence and escalate events
  • tune simple detection rules under guidance
People managementThis referencePractitioner (3)

You can:

  • line manage a team, setting objectives and running appraisals
  • support wellbeing and manage attendance, performance, and conduct
  • plan the team's development and succession
Budget managementThis referenceWorking (2)

You can:

  • track spending against a small budget and raise variances
  • authorise spending within your limit

Typical qualifications and experience

Band 8b outline

Knowledge
Expert knowledge across several disciplines or a large service.
Autonomy
Shapes policy and strategy for a large area.
Scope
Several services or teams, or a principal-level discipline.
Leadership
Manages managers, or is the principal authority in a discipline.
Accountability
Several services, their staff, and their budgets.

Job evaluation (illustrative)

FactorLevelLevel summaryPoints
Communication and relationship skills5Gives highly complex or contentious information needing developed persuasion and negotiation, presents to large groups, or communicates where there are significant barriers to acceptance.45
Knowledge, training, and experience8Advanced knowledge (doctorate plus further training or equivalent), or specialist knowledge across more than one discipline built over a long period.240
Analytical and judgemental skills5Judgements on highly complex facts or situations needing analysis, interpretation, and comparison of options.60
Planning and organisational skills4Plans a broad range of complex activities or strategies, adjusting them as needed.42
Physical skills2Skills gained through practice, such as standard keyboard use or driving.15
Responsibility for patient and client care1Helps patients, clients, or relatives during incidental contact.4
Responsibility for policy and service development4Implements policy and develops policy or services for a service or several areas.32
Responsibility for financial and physical resources3Authorises payments, buys some assets or supplies, monitors or holds a delegated budget, or maintains assets.21
Responsibility for people3Manages a group of staff day to day, teaches core or specialist training, or gives core HR advice.21
Responsibility for information resources5Designs and develops major information systems, or runs information systems for several services as the main duty.34
Responsibility for research and development2Regularly does research, development, trials, or equipment and system testing as part of the job.12
Freedom to act5Works within general policies, and in most cases decides how to interpret them.45
Physical effort1Sitting, standing, and walking, with little physical effort.3
Mental effort4Frequent prolonged concentration, or occasional intense concentration.18
Emotional effort1Rare exposure, or occasional indirect exposure, to distressing circumstances.5
Working conditions2Occasional unpleasant conditions, frequent travel or outdoor work, or near-continuous screen use on most days.7
Total (Band 8b: 585 to 629)604

Self assessment

Rate what you do regularly now, add a short example as evidence, and plan an action for your most important gaps. Your answers are saved in this browser only.

Rated 0 of 17 skills: 0 meet the expected level, 0 below, 0 above.

Availability and capacity management Expected: Working
Development process optimisation Expected: Working
Information security Expected: Practitioner
Modern development standards Expected: Expert
Programming and build (software engineering) Expected: Practitioner
Prototyping Expected: Practitioner
Service support Expected: Expert
Systems design Expected: Practitioner
Systems integration Expected: Expert
User focus Expected: Practitioner
Understanding health and care services Expected: Practitioner
Clinical risk management Expected: Working
Information governance and data protection Expected: Practitioner
Vulnerability management Expected: Practitioner
Security operations Expected: Working
People management Expected: Practitioner
Budget management Expected: Working
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