Senior Applications Operations Engineer - Technology CSC - Counter Terrorism Policing HQ


Posted on 18th Aug 2025

Senior Applications Operations Engineer - Technology CSC - Counter Terrorism Policing HQ

Job Title: Senior Applications Operations Engineer - Technology CSC - Counter Terrorism Policing HQ

Salary: The starting salary is £53,459, which includes allowances totalling £2,928.

The salary is broken down as £50,531 basic salary, which will increase annually until you reach the top of the scale £55,103 Plus, a location allowance of £1,928 and a non-pensionable allowance of £1,000.

Location: Birmingham/Regional

 

Job Summary

As a Senior Application Operations Engineer, you’ll make sure Counter Terrorism Policing has the tech to do its job. Join us, and you won’t just be supporting applications – you’ll be helping to protect the UK. This is a great opportunity to join us at the Customer Service Centre (CSC), which provides IT services for the Counter Terrorism Policing network.

This role is aligned to the Senior Application Operations Engineer role set out within the Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (DDAT).

Reporting to the Applications Team Manager, you’ll support all CSC applications – operational, Business As Usual and project tasks. Day to day, you’ll deal with service requests, changes, problems and incidents as part of a 2nd line team. When tricky issues arise, you’ll draw on your experience to problem-solve and identify the cause.

As a senior member of the team, you’ll also take on some additional tasks: implementing an ITIL-aligned Application Management strategy and mentoring junior analysts. In effect, you’ll be a subject matter expert, tackling escalations and developing our talent.

As you work, you’ll be learning new IT skills and liaising with all kinds of policing contacts. You’ll also be working on-call, so a flexible approach is essential.

We’re looking for an experienced Applications professional who inspires trust. Degree-educated (or equivalent), you’ll bring strong technical expertise in application design and development, including agile methodologies, database design and infrastructure technologies. A background in Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) will be advantageous too.

However, equally important are customer focus and strong communication skills. Adept at connecting with others, you’ll discuss solutions, update stakeholders and deal with suppliers every day.     

Join us, and you’ll be part of a team of engineers covering core working hours weekdays from the CSC operations centre and on call (roughly 1 week in 4). The role is office-based with occasional opportunities to work from home.

Key Tasks

The post holder will be required to do the following:

  • Working within a service team monitoring components such as web servers, applications servers, log files, disk space and MS-SQL databases
  • A point of escalation for all Application related issues within the Application Support team.
  • Working as part of a second line support function following incident management through to incident resolution. Natural problem solving with ability to apply previous experience to new problems working towards route cause analysis.
  • Ensuring the entire application estate aligns within Application Lifecycle Management.
  • Working with third party suppliers, stakeholders and departmental ICT teams to help deliver patch/release of applications while coordinating vendor support.
  • Ensuring the reliability, availability, and performance of software systems through a combination of software engineering and systems administration principles.
  • Responsible for monitoring, automating, and improving the operational aspects of software systems, including incident response, capacity planning, and performance tuning
  • Understanding of ITIL process, incident management, change management and problem management including working to strict SLAs.
  • Maintaining middleware such as; IIS, MS-SQL Server, Active Directory, ASP and. NET, including troubleshooting, performance tuning, basic querying and resolving bottlenecks.
  • Working on cloud and container technologies and Kubernetes.
  • Design, development, testing and deployment of Tableau Dashboards.
  • Report writing with tools such as PowerShell, JavaScript, HTML and SQL.
  • Ownership of application backup, restores and the Application Disaster Recovery (DR) process.
  • Daily support of COTS and WEB based software applications with an emphasis on the ability to problem solve.
  • Creating knowledge base articles and up-skilling other members of the team following resolution.
  • Ability to understand business logic, technical tools and be an analytic thinker.
  • Strong customer focus – understanding the needs of the internal and external customer and keeping them in mind when taking actions or making decisions.
  • Able to attend Senior User groups nationally on behalf of the CSC and articulate complex technical issues to both peers and non-technical staff.

Key Skills

The post holder must have:

  • Excellent communication with strong listening, written and verbal communication skills.
  • Strong analytical and problem-solving skills to provide root cause analysis of problems and viable solutions, including appropriate mitigations.
  • Ability to read and analyse application logs to identify issues and escalate as necessary.
  • Understanding of application design & development, including agile methodologies, application and database design, infrastructure technologies.
  • Credibility: The post holder must be must be assertive, attentive and credible with staff, management and stakeholders.
  • Excellent inter-personal skills. The post holder must be adept at assessing and discussing business options with senior management, discussing the implications of those issues and of alternative solutions. The post holder must therefore have a high level of interpersonal skills, communication skills, business and technical accumen in order to gain credibility with colleagues at all levels.
  • Attitudes & behaviours: The post holder must have the ability to work independently and also as part of a team. They must exhibit the ability to work under their own autonomy and prioritise their own work load. They must exhibit the ability to work under pressure and with competing demands. They must have enthusiasm, commitment, loyalty and determination to achieve results. The post holder must be prepared to challenge attitudes and behaviours which are incompatible with CTP HQ Policies and Values.
  • Confidence to step in when systems are unexpectedly unavailable and deal with stakeholders in a calm way. Manage supplier and stakeholder communications and updates on problem solving. Pushing to establish route cause of service outages and implementing changes in response to these outages in a controlled manner

Vetting

This post requires access to the most sensitive intelligence material on a daily basis. Applicants must hold or be prepared to undergo National Security Vetting (NSV) Developed Vetting (DV) level before taking up the post.

This post requires British nationality (some dual nationals may be ineligible) and an Enhanced Security Check (eSC)/Developed Vetting (DV)] clearance. 

 

As the post holder will have access to very sensitive information, there are limitations on travelling to a small number of countries and we will undertake additional security checks as part of the recruitment process.  Applications from candidates with close connections to certain countries may take considerably longer to process, or in some cases result in a withdrawal of an offer of employment. Further details will be provided at the conditional offer stage.

 

Confidentiality Agreement

Applicants should also be aware of the need to sign a confidentiality agreement on taking up the post.

Our Employee Commitments

Counter Terrorism Policing aims to create an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere and culture and an environment where all our people feel a strong sense of belonging and are able to reach their full potential. Where any group or individual can be and feel respected, supported and valued to fully participate and contribute to our mission of “Working to keep people safe from Terrorism”.

Inclusion, diversity and equality is at the front and centre of our approach to make the composition of Counter Terrorism Policing more representative of the communities we serve.  As Counter Terrorism is rooted in Local Policing, to tackle today’s complex policing challenges, applications from across all communities are therefore essential and encouraged. Counter Terrorism Policing as a network is committed to ensuring that disabled people and those with long-term health conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations’.

Counter Terrorism Policing is committed to creating an inclusive working environment. We welcome and encourage applications from candidates who are seeking flexible working arrangements, including part time working or job share. In addition, this role has been reviewed following learning from work during the Covid pandemic and may be done in an agile manner. In the first instance, please contact the vacancy holder to discuss how such arrangements could be accommodated (where applicable). 

How to apply

To begin your career at the Met, please click the "apply now" button below. The application process requires a comprehensive CV, a Personal Statement, and an online application form. In your Personal Statement, you should explain your interest in the position and illustrate how your skills and experiences make you a suitable candidate. Please note that you should not submit two copies of your CV, and ensure that your documents are saved in either PDF or Word format, clearly labelled as CV and/or Personal Statement.

Completed applications must be submitted by 23:55 on 26th August 2025.

Once received, your application will be reviewed against eligibility criteria, following this, your application will be reviewed by the hiring manager. The application review for this vacancy will commence 2 weeks after the vacancy has closed.

Following application review, successful candidates will be invited to interview. Interview dates will commence 2 weeks after the hiring managers review.

www.metpolicecareers.co.uk

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