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Job description

Continuous professional development is a key focus for our IT colleagues. All team members, regardless of their grade, are expected to develop and adopt a culture of continuous improvement in terms of their own skills, the team’s capabilities and the services delivered. You will be given guidance and support to help you do your work and to develop a fuller awareness of the IT business environment and how it meets the requirements of customers both within the Civil Service and as members of the public. At the beginning of your career as an ICT Level 3, you will agree specific objectives with your line manager and identify subsequent development needs. The setting of these clear objectives will help you, your manager, and your team to align your actions to the strategic priorities and values of your department. Throughout your career you will be concentrating on the achievement of these objectives and will be given the necessary support to help you understand your job. You and your manager will regularly assess your achievements against your targets to evaluate your individual contribution, and your line manager will play a key role in helping you grow as an IT Professional. When specialist external IT resources are required to assist us, we ensure that there is a transfer of knowledge and skills to internal staff as part of the engagement; this is a measurable deliverable in all contracts with external suppliers. We intend to fill vacancies from this competition across the following IT job families IT Operations, Software Development and Cyber Security.

Responsibilities

• Delivery and maintenance of IT systems and services to support business objectives; Design, deployment, support, maintenance, and management of the IT infrastructure, including data centres, security, networks and access devices.
• Providing technical advice and guidance; Applying technical solutions to problems; Ensuring adherence to appropriate policies, procedures, and standards; Web hosting, and the provision of web-based applications and websites.
• Contract/procurement/service/account management activities.
• Software Development: Working within Agile, multidisciplinary teams to deliver business-critical digital services; Supporting business analysis activities, helping to understand user needs and contribute to requirements and solution design.
• Contributing to the development of applications, including building user-focused interfaces that meet customer needs, accessibility requirements and security standards.
• Developing and supporting digital services and integrations, including web services and APIs, ensuring solutions are reliable, secure and scalable.
• Assisting with testing and quality assurance, including creating and running automated tests to support continuous integration and deployment.
• Applying tools, frameworks and best practices to improve performance, security and maintainability of systems; Working with data and analytics tools, supporting the creation of dashboards, reports and insights to inform decision-making.
• Collaborating and sharing knowledge with colleagues across technical and non-technical teams to support continuous improvement.
• Providing support for live systems, including contributing to in-house (2nd line) support and, where required, participation in support rotas.
• Cyber Security: Supporting the monitoring and protection of IT systems, helping to identify and respond to security threats and incidents; Assisting in implementing and maintaining cyber security controls, policies, and best practices.
• Contributing to risk assessments and vulnerability management, identifying potential weaknesses in systems; Helping investigate security incidents, supporting analysis, reporting, and resolution activities.
• Working with internal teams/stakeholders to promote security awareness & good practice across the organisation; Following legal, regulatory, & government security standards (e.g. GDPR, NCSC guidance),while developing cyber security knowledge & skills
• Demonstrating competency in applying solutions for the benefit of the customer, ensuring the integrity and security of technical solutions, ensuring all options have been considered and that appropriate methodologies and standards have been applied.

Skills and Qualifications

Essential Skills

• 1) Have successfully obtained the appropriate standard in the ICT Aptitude test (as provided by Mindmill).
• AND 2) Have at least a level 4 qualification in Computing, Software Engineering, or other discipline relevant to Information Systems and Information Technology
• OR 3a) Have successfully completed at least a Level 3 IT apprenticeship in a relevant IT-related discipline.
• AND 3b) Can demonstrate a minimum of one year's experience contributing to the delivery and support of IT services, including assisting with service improvements and maintaining effective day-to-day operations.

Desirable Skills

• The shortlisting criteria will be based on the Test Scores. Depending on the number of applications, only those candidates who attain the highest score in the IT aptitude test will be invited to interview.

Further Information

NICS Application form only, Vacancy closing date Friday 4th September 2026 at 12 noon. The Northern Ireland Civil Service is an Equal Opportunities Employer. Applications from females, young people (people under the age of 35), people with a disability and people from minority ethnic communities are particularly welcomed for this post. All applications for employment are considered strictly based on merit.

Application Information

Visit the recruitment service website www.nicsrecruitment.org.uk (Please quote reference number: IRC324853)