Job summary
- Main area
- IT
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 025-AC327-1225
- Employer
- Digital Health and Care Wales
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Hybrid working
- Town
- Location to be confirmed at interview
- Salary
- £56,514 - £63,623 per annum
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 07/01/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Lead DevOps Engineer
Band 8a
Digital Health and Care Wales is an ambitious organisation created by Welsh Government to lead on the digital transformation of health and care. It builds on the digital architecture and national services put in place by the NHS Wales Informatics Service over the past decade.
The organisation will lead on large-scale developments that make a significant difference to the people of Wales as well as to health and care professionals, such as expansion of the digital patient record and the creation of a National Data Resource. It will improve the way data is collected, shared and used. Please check your email account regularly. Successful applicants will receive all recruitment related correspondence via the email account registered on the application form.
All applicants are invited to apply in Welsh, any application submitted in Welsh will not be treated less favourably than an application made in English.
Job overview
The Lead DevOps Engineer provides technical leadership across engineering teams, driving the delivery of secure, reliable, and high-quality digital services. As a Lead DevOps Engineer, you will:
• Shape the DevOps strategy for the product line.
• Coach and lead teams in the design, implementation, and optimization of CI/CD pipelines, cloud architectures, and automation solutions.
• Champion best practices in testing, quality assurance, and continuous improvement. • Drive modern DevOps practices, tools, and standards to enhance service reliability, scalability, and security.
• Guide teams in infrastructure-as-code, configuration management, and automated deployment strategies.
• Lead knowledge sharing to embed best practice and build team capability.
• Apply a logical, analytical approach to complex problem-solving, by identifying root causes and balancing priorities and constraints.
• Draw on a broad understanding of information systems concepts and practices relevant to the organisation’s technology landscape.
The ability to speak Welsh is desirable for this post; Welsh and/or English speakers are equally welcome to apply.
Main duties of the job
- Lead the design and development of cloud-native integration solutions using Python, microservices architecture, and event-driven patterns.
- Guide technical direction, architecture, and standards for healthcare data transformation and validation systems.
- Oversee the development of robust CI/CD pipelines and Infrastructure as Code practices.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to deliver secure, user-centred digital services following secure-by-design principles.
- Mentor and coach developers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and technical excellence.
- Champion agile methodologies and DevSecOps practices across the team.
- Engage with stakeholders to understand requirements and translate them into scalable technical solutions.
- Ensure compliance with information security standards and NHS Wales policies for handling patient-identifiable data.
Working for our organisation
Digital Health and Care Wales (DHCW) is part of the NHS Wales family and has an important role in changing the way health and care services are delivered through technology and data. The organisation supports frontline staff with modern systems and access to important information about their patients, while empowering the people of Wales to manage their own health through digital NHS Wales services.
Working for DHCW offers lots of employee benefits, including flexible working, a competitive salary, 28 days of annual leave plus Bank Holidays and opportunities for career development. We are committed to recognising and celebrating our staff as the most valuable part of our organisation.
Join our game changing, life-saving team and start making a real difference to health and care services in Wales.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
You will be able to find a full Job description and Person Specification attached within the supporting documents or please click "Apply now" to view in Trac
Essential Skills & Experience
Core Development: Proven Python (3.x) leadership for APIs, system interfaces & data transformation; strong microservices/event-driven patterns;
Dockerised applications.
Cloud & Infrastructure: Hands-on Azure (Service Bus/message brokers); IaC with Terraform; scalable, resilient cloud-native architectures.
DevSecOps & Quality: CI/CD (Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions); automated testing, static analysis & security scanning; secure-by-design principles & sensitive data handling.
Integration & Standards: Lifecycle management, integration patterns & data workflows; message validation, schema enforcement & data quality; troubleshooting distributed systems & observability.
Leadership & Collaboration: Agile team leadership & mentoring; translating complex business needs into scalable solutions.
Desirable: Healthcare standards (HL7, FHIR, MLLP); Azure Monitor/Application Insights; modern Python tooling (UV, Ruff, MyPy); event-driven/asynchronous processing; ESB-to-cloud migration; Welsh language (Level 1+).
Person specification
Qualifications and Knowledge
Essential criteria
- • Master’s-level qualification (or equivalent professional experience) in a relevant technical or professional field, e.g., DevOps engineering, infrastructure, or software delivery.
- • Practical knowledge of DevOps principles and practices, including CI/CD, automation, infrastructure-as-code, and secure code deployment.
- • IT infrastructure and cloud/virtualisation expertise, including configuration, management, and security.
- • Understanding of service reliability, capacity, and incident/problem management practices within DevOps contexts.
- • Commitment to continuous professional development.
Desirable criteria
- • Chartered IT Professional (CITP) or an alternative relevant IT/professional registration.
- • FEDIP Advanced Practitioner, or equivalent recognised Advanced Professional qualification.
- • Theoretical and specialist knowledge gained via relevant certification, such as: o EXIN DevOps Master, or similar certification. o Leadership & Management qualification or training
- • Knowledge of the NHS, other healthcare systems, or the health sector, including regional or national variations.
Experience
Essential criteria
- • Proven experience in a technical leadership role, managing technical resources and prioritising delivery in a complex environment.
- • Expert in applying DevOps practices and automation to deliver secure, reliable, high-quality code from development to live services
- • Proficient in applying Agile methods and practices to lead DevOps teams and drive continuous improvement
- • Proficient in writing and maintaining code to support CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and automation, translating requirements into functional software.
- • Proficient in implementing and managing IT infrastructure, networks, and systems across on-premises and cloud environments.
- • Proficient in mitigating security threats and vulnerabilities across hardware, software, and infrastructure, including implementing controls and responding to security incidents.
- • Proficient in leading the build, test, and deployment of software releases, including handling non-conformance and release acceptance.
- • Proficient in using incident management tools to record, track, and analyse incidents, identify trends, and manage known errors.
- • Experience applying quality assurance methods and techniques, including planning, evaluation, configuration management, and conducting quality reviews and audits.
- • Proficient in coaching others, providing guidance and support to develop skills, improve performance, and adopt modern practices.
- • Proficient in engaging and managing stakeholders from diverse backgrounds, adapting communication and collaboration approaches to achieve shared goals.
- • Proficient in preparing and monitoring budgets to manage costs effectively and ensure value for money.
Desirable criteria
- • Adept in applying cloud, virtualisation, and infrastructure principles, including networks, systems, application, and data layers, with security and management of virtualised environments.
- • Proficient in applying AI and machine learning technologies to optimise DevOps processes and support data-driven decision-making.
- • Experience analysing pipelines in terms of metrics, e.g. queuing theory, Six-Sigma, TPS.
Skills and Attributes
Essential criteria
- • Analytical thinking skills to break down complex problems, select appropriate methods or tools, and reflect on outcomes to capture and apply learning.
- • Attention to Detail skills to apply quality standards consistently, ensuring all deliverables are accurate and complete.
- • Decision-Making skills to make timely, informed decisions considering priorities, constraints, risks, and available information.
- • Follow-up and Monitoring skills to track progress against targets, resolve issues, and report or escalate as needed.
- • Initiative to proactively identify opportunities for improvement and take appropriate action.
- • Influence and Impact skills to engage stakeholders confidently and professionally, shaping outcomes and achieving shared goals.
- • Leadership to support and guide others with clear direction and to encourage an inclusive, high-performing team culture.
- • Technical agility to quickly learn new technologies, stay updated on trends, and understand their commercial use.
Desirable criteria
- • Welsh language skills are desirable, level 1 or above, in understanding, speaking, reading and writing in Welsh.
- • Organisational awareness to understand your organisation’s values, culture, and key people, helping you build strong working relationships.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
Applicant requirements
Welsh language skills are desirable
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Stuart Davies
- Job title
- Service Owner
- Email address
- [email protected]
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