Senior Application Operations Engineer

Would you like the opportunity to grow and develop your digital skills in a role that covers leading a small team managing the operation, maintenance, support and testing of services that impact on the lives of the people of Scotland?

If the answer is yes, then this exciting opportunity could be for you!

National Records of Scotland (NRS) Strategy, Delivery and Digital Transformation directorate provides technology for the services we deliver to our customers, including Architecture & Business Analysis, Project and Programme Delivery, Service Management, Cyber Security, Infrastructure Engineering & Support, Data and Digital Engineering & Support. This role sits within the digital and data engineering team in the IT Operations area, which is comprised of software engineers, data engineers, a data analyst, a test engineer, an application operations engineer, and a senior application operations engineer (this post).

You will lead a small team in the day-to-day management of a suite of applications, including deploying releases, carrying out maintenance activities, supporting the resolution of technical issues, testing, and liaising with end-users as required.

You will lead and contribute to the ongoing management of these applications, developing specialist knowledge of the systems they support and help maintain the underlying platforms and environments that enable their effective operation.

• Maintain secure and accurate configuration management of IT assets and service components, verifying asset location and status, ensuring services meet business needs and performance targets, and managing routine configuration, installation, and reconfiguration of database and related products.
• Analyse, assess, document, and implement change requests, evaluating potential impacts and contributing to continuous service improvement by identifying process optimisation opportunities and supporting the implementation of approved solutions.
• Diagnose, prioritise, investigate, and resolve incidents, taking ownership of issues through to mitigation, resolution, or appropriate handover, while consulting specialists where necessary to achieve effective outcomes.
• Investigate problems and trends, initiating and monitoring actions to identify root causes, determine appropriate remedies, assist with their implementation, and establish preventative measures to reduce recurrence.
• Develop structured solutions and frameworks by gathering inputs, applying logical methodologies, and using management systems, software tools, and technical concepts to support effective decision-making and service delivery.
• Monitor, analyse, and report on system performance, using logical schemata to investigate issues, collect performance statistics, create reports, optimise performance, and forecast future resource requirements.
• Support testing activities by reviewing requirements and specifications, defining test conditions, identifying risks and issues, executing tests, and analysing and reporting on test activities and outcomes.
• Engage with users and stakeholders to understand needs, gathering and analysing qualitative and quantitative user evidence, defining appropriate research approaches, and translating user insights into meaningful service and business outcomes.