Technical Delivery Manager

Post Title: Technical Delivery
Manager
Team: Digital and Data Solutions
Ref No: 202420
Grade: S
Salary: £38,320 + £5,000 depending on
experience.

A Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA) up to £5,000 per annum, pro rata, may be
agreed. This allowance is discretionary and will depend on candidate’s qualifications and
experience.

This post will have a base in either Peterborough or Aberdeen.

JNCC has adopted a hybrid working approach, allowing colleagues to benefit from time in
the office, with the flexibility also to work from home. Employees are expected to work from
our office base for 1 – 2 days a month as a minimum, this will vary by team and the exact
balance will depend on the nature of your role. We can provide more details at the interview
and offer stages.

Who are JNCC?

Established in 1991, we’re the UK’s statutory advisor on issues affecting the natural
environment across the UK and internationally. Our primary role is advising all four
Governments of the UK. We also work with private sector organisations to support decision
making on the sustainable use of marine waters and natural resources around the UK. JNCC is led
by the Joint Committee, which brings together members from the nature conservation bodies for
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and independent members appointed by the
Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs under an independent Chair.
Support is provided to the Committee by approx. 300 people who bring together scientific and
technical expertise, extensive knowledge of policy at global, European and national levels, and
skills in working with other organisations. Staff are based in two main offices in Peterborough
and Aberdeen.

Why JNCC?

We’re small enough (c.300 staff) that your voice is heard by everyone including the
CEO, but big enough that we have all the skills, resources and people you’ll need to get the
job done. All our staff are passionate about conservation and making a difference to the world
we live in. We have a very flexible, inclusive and welcoming organisational culture. Our
Executive Management provides employees with the freedom and tools you will need, and our
friendly team will assist you in your role.

JNCC is committed to maintaining employee health and wellbeing, whether it is
physically, emotionally, financially or socially, and offers a range of benefits to support
employees in this. Such benefits include the option to join the Civil Service Pension Scheme,
professional and personal development opportunities as well as an exciting job in a unique
environment.

Hours of work: Full-time

Normal minimum hours of attendance for the post are 36 hours per week over a 5-day period,
Monday to Friday.

Flexi time is available. This post may also be suitable for job share.

Annual Leave:

The annual leave allowance is 25 days per year, rising to 30 days per year after 5 years’
service. There are also 12 days public and privilege leave. Part-time staff will receive this
on a pro rata basis.

Post background

This exciting new post will lead a team of application developers to deliver innovative
environmental data products, cutting-edge earth observation solutions, and bespoke applications
to meet the evolving needs of JNCC. The postholder will join the Digital and Data Solutions
Team which works across the organisation to deliver application development alongside data
engineering, project management, data protection, and information management expertise.

The postholder will lead a team of four developers, facilitating new development by selecting
appropriate technologies, managing Agile delivery of work, and liaising with customers internal
and external to the organisation. Alongside this, you will work with the team to support,
monitor and maintain existing applications and tools.

You will be leading a portfolio of projects that is highly varied and dynamic. You might find
yourself working on utilising public cloud services and national supercomputing resources or
helping to develop JNCC’s approach to data and metadata management. Working with our technical
project managers and key scientists, the successful candidate will help organise development
time and assignments as well as advising on technical aspects of project delivery.

Within the team there are lots of opportunities to work on projects of interest and collaborate
with like-minded developers and data engineers. An interest in nature conservation and
ecological knowledge would be helpful to you but are not a requirement.

Post Duties

• Line Manage four developers including, but not limited to, day to day assignments,
  prioritisation of tasks, performance reviews and professional development.
• Coordinate and deliver a small portfolio of highly technical projects from start to finish.
  In many cases, this will include enabling the application development team to deliver work
  through facilitation of technical decision making, task assignment, management of risks and
  blockers.
• Engage with users and key suppliers to firm up specifications, manage expectations, conduct
  user acceptance testing and ensure new applications are fit for purpose.
• Support, monitoring and maintenance of our suite of existing tools and applications,
  including managing the utilisation of AWS and JASMIN (storage and data analysis supercomputer
  platform) environments.
• Develop solutions to produce environmental data products at scale.
• Advise leadership on technical strategy and help shape organisational approach to cutting
  edge system development.
• Manage the digital development budget in line with JNCC monitoring and reporting
  requirements. This may include supporting procurement processes for systems and licences to
  inform project plans and existing system maintenance.
• Keep abreast of new IT technologies and techniques and complete individual Continuous
  Professional Development (CPD) to maintain technical currency in languages and methodologies.

Technical

To be a successful candidate you will be/have:

• Knowledge of software/applications development – with lifecycle product experience in the
  design, development, testing, implementing and support and maintenance of software systems.
• Detailed knowledge of cloud hosting solutions (AWS preferred) and Python.
• Experience and knowledge of open-source development models and general IT industry trends.
• Knowledge of data standards, assessing data quality, translating data between different
  formats.

Experience (Responsibilities)

To be a successful candidate you will have:

• Experience of, or aptitude for, leading a hybrid-based development team and managing a
  portfolio of work in an Agile manner.
• Experience in project management for digital project scoping and delivery including Agile
  methodologies and user centred design.
• Experience in business analysis principles and techniques, with particular reference to
  effective liaison between technical experts and customers to define, prioritise and articulate
  requirements as technical specifications.
• Demonstrable ability to create and apply innovative technical or digital solutions to
  support specific areas of business.

Behaviours

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions

In the event that we receive a large volume of applications we reserve the right to conduct the
sift based on the Lead Behaviour of Leadership

Please see the CS Behaviours framework for more details at this grade.

Nationality requirements 

This job is broadly open to the following groups: 

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply
  for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the
  Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

JNCC do not provide sponsorship.

Closing date and interview date

The closing date for this post is 23:55 on Wednesday, 17 April 2024

The anticipated interview date is week commencing Monday, 29 April 2024

Please note that there will be two interviews for candidates who are shortlisted. The first
interview will focus on technical skills and experience and may include a short presentation.
The second interview will be more general in nature, with a focus on experience and skills.
Further details will be circulated to shortlisted candidates.