Job description
Power SPPA’s cloud-first operational excellence with your expertise!
The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is an Agency of the Scottish Government. Our principal role is to administer the pensions for employees in the National Health Service, Teachers’, Police and Fire-fighters’ pension schemes in Scotland.
This role is central to enabling SPPA’s secure, reliable and modern cloud services by leading the design, implementation and ongoing management of critical infrastructure across Azure and wider platforms. Working closely with colleagues, suppliers and partners, you will drive the development of scalable, secure solutions using modern standards, scripting tools (such as Python and DevOps platforms) and infrastructure-as-code approaches, while ensuring robust governance, effective problem resolution, system integration and continuous improvement across SPPA’s technology landscape.
Responsibilities
- Lead and line manage the SPPA Infrastructure/Cloud Engineering team.
- Build and maintain knowledge and awareness of best practice of cloud and IT infrastructure management. An in-depth knowledge of MS Azure is critical to this role, as is knowledge of the wider Microsoft product suite and Linux. Oracle knowledge, or the ability to acquire it rapidly, would be advantageous to the postholder. Knowledge of securely integrating MS Azure with other cloud platforms is essential.
- Work closely with SPPA colleagues, suppliers, and managed service providers to deliver the design, implementation and ongoing maintenance of critical cloud services. This should include a deep cloud expertise, including key IaaS, PaaS and SaaS technologies such as IAM, Networking, Storage, Compute and Governance.
- Manage the environment and ensure quick and easy deployments using Infrastructure as Code (IaC) via Terraform and have some experience using and supporting scripting and software tools, in particular a knowledge of Python and MS DevOps platforms would be beneficial.
- Design and implement infrastructure solutions and services, for example, networking and physical infrastructure, commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software, open-source packages and solutions, or virtual and cloud computing.
- Use information security practices and available security controls to contribute to protecting solutions and services.
- Shape contributions to IT Change and Architecture Boards in the capacity of trusted advisor, and/or present to them, to ensure compliant and secure services are developed in line with best practice and architectural principles.
- Own an issue until a new owner has been found or the problem has been mitigated or resolved and consult specialists where required determine the appropriate resolution and assist with its implementation, initiating and monitoring actions to investigate patterns and trends to resolve problems and determine future preventative measures.
About Us
The Scottish Public Pensions Agency is an Agency of the Scottish Government. Our principal role is to administer the pensions for employees in the National Health Service, Teachers’, Police and Fire-fighters’ pension schemes in Scotland for over 640,000 key workers. The Agency administers these public service pension schemes on behalf of Scottish Ministers with an annual pension spend to over 200,000 pensioners to the value of more than £3.7 billion.
Our staff are part of the UK Civil Service observing the Civil Service Code and working for Ministers and senior stakeholders to deliver vital public services which improve the lives of the people of Scotland.
We offer a supportive and inclusive working environment along with a wide range of employee benefits. Find out more about what we offer .
As part of the UK Civil Service, we uphold the Civil Service Nationality Rules .
You can also find out more about careers at the SPPA here - SPPA Careers | SPPA (pensions.gov.scot )
Working Pattern
Our standard hours are 35 hours per week. We offer a range of flexible and hybrid working options, with two days minimum working on site at SPPA. If you have specific questions about the role you are applying for, please contact us.
Security Checks
Successful candidates must complete the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), before they can be appointed. BPSS is comprised of four main pre-employment checks – Identity, Right to work, Employment History and a Criminal Record check (unspent convictions).
You can find out more about BPSS on the UK Government website , or read about the different levels of security checks in our Candidate Guide .
Sponsorship
Skilled Worker sponsorship is not available for this role. As a result, we are unable to appoint candidates who require Skilled Worker sponsorship now or in the future. Applicants must have an existing and ongoing right to work in the UK.
Equality Statement
We are committed to equality and inclusion and we aim to recruit a diverse workforce that reflects the population of our nation.
Find out more about our commitment to diversity and how we offer and support recruitment adjustments for anyone who needs them.
Further Information
Find out more about our organisation, what we offer staff members and how to apply on our Careers Website .
Read our Candidate Guide for further information on our recruitment and application processes.
We will hold a reserve list for this post for 12 months.
Apply Before: 5 July 2026 (23:59)
Qualifications
You must hold a relevant MS Azure qualification such as:
- Azure DB Administrator
- Azure Administrator
- Azure Security Engineer
- Azure Developer
- Azure Data Engineer
or demonstrable equivalent industry experience
Success profile
Success profiles are specific to each job and they include the mix of skills, experience and behaviours candidates will be assessed on.
Technical / Professional Skills:
- Technical Understanding - Practitioner
- Systems Design - Practitioner
- Systems Integration - Practitioner
- Modern Development Standards - Practitioner
- Troubleshooting and Problem Resolution - Practitioner
You can find out more about the full skills required here: Infrastructure engineer - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework
Experience
You must have a minimum of five years’ experience of the secure administration, deployment and maintenance of Microsoft Azure. Oracle and AWS experience in addition to this would be advantageous as would prior public sector experience.
Behaviours:
- Leadership – Level 3
- Making Effective Decisions – Level 3
- Communicating and influencing – Level 3
- Managing a quality service – Level 3
Further details about the full behaviours required, with examples, can be found here: Success Profiles .
How to apply
Apply online, providing a CV and Supporting Statement (of no more than 1,500 words) which provides evidence of how you meet the skills, experience and behaviours listed in the Success Profile above.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can be used to support your application, but all statements and examples provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, and presented as your own) applications will be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.
Please see our candidate guidance for more information on acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI in recruitment.
If invited for further assessment, this will consist of an interview and job-related simulation.
Sifting will commence from 6 July 2026.
Assessments are scheduled for w/c 27 July 2026 , however this may be subject to change.
Recruitment Principles
As a government organisation, we adhere to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles and we investigate any complaints received in relation to recruitment cases.
