Infrastructure engineer
Find out what an infrastructure engineer in government does and the skills you need to do the role at each level.
Last updated 31 May 2024 — See all updates
Contents
- — What an infrastructure engineer does
- — Infrastructure engineer role levels
- — 1. Associate infrastructure engineer
- — 2. Infrastructure engineer
- — 3. Senior infrastructure engineer
- — 4. Lead infrastructure engineer
- — 5. Principal infrastructure engineer
- — Roles that share infrastructure engineer skills
What an infrastructure engineer does
An infrastructure engineer designs, builds, manages and supports the infrastructure services that underpin all internal user services and services to the public.
Infrastructure engineer role levels
There are 5 infrastructure engineer role levels, from associate infrastructure engineer to principal infrastructure engineer.
The typical responsibilities and skills for each role level are described in the sections below. You can use this to identify the skills you need to progress in your career, or simply to learn more about each role in the Government Digital and Data profession.
1. Associate infrastructure engineer
As a trainee, you will work in an established team and support infrastructure engineers in their daily work, under their direction.
This role level is often performed at the Civil Service job grade of:
- EO (Executive Officer)
- HEO (Higher Executive Officer)
Skill | Description |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Troubleshooting and problem resolution Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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2. Infrastructure engineer
Working in a team of infrastructure specialists and engineers, an infrastructure engineer supports and maintains infrastructure solutions and services as directed and according to departmental policy.
At this role level, you will:
- ensure services are delivered and used as required
- work with and support third parties to provide infrastructure services
This role level is often performed at the Civil Service job grade of:
- HEO (Higher Executive Officer)
- SEO (Senior Executive Officer)
Skill | Description |
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Coding and scripting (infrastructure engineer) Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Troubleshooting and problem resolution Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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3. Senior infrastructure engineer
Working in a team of infrastructure specialists and engineers, a senior infrastructure engineer builds, administers, supports and maintains solutions as directed and according to departmental policy.
At this role level, you will:
- ensure services are integrated, delivered and operated as required
- work with and support third parties in providing infrastructure services
- work with technical architects to translate architectural designs into operations
- provide input into overall management - workforce, budget, technology roadmaps, projects and tasks
- lead and direct infrastructure specialist teams in building, managing, supporting and maintaining solutions according to departmental policy (if taking a managerial path)
This role level is often performed at the Civil Service job grade of:
- SEO (Senior Executive Officer)
- G7 (Grade 7)
Skill | Description |
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Coding and scripting (infrastructure engineer) Level: awareness Awareness is the first of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Troubleshooting and problem resolution Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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4. Lead infrastructure engineer
A lead infrastructure engineer manages third party provision of infrastructure services and the provision of expertise to develop architectural solutions for infrastructure services, throughout the service product life cycle.
At this role level, you will:
- oversee programmes and projects
- work with technical architects to translate the architectural designs into operations and support technical architects in operationalising the designs
- lead and direct infrastructure specialist teams in building, managing, supporting and maintaining solutions according to departmental policy (if taking a managerial path)
This role level is often performed at the Civil Service job grade of:
- G7 (Grade 7)
- G6 (Grade 6)
Skill | Description |
---|---|
Coding and scripting (infrastructure engineer) Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Troubleshooting and problem resolution Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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5. Principal infrastructure engineer
A principal infrastructure engineer is an accomplished technical leader.
At this role level, you will:
- develop strategic and tactical engineering roadmaps for technologies and services in your area of responsibility, ensuring they're future-proofed and that the organisation derives maximum value from investment in technologies
- potentially own the operational relationships with suppliers, ensuring services and products are delivered and aligned to industry best practice and regulatory and contractual requirements
- work with technical architects to translate the architectural designs into operations and support technical architects in operationalising the designs
- lead and direct infrastructure specialist teams in building, managing, supporting and maintaining solutions according to departmental policy (if taking a managerial path)
This role level is often performed at the Civil Service job grade of:
- G6 (Grade 6)
Skill | Description |
---|---|
Coding and scripting (infrastructure engineer) Level: working Working is the second of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
|
Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
|
Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
|
Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
|
Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
|
Level: practitioner Practitioner is the third of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
|
Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Troubleshooting and problem resolution Level: expert Expert is the fourth of 4 ascending skill levels |
You can:
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Roles that share infrastructure engineer skills
Role | Shared skills |
---|---|
Application operations engineer | |
End user computing engineer | |
Infrastructure operations engineer | |
Change and release manager | |
Command and control centre manager |
Updates
Published 7 January 2020
Last updated 31 May 2024
31 May 2024
- The indicative job grades for the 'principal infrastructure engineer' role level have been updated from 'G6 and deputy director or equivalent' to 'G6'. This change is based on the latest data on the most common grades for these role levels across government.
31 July 2023
- Infrastructure engineer was moved to the IT operations role group.
30 August 2022
- The ‘problem solving’ skill has been renamed ‘problem management’ to ensure consistency across the DDaT Profession Capability Framework.
7 January 2020
- First published.