Computing and Information Services

Grade 5: - £23,754 to £24,461
Apprentice - Full Time
Contract Duration: 24 months
Contracted Hours per Week: 35
Closing Date: 15-Aug-2020, 6:59:00 AM

Job Family: Estates and Information Infrastructure Services

OUR CHARACTERISTICS: We are a globally outstanding centre of teaching and research excellence, a collegiate community of extraordinary people, in a unique and historic setting.
OUR VALUES: We are inspiring, challenging, innovative, responsible and enabling.

Durham University

Durham University is one of the world's top universities with strengths across the Arts and Humanities, Business, Sciences and Social Sciences. We are home to some of the most talented scholars and researchers from around the world who are tackling global issues and making a difference to people's lives.

The University sits in a beautiful historic city where it shares ownership of a UNESCO World Heritage Site with Durham Cathedral, the greatest Romanesque building in Western Europe. A collegiate University, Durham recruits outstanding students from across the world and offers an unmatched wider student experience.

Durham University seeks to promote and maintain an inclusive and supportive environment for work and study that assists all members of our University community to reach their full potential. Diversity brings strength and we welcome applications from across the international, national and regional communities that we work with and serve.

It is expected that all staff within the University:

• Contribute to our learning culture by engaging in mentoring, training and coaching.
• Positively contribute to fostering a collegial environment; as well as demonstrating commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion.
• Have due regard to Health and Safety requirements appropriate to grade and role.

Family key attributes

Roles in this family manage and maintain the integrity of University buildings, estates and information services.

Overall family purpose

• Align services to meet organisational strategic and operational objectives.
• Design new, adapt existing and implement services, working with external contractors and suppliers.
• Manage and monitor systems, mechanisms and processes to ensure compliance with internal and external regulations.
• Implement procedures to ensure safe and secure buildings, facilities, estates and information networks.
• Design and construct real and virtual test environments to ensure the most fit for purpose technology and services are available to underpin University business needs.
• Manage technology driven services and third-party platforms to underpin teaching, learning, research and administrative activities across the University.
• Engage with external suppliers, contractors, manufacturers and developers to ensure the highest-standards and quality of information services.
• Work collaboratively and network across the University with staff in other families to ensure a smooth, timely and high-quality delivery of service.

Link to key strategic plan

• Support and facilitate a first-rate digital learning environment and experience on a par with the best in the UK;
• Running and ongoing development of a first-rate digital learning environment on a par with the best in the UK;
• A stakeholder-focused orientation, offering satisfying careers to all staff;
• Ensure that an increasingly diverse workforce is treated equally, fairly and with respect, and that all staff are demonstrably valued and actively engaged.

The Department and role purpose

The Computing and Information Services (CIS) has an annual operational budget in the order of £10m, multi-million pound programmes of change within year, and approximately 140 staff who are predominately based at the Durham University campus. The Senior Leadership Team report directly to the Chief Information Officer with the following portfolios: Strategy and Change; Operations; and Information Systems. CIS provide academic, teaching and administrative services across the organisation that underpin the day-to-day activities of the whole organisation.

Recent infrastructure improvements include investment in a new network backbone, including new cable runs throughout the city to all of the Universities core buildings, new scalable user facing storage, and a new hosting environment. Corresponding business led investment also continues to be made with a new Oracle Enterprise Resource Planning suite, investment in research administration, and maximising the breadth of opportunities available to the University through Office365, alongside numerous other important initiatives. 

CIS is a friendly, but demanding department, where much is expected and can be achieved by competent, self-motivated individuals who are demonstrable in their team work ability.

The Student Lifecycle team within CIS’s IS section is responsible for the university’s core business applications, within the Teaching, Learning, and Student Records areas. It is one of the largest IS teams and as well as providing business as usual application support, is increasing involved in a number of key projects to the university.

As a Graduate Apprentice Analyst (Software Engineering), you will assist with activities to maintain the day to day operation and on-going development of Computing and Information Services (CIS) services and solutions. Working in the Student Lifecycle team within Information Services during the course of the apprenticeship, you will maintain a high level of IT services throughout the University, assisting students, staff, visitors in their use of Durham University IT systems.

Core responsibilities

• Act as more knowledgeable team member without responsibility for team members.
• Plan and organise own workload with or without involvement with project work streams, taking responsibility for reviewing all work prior to escalation or submission to colleagues.
• Receive and log requests for IS support using the CIS Service Desk tool (UniDesk).
• Resolve queries and requests for information and advice, including investigating incidents and problems relating to applications and identifying appropriate actions to take, and escalate more specialist and complex queries or issues to more experienced team members.
• Respond to stakeholder needs to deliver and shape an excellent stakeholder experience, including undertaking performance monitoring of IS services, noting problems and trends, and where appropriate, undertaking corrective action, ensuring escalation if unsure of action to be taken.
• Apply theory and practice, from academic and professional development and previous knowledge within a service team.
• Contribute to collaborative decision making within the team with service provision to deliver an excellent stakeholder experience in accordance with policy and procedures.
• Work collaboratively across the organisation and/or externally with colleagues and stakeholders to deliver a service.
• Provide guidance and advice to resolve problems and queries for a broad range of service users.
• Collaborate with team members to implement service alterations.
• Organise and schedule resources, activities and events as well as working closely with more senior colleagues to support them in undertaking support and development activities.
• Identify priorities and monitor processes and activities to ensure success.
• Provide more in-depth independent research and analysis activities within the role.
• Analyse work activities to ensure the effective and efficient use of capital and consumable equipment and resources.
• Provide demonstrations and instruction to others outside the team.
• Support the capture of business requirements from users and work with colleagues to translate these into recommendations for future service provision.
• Liaise with contacts and participate in networks and communities internally and possibly externally, contributing to effective collaborative working.
• Advise others and make recommendations into work processes and procedures for consideration by senior management to improve services.

Role responsibilities

• Deliver IS support services to support administrative, business, teaching, research and learning activities across the university, assisting the Student Lifecycle team in delivery of new IS services or in providing support to existing IS services.
• Assist colleagues to achieve operational service requirements, planning, carrying out and documenting evaluations and tests to ensure stakeholder requirements are met.
• Apply technical knowledge and skills to build, adapt, construct and repair IS technology solutions and services using new and existing resources, including designing and developing simple programs, scripts and software modifications to specified requirements.
• Develop test plans to ensure all work correctly operates as expected.
• Verify and test work undertaken and where necessary, correct errors and re-test as appropriate.
• Manage and monitor the use of components, resources and equipment.
• Deliver appropriate demonstrations of service components, equipment and processes to users as necessary.
• Support the use of assistive technologies, social media and applications to meet security and safety regulations.
• Apply recognised professional procedures and techniques, to ensure the security, safety, integrity and viability of IS facilities and components and apply agreed CIS standards and tools as required so as to achieve quality deliverables.
• Liaise with outside agencies, suppliers and visitors to ensure the safe and secure delivery of IS services.
• Document all work in accordance with agreed team, IS and CIS standards and assist in the documentation of approved changes in accordance with CIS’s change management policy.
• Any other reasonable duties.

Specific role requirements

• Undertake a compulsory programme of masters level study, that will enable the award of an MSc in Digital and Technology Solutions (Software Engineering).
• To be eligible to apply for a graduate apprenticeship position, you must have obtained a higher education qualification at Bachelors level and possess a minimum 2:2 classification by a recognised university or other recognised higher education institution.
• Whilst working in CIS the hours of service for the Student Lifecycle Team are currently 8.00 am to 6.00 pm Monday to Friday but a flexible approach to work will be required to ensure that all duties are covered. Occasional evening and weekend work may be required.
• Whilst working in the Student Lifecycle team there is a four-week annual leave ban in place at the start of the academic year Sept/Oct to support staff and students over that known busy period.

Recruiting to this post

In order to be considered for interview, candidates must evidence each of the essential criteria required for the role in the person specification above ( 

In some cases, the recruiting panel may also consider the desirable criteria, so we recommend you evidence all criteria in your application.  

Please note that some criteria will only be considered at interview stage.

How to apply

We prefer to receive applications online.

Please note that in submitting your application Durham University will be processing your data. We would ask you to consider the relevant University Privacy Statement https://www.dur.ac.uk/ig/dp/privacy/pnjobapplicants/ which provides information on the collation, storing and use of data.

What you are required to submit

1. A CV; 
2. A covering letter which details your experience, strengths and potential in the requirements set out above;
3. Examples of how you satisfy the person specification criteria.  Please ensure you give detailed examples of how you meet these criteria if requested.  
4. Copy of confirmation of your degree award and classification

Please ensure that you submit all documentation listed above or your application cannot proceed to the next stage.

Contact details

For further information please contact; Catherine Wilson, Director of IS via Catherine.Wilson@Durham.ac.uk.

At Durham University, our aim is to create an open and inclusive environment where everyone can reach their full potential and believe our staff should reflect the diversity of the global community in which we work.  We welcome and encourage applications from members of groups who are under-represented in our work force including people with disabilities, women and black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

We will notify you on the status of your application at various points throughout the selection process, via automated emails from our e-recruitment system. Please check your spam/junk folder periodically to ensure you receive all emails.

Person specification - skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required

Essential Criteria

1. Good oral and written communication skills.
2. Proven IT skills including Microsoft Office.
3. Five GCSE’s at least Grade C or level four (or equivalent) including English Language and Mathematics (or equivalent experience).
4. Experience of managing time in order to meet deadlines.
5. Ability to solve problems and resolve issues, plan solutions and make pragmatic decisions.
6. Ability to follow instructions, written or oral, accurately.
7. Have been awarded a higher education qualification at Bachelors level and possess a minimum 2:2 classification by a recognised university or other recognised higher education institution.
8. Awareness of the role of IT service provision in a large organisation.
9. Demonstrable ability to proactively work with team members to ensure the delivery of high quality services.

Desirable Criteria

1. Experience of working in a team.
2. Health and safety compliance knowledge.
3. Experience of contributing to the delivery of IT provision.
4. Some previous experience of working with computers. For example: using applications, installing software, and programming, repairing or building computers
5. Experience of providing advice and guidance to a range of customers and colleagues.
6. Ability to effectively network and exchange advice and information for development purposes. 
7. Relevant industry and professional recognition and certification of achievement of skills and knowledge.

DBS Requirement: Not Applicable.