Engineering competencies v2: a new suite of competencies are now available, view them here or read the FAQ to understand more about this change.

Senior Engineer 1

The competencies for Senior Engineer 1 in Operations are outlined below. Before reviewing them, it is helpful to review how to use these competencies.

Planning and Organising

Effectively manages activities within the available people, resources and keeps to expected or communicated timelines. Includes contributing to task break-down and estimating.

Breaks down complex technical requests / issues into manageable tasks. Contributes accurate estimation, planning and progress tracking.

Proficiency: Working knowledge

Independent Working

Works independently as an individual at each level, showing self-reliance and initiative, and takes responsibility for completing tasks and seeing them through to completion.

Takes ownership of activities, initiatives, and projects, identifying and solving problems while ensuring alignment with team goals. Prioritises all work without supervision and ensure all incident management processes are followed consistently. Without supervision deals with incidents and alerts, recommends improvements, writes reports and organises incident reviews.

Proficiency: Working knowledge

Problem Solving & Decision Making

Makes well-judged and timely decisions, identifies problems, and creates effective solutions.

Identifies inefficiencies in existing systems and processes and proposes solutions to improve efficiency, performance, and reliability. Troubleshoots complex issues and works with engineers to improve the capabilities of the Ops Team.

Proficiency: Working knowledge

Business Impact

Recognises the broader business context and strategically aligns actions to support organisational goals.

Has a very good knowledge of FT business areas and a deep understanding of the critical systems used, the impact of incidents and possible mitigations

Proficiency: Working knowledge

Communication

Effectively listens, understands, and conveys messages in a way that is appropriate to the audience - including verbal, written, use of diagrammes. Uses a range of techniques to influence and make persuasive arguments. Adopts a patient, empathic style, avoids jargon, and checks for understanding in others.

Communicates clearly with larger internal groups, facilitating productive discussions and ensures understanding and alignment.

During incidents, adapts their communication style and language for different audiences across the business.

Proficiency: Foundational

Team Work

Collaborates effectively across the organisation.

Facilitates team collaboration and engages in cross-functional initiatives and projects. Promotes mutual respect and values diverse perspectives to foster an inclusive working environment.

Proficiency: Foundational

Curiosity & Learning

Continuously seeks and creates opportunities for learning and growth.

Experiments with new tools, technologies and techniques as part of their professional development activities.

Proficiency: Foundational

Leadership of Self and Others

Guides oneself and inspires & develops others to achieve common goals. Reflects on their personal growth to identify areas to enhance their performance and for further development.

Leads by example, taking ownership of complex tasks and empowering team members to deliver high quality solutions through feedback, peer reviews, and pairing sessions. Develops documentation and processes to support ongoing team improvement initiatives.

Proficiency: Foundational

Technical

Demonstrates and shares technical and domain expertise, and develops high-quality, secure and reliable software solutions following industry standards.

  1. Highly proficient in all aspects of operational support and has a good understanding of a number of business critical systems.
  2. Writes clear, high-quality documentation and can deliver complex changes/requests.
  3. Recommends improvements to processes, alerting etc… and can assist with getting them implemented.
  4. Leads team activities and the resolution of incidents. Follows up on actions from incident retrospectives.
  5. Picks up unfamiliar requests and troubleshoot/reviews.
  6. Makes changes/updates to tools/systems owned by the team.

Proficiency: Working knowledge