Application Operations Engineer

Role : Application Operations Engineer (full or part time : at least 60% FTE)

Division : Assessment & Qualifications Delivery

Location : Rotherham, UK

Salary : £35-39k plus on target bonus of 8%

About Pearson

Our purpose : At Pearson we ‘add life to a lifetime of learning’ so everyone can realise the life they imagine. We do this by creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact.

Our company : Pearson was founded in 1844 and has been built on our ability to grow with and adapt to a constantly evolving market. Our 20,000+ employees are dedicated to creating the high-quality, digital-first, accessible and sustainable resources for lifelong learning.

Diversity : At Pearson we value the power of an inclusive culture and a strong sense of belonging. We promote a culture where differences are embraced as strengths and opportunities are equal and accessible.

Flexible working : Pearson is committed to hybrid working practices and has adopted flexible remote and virtual working. Where possible our employees can choose to manage their attendance to the office more flexibly.

About UK Assessment & Qualifications

We are responsible for the delivery of nearly 4 million examination results per annum, including A-Level, GCSE, BTEC and T-levels for students in UK and International centres. Our in-house systems process every learner from registration to marking and certification, in a highly regulated business. We currently operate a hybrid estate of predominantly bespoke systems, with an ongoing strategic transformation programme to migrate from on-prem to cloud based, cost effective, scalable and resilient services.

About the job

As part of the Service Delivery Department, you will be responsible for ensuring that the IT systems used in staging and production are correctly deployed, configured and supported. This key team will monitor the services and proactively recommend areas for improvement and action.

The role includes but is not limited to incident resolution, liaising with customers and other partners, problem, incident analysis and reporting, diagnosing the root cause and contributing to RCAs. Data interrogation is also a key part of the role for data queries. The applications supported are a mix of bespoke and industry standard systems hosted on infrastructure located on-premise and in the cloud.

About you

We'd expect that you’ll have relevant experience supporting, configuring, and maintaining systems in a production environment. Ideally you will have a background working in an application support team providing back-office application software support.

A basic technical background in MS SQL Server and confidence working with on-premise deployed applications is desirable although you will be supported by a team of technical consultants / DBAs to assist with integrations and more complex database tasks.

Key Skills & Experience

SQL Scripting

ITIL Incident, Problem, Service Request and Change Management

Working with Microsoft Windows 2008, 2012 and 2016

Firewall, Network & Load-Balancing knowledge

System Metrics Gathering

Deploying and Configuring Microsoft .Net Applications

IT Security

Understanding of Cyber security concepts, including threats, vulnerabilities, security operations, encryption, boundary defence, authentication, and risk management

Successfully contributed to continuous process improvement initiatives and automation activities.

Understanding of Networking & common protocols.

Understanding of Kanban, ITIL and service Management fundamentals

Familiarity with Atlassian toolset (Confluence, Jira)

Desirable Skills & Experience

Microsoft PowerShell

Knowledge of Cloud Technologies

Working in a High-Pressure Environment

CI / CD components and process design

The role is aligned to either our Rotherham office, which is located at Junction 1 of the M18, making it commutable from Sheffield, Leeds, Doncaster, Derby or Nottingham.

All our roles are hybrid working; for this role that means presence at your base office 3 days per week, with the possibility of occasional travel to other Pearson sites.

We work a week, with all our team free to flex their day around our core hours, which are Monday to Friday, 10 to 4 GMT / BST. School runs, etc can be accommodated. Other flexible working patterns can be considered, including part-time working and non-traditional hours. As we regularly work with global teams, particularly in India and the US, there may be the occasional need to accommodate meetings outside of core hours.

The position is part of a team covering a 24 / 7 / 365 operation, so a candidate must be prepared to work outside normal business hours (including 24 / 7 on-call) as part of a rota and shift work (compensated).

We actively encourage our staff to participate in at least 40 hours of training a year, and offer relevant AWS training and certification as part of this role.

Your benefits and rewards (UK-based)

Here at Pearson we offer a range of benefits, which include :

25 Days annual leave (increasing by 1 day with every year of continuous service up to 30 days); annual leave trading, + / - 5 days

Annual Bonus

Private Pension plan scheme where we pay in double what you contribute, up to 16% depending on your age

Life, private medical and dental care insurance options, plus free eye tests

Stock / share purchase options

Maternity, paternity, and family care leave as well as flexible working policies

An employee wellbeing assistance programme

Cycle to work program, volunteering days, gym membership concessions in selected office locations, along with retail and leisure discounts

What to expect from Pearson

Did you know Pearson is one of the 10 most innovative education companies of 2022?

At Pearson, we add life to a lifetime of learning so everyone can realize the life they imagine. We do this by creating vibrant and enriching learning experiences designed for real-life impact. We are on a journey to be 100 percent digital to meet the changing needs of the global population by developing a new strategy with ambitious targets. To deliver on our strategic vision, we have five business divisions that are the foundation for the long-term growth of the company : Assessment & Qualifications, Virtual Learning, English Language Learning, Workforce Skills and Higher Education. Alongside these, we have our corporate divisions : Digital & Technology, Finance, Global Corporate Marketing & Communications, Human Resources, Legal, Strategy and Direct to Consumer. Learn more at

We value the power of an inclusive culture and also a strong sense of belonging. We promote a culture where differences are embraced, opportunities are accessible, consideration and respect are the norm and all individuals are supported in reaching their full potential. Through our talent, we believe that diversity, equity and inclusion make us a more innovative and vibrant place to work. People are at the center, and we are committed to building a workplace where talent can learn, grow and thrive.