Judicial Appointments Commission Job Description - Technical Lead (Lead Software Engineer) (G7) 

Summary

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) plays a pivotal role in the justice system, identifying candidates for judicial office up to and including the High Court of England and Wales. We receive thousands of applications each year. To manage this volume and support the end-to-end selection process, the JAC has developed an online recruitment platform and continues to enhance its digital services.

We are seeking an experienced Technical Lead (Lead Developer) to take ownership of the technical direction of our digital platform. This role is critical in ensuring the delivery of secure, scalable, and user-focused services. You will lead development activities, mentor developers, and work closely with product and business teams to deliver high-quality solutions that meet organisational objectives.

This role is strategically important to JAC’s digital transformation, ensuring technical governance, secure-by-design principles, and alignment with Government Digital Strategy. It will also reduce reliance on external contractors, improving value for money and resilience.

About the Role

This is a new role, which will shape the technical delivery of the JAC’s digital service in order to ensure we are delivering the best possible service for both operational users and end users - judicial candidates.

As Technical Lead, you will: 

• Provide technical leadership and set coding standards for the development team. 

• Own the architecture and design of complex systems, ensuring best practices and maintainability. 

• Lead on technical decision-making, balancing innovation with stability and security. 

• Collaborate with Product Owner, Business Analysts, and wider stakeholders to translate business needs into technical solutions. 

• Manage and mentor developers, fostering a culture of continuous improvement and knowledge sharing. 

• Oversee code reviews, testing strategies, and deployment processes. 

• Ensure compliance with accessibility, security, and performance standards. 

• Act as the primary point of contact for technical queries and escalations. 

• Provide technical design authority and enforce coding standards, testing strategies, and documentation practices. 

• Champion secure engineering and ensure compliance with Secure by Design principles, e.g. through overseeing security rules management, penetration test remediation processes and undertaking threat modelling.

• Maintain a comprehensive library of support documentation (architectural diagrams, system overview, security and compliance, development guidelines, coding standards etc.)

• Lead technical governance, reporting to the Digital Board and contributing to roadmap planning. 

About the JAC

The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is an independent public body, established in April 2006, to select judges in the courts and tribunals, and non-legal tribunal members. The JAC selects judicial candidates through fair and open competition, encouraging a wide range of quality candidates to apply for the posts that it advertises.

The JAC is responsible for designing, planning, and running recruitment campaigns to select judicial office holders up to and including High Court judges. We have a statutory duty to select solely on merit, while keeping our selection processes open to the widest range of applicants. We launch a new campaign for judicial posts every one to two weeks. These range from high volume campaigns for ‘entry level’ posts, attracting upward of 2,000 applicants, to small campaigns for senior roles, attracting a handful of highly qualified people.

You can find out more about the JAC on our website.

Main Responsibilities 

As a G7 Technical Lead, you will: 

• Lead and manage the development team, setting priorities and ensuring delivery against agreed timelines. 

• Drive technical modernisation through tasks such as refactoring, dependency management, adopting improved patterns etc, alongside managing technical debt using modern pay-down patterns.

• Deliver and oversee core DevOps practices in particular around Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment.

• Define and maintain technical standards, ensuring high-quality code and robust solutions. 

• Drive architectural decisions, including around database design and maintain system integrity across multiple projects. 

• Take ownership of coding on some work tickets.

• Manage, mentor, and coach developers, supporting their professional growth. 

• Engage with stakeholders to understand requirements and provide technical guidance. 

• Ensure compliance with government digital service standards and security best practices. 

• Manage relationships with external suppliers and contractors where necessary. 

• Contribute to strategic planning for digital services and future technology adoption. 

The duties/responsibilities listed above for the post is not intended to be exhaustive. The job holder is expected to accept reasonable alterations and additional tasks of a similar level that may be necessary.

Essential Skills and Experience 

• Proven experience in leading development teams and delivering complex digital services. 

• Strong technical expertise in web development frameworks and cloud-based architectures. 

• Excellent knowledge of and expertise working with Firebase/Firestore, as the core technology of the JAC platform.

• Proven experience of using client-side JavaScript (in modern web browsers) as well as server-side JavaScript (Node.js), alongside excellent knowledge of TypeScript.

• Strong Experience of working with serverless architecture, in particular Google Cloud, and/or Single Page Applications, such as Vue.js or React. 

• Familiarity with Government Digital Service (GDS) standards.

• Good knowledge of testing strategies, in particular unit integration, E2E testing, as well as behaviour driven development and test driven development practices.

• Excellent understanding of software engineering principles, testing, and deployment. 

• Ability to adapt communication skills to effectively engage technical and non-technical teams, as well as communicate to distinct audiences (for example, Board Members, Senior Leaders etc)

• Knowledge of accessibility, security, and performance standards in public sector digital services. 

Desirable

• Background in public sector or regulated environments.

• Experience in mentoring and developing team capability.

What we can offer you

We offer a range of benefits including an attractive annual leave allowance, flexible and hybrid working opportunities, and choice of pension schemes. We actively encourage all staff to undertake learning and development as part of their personal objectives and have a range of networks to support and promote inclusivity, wellbeing, and dignity at work among other things.

Recruitment process details

Behaviours

We’ll assess you against these behaviours during the recruitment process:

• Leadership

• Communicating and Influencing

• Managing a Quality Service

• Delivering at Pace

In addition to these behaviours, your experience and technical knowledge will be assessed during the recruitment process in accordance with the knowledge, experience, and skills section of this job description.

Application process

To apply for this role, you will need to provide:

• Your CV

• A statement of suitability detailing why you are interested in the role and how you meet the knowledge, experience and skills outlined in the job description (500 words max)

• Written evidence of the following three behaviours: Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, and Managing a Quality Service (250 words max for each)

Use of Artificial Intelligence (Al)

You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application, including your CV, statement of suitability and behaviour examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Sift

Applications will be sifted based on the CV, statement of suitability and written evidence of three behaviours: Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, and Managing a Quality Service

Interview

Interviews are expected to take place early to mid-March 2026. They will either be in person at 102 Petty France, London, SW1H 9AJ, or undertaken remotely via MS Teams. Arrangements will be confirmed to all those shortlisted.

At interview, we will assess you against four behaviours: Leadership, Communicating and Influencing, Delivering at Pace and Managing a Quality Service.

We will also ask you about your experience, and technical knowledge of client-side JavaScript and server-side JavaScript (Node.js), as well as serverless architecture, in particular Google Cloud, Firebase/Store, and/or Single Page Applications, such as Vue.js or React.

You can find out more about the Civil Service’s recruitment framework here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/success-profiles

Applicants invited for interview will also undertake a short technical test either in advance or on the day of the interview. Further details will be provided if you are invited to interview.

Reserve List

As well as appointing one candidate we may place other candidates on a reserve list for future vacancies for up to 12 months.

Office Attendance

JAC staff are currently working in a hybrid way with a minimum of 2 days per week in the office in line with Government Policy. Applicants for this role should note that they may be required to attend the office or a JAC interview more regularly on occasion, in line with business need.

Applicants are welcome to contact the hiring manager, or JAC recruitment team, if they have any questions about how the team manages this hybrid way of working.

Further Information

If after reading this job description you require any further information about the role, please contact Robert Aldridge, Head of Operations and Digital and hiring manager: robert.aldridge@judicialappointments.gov.uk.

If you have any questions about the recruitment campaign, or any terms and conditions relating to the role, please contact the JAC recruitment team: recruitment@judicialappointments.gov.uk