HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Directorate: Digital Technology Services (DTS)

Pay Band: G7

Job Title: 1 x Senior Software Developer

Location: London / National

Travel between sites may be required and successful applicants will be expected to be office based 3 days per week in any HMCTS Office (subject to business availability). The frequency may change in the future.

Term: Permanent

Interview: Video conference via Teams

Level of Clearance: To apply for this role, you will be required to successfully complete Security Clearance (SC) level as a condition of appointment.

Important salary details:

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.

Existing Civil Servants applying on promotion, will usually be appointed on the salary minimum of the new pay band, or receive an increase of 10 percent on the current base salary, whichever is higher (This is restricted to the pay maximum of the new band).

Government Digital and Data (GDD) Profession Capability Framework and Success Profiles Frameworks. Using GDD we will then determine if you will be paid an additional allowance, on top of your basic salary.  This role is within the Technical job family and is a Software Developer role at Senior Developer level but carries the title Senior Software Developer DTS. 

Introduction:

These are exciting times at HM Court and Tribunals Service (HMCTS). As an agency of the MoJ, we support the judiciary across England and Wales to deliver justice by running courts and tribunals and processing outcomes, and we are looking for talented people to help us achieve our ambitions. It will be challenging, important and rewarding.

HMCTS Digital and Technology Services (DTS) is a specialist technology directorate which provides support to HMCTS in the use of IT and Digital. DTS is creating a place in which it is great to do work and part of our offer is brilliant training opportunities and support from expert colleagues. As well as that you’ll find flexible working, an inclusive culture and a place where your opinion is valued.

Please follow this link for further information about HMCTS: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-courts-and-tribunals-service

Job Description:

As a Senior Software Developer at HMCTS you will work with a wide range of stakeholders such as user researchers, product managers, designers, business analysts, delivery managers and digital architects, all of whom share a vision for making better government through smarter use of technology. You will innovate to radically transform public services for the better.

The development squad you are placed on will be agreed closer to your start date, but examples of products can be found in our GitHub repository: https://github.com/hmcts

You can find more information about our ways of working in the HMCTS Way: https://hmcts.github.io

Technologies we rely heavily on:

• Java and Spring Boot to write our backend services

• Node.js to write our frontend services

• Power Platform for low-code development

• Jenkins for CI/CD

• Dynatrace for application monitoring

• Kubernetes and Docker to run our services

• Azure for most of our infrastructure

• Terraform for infrastructure as code

• Postgres and Redis as our databases.

• GOV.UK Design System for our web interfaces

• Macs to do all the above

• In addition, we use a range of other technologies and continue to evolve by employing new technologies that help us deliver better services to our users

As a Senior Developer in HMCTS you will:

• Develop, improve and document code, following best practices and internal standards.

• Continuously learn and stay up to date with relevant technologies, identifying potential issues.

• Ensure product security, data confidentiality, and integrity, raising risks as needed.

• Support and maintain software, including limited out-of-hours work when required.

• Plan development, coordinate integration, and contribute to process improvement.

• Manage service availability effectively and cost-efficiently.

• Build and test system interfaces.

• Use test-driven development, write automation scripts, and participate in code reviews.

• Mentor junior colleagues and share technical expertise.

• Take ownership of the technical roadmap and promote best practice across the development lifecycle.

• Influence product strategy by providing technical insight to stakeholders

• Design and develop software based on user stories.

• Participate in recruitment and procurement.

Person Specification

We’re seeking a full stack developer with the ability to develop and deploy high-quality code. The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience in building scalable enterprise applications using Java.

• Strong frontend proficiency with modern JavaScript frameworks (e.g., Angular, React, or Vue).

• A solid grasp of RESTful API design and relational database architecture (e.g., PostgreSQL).

• Proficiency in cloud-native architecture including infrastructure as code (e.g., Microsoft Azure, Terraform)

• Knowledge of the full development lifecycle, including CI/CD, authentication (OAuth2/OIDC), and system monitoring.

• Leadership capabilities, with a proven track record of mentoring junior engineers and driving technical standards.

• Experience utilising DevOps practices and containerisation tools (Docker/Kubernetes).

• A security-first mindset, with the ability to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities (OWASP top 10) during the design phase.

Application Process:

Coding Task 

When submitting your application please complete the following coding task and provide a link to the repository. Coding task and interview. If successful, you will move on to the interview stage, which will include an extension exercise to the coding task you submit in your Personal Statement 

 https://github.com/hmcts/dts-developer-challenge

Please note the Civil Service application process is name-blind, so ensure that the repository containing your code does not include any personal information that would identify you. 

This role will be recruited using a combination of Government Digital and Data (GDD) Profession Capability Framework and Success Profiles Frameworks during the sift and interview process.

Experience - As demonstrated in your application form. 

Behaviours - You will be required to provide evidence of the following key behaviours at G7 Level. 

• Leadership

• Delivering at Pace

Technical - As demonstrated at interview. During the interview, you will be assessed against the Government Digital and Data (GDD) Capability Framework.

• Capability Skill 1 - Programming and Build 

• Capability Skill 2 - Systems integration 

• Capability Skill 3 - Service support 

• Capability Skill 4 - Information security 

• Capability Skill 5 - Systems design 

Presentation - You will be required to present your solution during the interview and there will be an extension exercise you will also be asked to do. 

Level of Clearance - To apply for this role, you will be required to successfully complete Security Clearance (SC) level as a condition of appointment. To meet these requirements, you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 5 years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/sc-guidance-pack-for-applicants  

Reserve List:

HMCTS run a Reserve List, where candidates who are unsuccessful at interview by only a few points, can be offered other roles, at the same band, for up to 12 months. You will be able to view your status via the application screen. If you have been added to the Reserve List, your status will show either Merit or Reserve list.