HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Directorate: Digital Technology Services (DTS)

Pay Band: SEO

Job Title: 4 x Software Developer

Location: 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

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).

GDD:

Roles will be recruited using a combination of the Government Digital and Data (GDD) and Success Profile Frameworks. Using GDD we will then determine if you will be paid an additional allowance, on top of your basic salary. This role is aligned to the Technical Job Family, is a Software Developer role at Developer level, but carries the title Software Developer within DTS.

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. Should you be unsuccessful in the role that you have applied for but demonstrated the capability for a role at a lower level, we reserve the right to discuss this opportunity with you and potentially offer you the position without the need for a further application.

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 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 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 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.

• 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 a modern object-oriented programming language and a willingness to learn our tech stack (Java and JavaScript).

• Experience in the development of enterprise and public facing applications

• Sound knowledge of HTTP, at least one web development framework (for example Spring Boot or Angular) and at least one relational database system (e.g. PostgreSQL).

• Sound knowledge in a wide range of technologies and libraries used in an enterprise, such as logging and monitoring, ORM, authentication/authorisation, cloud hosting environments, systems integration, source control, package management etc.

• Experience of mentoring, coaching or leading other developers

• Experience of working with modern tools and techniques

• An understanding of common security issues and how to mitigate them

If you meet a few of those criteria but think that you might not meet every one, then don’t let that stop you from submitting an application.

Application Process:

Coding Task

When submitting your Statement of Suitability at the application stage, please complete the following coding task and provide a link to the repository:

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.

The following areas of the Success Profile Framework will be used to assess and score your application during the sift, and interview:

• Experience - As demonstrated in your application form.

• Technical - As demonstrated in your 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 submitted in your statement.

• GDD Assessment - During the interview, you will be assessed on the skills below against the GDD framework:

GDD Skill 1 - Programming and build

GDD Skill 2 - Systems integration

GDD Skill 3 - Service support

GDD Skill 4 - Information security

GDD Skill 5 - Systems design

• Behaviours - You will be required to provide evidence of the following key behaviours at SEO level:

  • Communicating and Influencing

  • Developing Self and Others

• Level of Clearance - To apply for this role, you will be required to successfully complete Security Clearance (SC) level as a condition of appointment: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/sc-guidance-pack-for-applicants