7385 - Software Developer - 7385 - Ministry of Justice

Descriptions & requirements

Job description

Software Developer

Location: National

Interviews: w/c 21^th July TBC

Grade: SEO

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary:

London: £47,657 - £56,050 (may include an allowance of up to £8,393)

National: £41,463 - £51,675 (may include an allowance of up to £10,212)

Working pattern: Full-time, part-time, flexible working

Contract Type: Permanent

*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP

The Role:

We’re recruiting for Software Developers here at Justice Digital, to be part of one of our warm and collaborative teams.

This role aligns against Software Developer from the Government Digital and Data Framework

You’ll be working with other developers on our tech stack and will have lots of opportunities to learn new technologies and systems. We use a variety of different technologies, and will work with you to place you in a team that matches your skills, interests and aspirations wherever possible.

As an example, you could be:

· Reducing reoffending rates by improving the scheduling of prison visits in our Prisons team

· Enhancing access to justice by developing a service to apply for legal aid in the Legal Aid Agency

· Building a no-code platform for publishing government forms and services to the internet in the MoJ Forms team

· Improving outcomes for offenders by building tools to manage rehabilitation services in our Probation team

· Maintaining transparency of government by managing freedom of information requests and parliamentary questions in our Central team

You will work with user researchers, product managers, designers, delivery managers, technical architects and content specialists who share a vision for improving government through smarter use of technology.

To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital please take a look at our blog and our Digital and Technology strategy 2025

Our Tech Stack:

We rely on Ruby, Java or Python to write our application code, Circle CI or GitHub Actions for CI/CD, Sentry for application monitoring, Kubernetes and Docker to schedule and run our services (read about our Cloud Platform), AWS for most of our infrastructure, GOV.UK Design System for our web interfaces and use Macbook Pros.

For front-end development, we value a robust understanding of the underlying web technologies, including how tools like Express.js can support server-side rendering as part of the interface layer. We value well-maintained, open-source tools that can be used to produce semantic HTML, performant CSS and unobtrusive JavaScript or TypeScript, and we assess all our services against accessibility criteria.

We’re happy to help you learn our tech stack once you’re part of our team, and do not require a match in your experience of languages. Check out GitHub for a closer look at the technologies we use, and a complete list of services that we build and maintain. We subscribe to the manifesto for agile software development.

Our Community:

We currently have over 150 developers who make up the engineering community across the MoJ. You will be encouraged to play an active role in the engineering community and culture, and take part in informal support networks with your peers.

We take the responsibility of supportive and effective line management very seriously. We will value the skills you bring to the civil service and help you to build on them. When the time is right we will support moving between teams or government departments to learn different technologies, or take on more responsibility, according to your career goals.

Take a look at our developer blog and Justice Digital blog to get a sense of our work and culture.

Key Responsibilities:

As a Software Developer at the MoJ you will have technical and people responsibilities.

Technical:

· Helping to design, build and maintain APIs, services and systems

· Working on pre-existing codebases

· Improving the resilience and stability of software

People:

· Supporting Senior Developers in building high performing teams

· Help to build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community, growing awareness, inclusivity, and balance.

If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!

Person Specification

· Experience building and maintaining server-side applications, with solid understanding of at least one programming language

· Comfortable working across both front-end and back-end systems.

· You write clean, maintainable code and apply practices that support change, scalability, and long-term delivery

· Confidence in writing and reasoning about automated tests and making decisions about what and how to test

· Practical experience working in Agile teams, including how planning, team roles, and delivery processes shape how you work

· Experience in contributing to technical discussions and solving problems as part of a team

· Actively collaborates and shares knowledge with others, learning alongside teammates.

· Able to think beyond just your code, understanding how your work fits into and supports wider team goals, and contributes to delivering value for the organisation.

· Motivated by continuous improvement, actively seeking to grow your skills, learn new technologies.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance.

We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.

“The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy. “

Benefits:

· 37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.

· A £1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best in class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms

· Staff have 10% time to dedicate to develop & grow

· Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 28.97% from April 1st 2024 (Contribution Rates)

· 25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the Kings’ birthday. 5 additional days of leave once you have reached 5 years of service.

· Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!

· Wellbeing support including access to the Calm app.

· Bike loans up to £2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)

· Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.

· 5 days volunteering paid leave.

· Free membership to BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT.

· Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.

How to Apply:

Candidates must submit a CV and Statement of Suitability (no more than 750words). Your statement should tell us about a development project you've worked on that stands out to you and best demonstrates your skills and suitability for this role based on the essential criteria.

Candidates who do not submit both a CV and a separate statement of suitability will not be invited to interview.

In Justice Digital, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours during the assessment process:

· Working Together

· Developing Self and Others

· Making Effective Decisions

· Seeing the Bigger Picture

A diverse panel will review your application against the Person Specification above.

Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a 1-hour panel interview held via video conference. As part of the interview, there will be a technical exercise in the form of a code review. You can choose from the following languages: Python, Java, or JavaScript. You'll be asked to imagine you're part of a development team reviewing a submitted piece of code.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on your development experience will be conducted prior to the sift.

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

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, from which further appointments may be made.

Terms & Conditions

Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact digitalanddatarecruitment@justice.gov.uk

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact
Chair members:
patrick.sweeting@justice.gov.uk
phil.payne@justice.gov.uk

Additional Information

Working Arrangements & Further Information

The MoJ offers Hybrid Working arrangements where business need allows. This is an informal, non-contractual form of flexible working that blends working from your base location, different MoJ sites and / or from home (please be aware that this role can only be worked in the UK and not overseas). All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity.

Some roles will not be suitable for Hybrid Working. Similarly, Hybrid Working will not suit everyone’s circumstances. Arrangements will be discussed and agreed with the successful candidate(s) and subject to regular review.

For nationally advertised roles: All successful candidates will be appointed to the nearest viable office nearest to their home postcode and on its respective pay scale. This will be at either a HQ building (subject to desk allocation, a Justice Collaboration Centre (JCC) or a Justice Satellite Office (JSO) – See Map. All employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office, subject to local estate capacity).

For current MoJ employees, your base location will need to be changed to the nearest viable office (to your home postcode), either at a HQ building, JCC or JSO within the National Office Network and moved its location’s respective pay scale (any legacy arrangements/locations will need to be amended).

Some of MoJ’s terms and conditions of service are changing as part of Civil Service reform. The changes will apply to staff joining MoJ who are new to the Civil Service. Staff joining MoJ from other civil service employers will transfer onto the new MoJ terms if they are already on 'modernised' terms in their current post or onto 'unmodernised' MoJ terms if they are on 'unmodernised' terms at their current post. Details will be available if an offer is made.

MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain their grade on lateral transfer.

All candidates who are currently in receipt of Mark Time / Pay Protection should ensure they are familiar with the new policy on permanent and temporary promotion which can be found on the employee intranet.

Flexible working hours

The Ministry of Justice offers a flexible working system in many offices. Standard full time working hours are 37 hours per week. MoJ welcomes part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns, where they meet the demands of the role and business needs. All applications for part-time, flexible and job-sharing working patterns will be considered in accordance with the MoJ’s Flexible Working policy.

Benefits

The MoJ offers a range of benefits:

Annual Leave

Annual leave is 25 days on appointment and will increase to 30 days after five years’ service.

There is also a scheme to allow qualifying staff to buy or sell up to three days leave each year. Additional paid time off for public holidays and 1 privilege day. Leave for part-time and job share posts will be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

Pension

The Civil Service offers a choice of pension schemes, giving you the flexibility to choose the pension that suits you best.

Training

The Ministry of Justice is committed to staff development and offers an extensive range of training and development opportunities.

Networks

The opportunity to join employee-run networks that have been established to provide advice and support and to enable the views of employees from minority groups to be expressed direct to senior management. There are currently networks for employees of minority ethnic origin, employees with disabilities, employees with caring responsibilities, women employees, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

Eligibility

Staff on fixed term appointments must have been recruited through fair and open competition.

Vacancies advertised “cross-government” are only open to all Civil Service employees and employees of accredited non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) who were appointed on merit following a fair and open competition; or were appointed to a permanent post through an exception in the Civil Service Commissioners' rules.

Support

A range of ‘Family Friendly’ policies such as opportunities to work reduced hours or job share.
Access to flexible benefits such as voluntary benefits, retail vouchers and discounts on a range of goods and services.
For moves to or from another employer or moves across the Civil Service this can have implications on your eligibility to carry on claiming childcare vouchers. You may however be eligible for alternative government childcare support schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. More information can be found on www.www.GOV.UK or Childcare Choices. You can determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/.
Paid paternity, adoption and maternity leave.
Free annual sight tests for employees who use computer screens.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles. Should you feel that the recruitment process has breached the recruitment principles you are able to raise a formal complaint in the following order

To Transformative Business Services (0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk);
To Ministry of Justice Resourcing team (resourcing-management-office@justice.gov.uk);
To the Civil Service Commission (details available here)

As a Disability Confident employer, MoJ are committed to providing everyone with the opportunity to demonstrate their skills, talent and abilities, by making adjustments throughout all elements of the recruitment process and in the workplace. MoJ are able to offer an interview to disabled candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns.

You will be able to request reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process within the application form. If you need additional help completing the application form, please contact the TBS Recruitment Enquiries Team.

For more information on applying for a role as a candidate with a disability or long-term condition, please watch our animated videos.

Diversity & Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.

Redeployment Interview Scheme

Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ is committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.

MoJ is able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidates will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.

Civil Service Nationality Rules

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/settled-status-eu-citizens-families
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/nationality-rules

Reserve list

A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made for the same or similar roles.

Contact Information

MoJ:

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5359 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Please quote the job reference 7385

HMPPS

If you require any assistance please call 0345 241 5358 (Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm) or e mail moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Please quote the job reference 7385

Allowance

London: £47,657 - £56,050 (may include an allowance of up to £8,393)

National: £41,463 - £51,675 (may include an allowance of up to £10,212)

Ministry of Justice

7385 - Software Developer

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Descriptions & requirements

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