Developer

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

1. joining up public sector services
2. harnessing the power of AI for the public good
3. strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
4. elevating leadership and investing in talent
5. funding for outcomes and procuring for growth and innovation
6. committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Former DSIT recruitment campaigns are continuing as usual, but candidates should be aware that following the Government’s announcement on the changes to some civil service departments, roles will be subject to the machinery of government moves and will ultimately be in one of the new departments. We will provide more information if you are selected for a role. This work remains of high importance to the civil service, and we thank you for your continued interest.

Details on changes to the machinery of government

Job description

We are recruiting Mid-level Developers to join the GOV.UK Pay, GOV.UK App, Mailbox and GOV.UK Notify teams, all part of Products & Services within GDS.

GOV.UK Pay enables public sector organisations to take online and telephone card payments quickly and securely, while helping teams manage income, issue refunds and generate financial reports.

GOV.UK Notify makes it simple for public sector organisations to send emails, text messages and letters to users. Since launching in 2016, the service has grown rapidly and is now used by more than 1,700 organisations and 12,500 services. Notify supports a diverse range of use cases, including appointment confirmations and reminders, passport application updates, account security notifications, etc.

GOV.UK App has over 730,000 downloads and is the future place where citizens will interact with Government and its departments, all in your pocket!

GOV.UK Mailbox is a brand new service, creating a simpler, more convenient and more secure way for government to communicate with its citizens digitally.

As a Developer in Products & Services, you’ll:

• work as part of a multi-disciplinary agile team, collaborating with frontend developers, content designers, product managers and user researchers to ensure your code puts users first at all stages of development

• write clean, secure code following a test-driven approach

• implement tools to support development and continuous improvement of the systems you work on

• support the live operation of the services we run during office hours, answering support queries from users, monitoring error rates and responding to incidents

• participate in out-of-hours support rotas where necessary - you'll be paid an allowance, and a further hourly payment for any duties you perform when on call

• share your work and the things you’ve learned through blog posts and show and tells, with the option of presenting at conferences and meetups

• use your learning and development budget to develop your career

Person specification

We’re interested in people who:

• have experience in back-end development, ideally with knowledge of web development in Python, NodeJS or Java

• have experience working with cloud-based web applications or serverless applications with technologies such as databases, caching, CDNs, containerisation and Unix-like operating systems

• have thorough understanding of software design principles, and an ability to apply them

• have proven experience of modern software development approaches such as automated testing, test driven development, continuous integration, pair programming, code review and version control

• have understanding of common web security risks such as OWASP Top 10, and the corresponding mitigations

• enjoy researching and learning new programming tools and techniques and sharing their skills with others

• have experience working in a collaborative environment, and an understanding of the benefits of agile and multi-disciplinary approaches

• have a desire to use their skills and experience to make a genuine difference, and to work on important services that are relied upon by millions of people

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statemen