Senior Software Developer C# .NET (up to £83,918)

Job summary

These are exciting times at the Department for Education (DfE). In 2026 we'll continue to build more user-centred digital services for all our users, children, adults, and those in social care.

As a senior software developer, you will be part of a team responsible for developing and supporting scalable, secure, and high-quality user-centric digital services. Working with senior colleagues, you will lead team members on the design and build of digital services and will work closely with colleagues within multidisciplinary agile teams, that focus on delivering work iteratively and at pace. You will innovate to radically transform how public services are delivered and improved.

If you are successful you could be:

• Helping the DfE School Account Team in transforming how schools access information and support from the department by developing and delivering a joined up and personalised offer for the sector. This is an exciting time to join the team as recent leadership changes has presented the opportunity to refresh the team’s strategy and future direction. (One post, open to all locations)
• Working in the Data Capture and Ingestion Team within Data Directorate. We’re on a mission to radically improve how public services are delivered and experienced—and data is at the heart of this transformation. We provide a full range of capabilities including data sourcing, management, governance, sharing, statistics, and visualisation, supporting users across DfE, the education sector, cross-government, and the public. (Three posts, open to all locations except London)

Data Capture and Ingestion (DCI) team plays a pivotal role in supporting over 50 DfE data collections developed using diverse and modern tech stack including C# .Net, SQL, Angular, JavaScript, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft SharePoint 365, Oracle Intelligent Advisor, and Granicus GovService. Our work ranges from creating simple one-page forms to architecting complex financial data collection systems. As we continue to evolve, we’re focused on building reusable shared components to streamline development and deployment—making it easier, faster, and more efficient to deliver high-quality digital services.

Job description

We’re seeking highly capable Software Developers to join the Data Capture and Ingestion team to help us achieve our vision and to shape the future of public services. As a Senor Software Developer, you will design, build and support web, mobile, and desktop products, using both front-end and back-end technologies. You’ll be part of a multidisciplinary team of Digital and Data Professionals, working in agile delivery cycles and collaborating openly to deliver high-quality code that meets user needs and project goals.

As a Senior Software Developer, you will:

• Lead and provide technical support for a group of developers within a multi-disciplinary team, sometimes including line management
• Develop software within the C# .NET technology stack to agreed standards
• Build automated tests to support our continuous deployment processes
• Create and sustain modern development standards, practices and techniques for our development community
• Work with the development community to ensure we build sustainable digital products
• Support the ongoing optimisation of automated integration processes
• Advocate user-centric, agile approaches which focus on rapid, effective delivery of high-quality digital services
• Support, coach and mentor less experienced developers and help them integrate into teams
• Transform government into a modern, agile development centre by embedding practices such as test-driven development, continuous integration & delivery
• Triage and lead support of software issues within projects you are familiar with
• Support sharing of methods and technologies across teams, government, and the industry by participating in and organising community events
• Help build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community, growing awareness, and balance.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

We'll assess you against the following essential criteria.

• Strong practical experience of software development using C# .NET along with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• Experience leading within technical teams to deliver user-focused services in an agile environment
• Strong experience of good software development practices such as Test-Driven Development, CI/CD, and DevOps as well as modern development workflows, ideally using GitHub, and experience implementing software design concepts such as OOD, SOLID and design patterns
• Strong experience in designing and implementing RESTful APIs or other loosely coupled architectures such microservices
• Strong understanding of web application security and experience applying it
• Experience in sharing knowledge, coaching others, and working in a diverse and inclusive multi-disciplinary team

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £60,222, Department for Education contributes £17,446 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.

As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.

You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.

We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.

Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.

Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will as