48289 - Software Developer
We encourage applications from people from all backgrounds and aim to have a workforce that represents the wider society that we serve. We pride ourselves on being an employer of choice. We champion diversity, inclusion and wellbeing and aim to create a workplace where everyone feels valued and a sense of belonging. To find out more about how we do this visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-justice/about/equality-and-diversity.
LAA Digital, part of the Ministry of Justice, is looking for Software Developers who want to make a difference by working on public services that really matter.
Take a look at DDaT Capability Framework to understand the different levels of software developers in government.
What you would be doing
You will be a member of a multidisciplinary team, writing code and operating software in either our Crime Applications or Get Paid team. You are confident in some parts of our tech stack and comfortable learning about old and new technologies and systems.
You will work with user researchers, product managers, designers, business analysts, delivery managers and content specialists who share a vision for making better government through smarter use of technology. You will challenge the status quo.
Responsibilities
Once you have joined as a Developer at the MoJ your responsibilities will include working with the team to:
Technical
- Work on pre-existing codebases
- Improve the resilience and stability of software
- Securely design, build and maintain APIs, services and systems
- Apply practices to enable continuous delivery.
To help picture your life at MoJ D&T please take a look at our blog and our Digital & Technology strategy.
If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!
This is an SEO role with a salary of £41,747 - £57,400 London //£36,049 - £53,000 National (which may include an allowance of £15,653) depending on skills and experience.plus great benefits:
- 37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.
- We are committed to nurturing our staff and provide lots of training and development opportunities with learning platforms such as: Linux Academy, O’Reilly, Pluralsight, Microsoft Learning, Civil Service Learning, GDS Academy, etc.
- 10% dedicated time to learning and development with a budget of £1000 a year per person
- Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 26-30% depending on salary.
- 25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the Queens’ 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.
- Nurturing professional and interpersonal networks including those for Careers & Childcare, Gender Equality, PROUD and SPIRIT
- 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.
Person Specification
- have experience of building server-side applications and detailed knowledge of at least one programming language
- have experience of modern development and deployment techniques, including continuous integration and continuous delivery
- have experience working in agile environments
- have a working knowledge of unix-like operating systems such as Linux or Mac OS X
- have a knowledge of software maintenance, clean code and practices that make change easier
- have enthusiasm for learning and sharing knowledge,working in a multi-disciplinary team
You’ll value:
- continuous learning and development
- being inclusive, supportive, inquisitive and responsible (MoJ D&T core values)
- working with integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality (Civil Service core values)
How we do things
We subscribe to the manifesto for agile software development. We foster multidisciplinary teams that are collaborative, inclusive, diverse and respectful. We welcome continuous improvement in code, architecture, processes and ways of working. We default to doing things in the open. We value mending and maintaining as much as building and modernising. We believe everyone should be involved in user research and you should be comfortable working with a cross functional approach, regularly working directly with other professions.
Our engineering community
LAA Digital currently has over 40 Developers, split over four skill levels. MoJ Digital & Technology has over 160 people in the wider engineering community, made up of Developers, Technical Architects and people who build and operate platforms and infrastructure. We have various community meetups and informal support networks. You will be encouraged to play an active role in the engineering community and culture.
Take a look at our developer blog.
Our tech stack
We rely heavily on:
- Java, Python and Ruby to write our application code
- Circle CI and AWS CodePipeline for deployment
- Sentry, Kibana, Grafana and Prometheus for application monitoring and alerting
- Kubernetes and Docker to schedule and run our services (read about our Cloud Platform)
- AWS for most of our infrastructure
- UK Design System for our web interfaces
- Macs to do all of the above
The majority of our production systems are built on top of legacy Oracle enterprise technology (PL/SQL) which is continually being chipped away at, either by in-place modernisation or evolutionary architecture patterns.
We’re happy to help you learn our tech stack once you’re part of our team.
About LAA Digital
LAA Digital is a part of MOJ Digital and Technology. The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) is rapidly transforming and LAA Digital’s mission is to help people get the legal support they need by building world-class services that put the user first, overhauling the legacy technology that underpins our systems and making better use of data to improve our services.
LAA Digital has a diverse portfolio of products and services to suit a wide range of developer skills. We have a mature, in-house software development team, building services with both public and professional user interfaces, built on top of our APIs and Cloud Platform. The product team you are placed on will be agreed closer to your start date but examples of products include:
- Facades (strangler pattern) on legacy systems, like MAAT Court Data API
- software to help LAA caseworkers, like Not On Libra Auto-Search Application
- Proxies between different parts of the justice system, like LAA Court Data Adaptor
- software for legal aid providers, like Apply for Legal Aid
A lot of our legacy code remains private but we’re always trying to open it up.
How to Apply
Candidates must submit a CV and Cover Letter which describes how you meet the requirements set out in the Person Specification above.
In D&T, we recruit using a combination of the Digital, Data and Technology Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours during the assessment process:
- Developing self & others
- Making effective decisions
- Delivering at pace
- Working together
Your application will be reviewed and sifted against the Person Specification above by a diverse panel.
Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a 1.5 hour panel interview held via video conference.
Terms & Conditions
Please review the following Terms & Conditions which set out the way we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.
If you have any questions please feel free to contact recruitment@digital.justice.gov.uk
17/10/2021, 23:55 hours.
To apply for roles in MOJ you will need to confirm your employment history for at least 3 years prior to the date of application so that pre-employment checks (BPSS) can be undertaken. If you have spent significant time abroad (a total of 6 months in the past 3 years) you would be required to give a reasonable account of the reasons why.
For some roles you will be required to successfully complete National Security Vetting at Counter Terrorism (CTC), Security Clearance (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) level as a condition of appointment. To meet CTC/SC/DV requirements you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3/5/10 years prior to the date of application (The level of checks that are required are stated in the advert).
If you do not meet the above requirements, you may still be considered if, for example:
- You've been serving overseas with HM Forces or in some other official capacity as a representative of HM Government
- You were studying abroad
- You were living overseas with parents
In such cases you will need to be able to provide referee cover for the period(s) of residence overseas. The duration of overseas residence and the country of abode will also be taken into account.
Success Profiles will enable a fairer and more inclusive method of recruitment by enabling us to assess the range of experiences, abilities, strengths, behaviours and technical/professional skills required for different roles. This flexible approach to recruitment focuses more on finding the right candidate for the specific role. To find out more about Success Profiles to support your application please click here for further guidance.
We have provided detail of the assessment stages and areas being assessed to help you prepare for completing your application form, and to advise of what will be assessed following this, if you successfully pass the application stage.
Application form stage assessments
Interview stage assessments
A Great Place to Work for Veterans
The "Making the Civil Service a Great Place to work for veterans" initiative includes a guaranteed interview scheme to those who meet the minimum criteria to provide eligible former members of the Armed Forces with opportunities to secure rewarding jobs. Allowing veterans to continue to serve their country, and to bring highly skilled individuals with a broad range of experience into the Civil Service in an environment, which recognises and values your previous service in the Armed Forces.
For further details about the initiative and eligibility requirements visit : https://www.gov.uk/government/news/making-the-civil-service-a-great-place-to-work-for-veterans
Redeployment Interview Scheme
Civil Service departments are expected to explore redeployment opportunities before making an individual redundant. The MoJ are committed, as part of the Redeployment Interview Scheme, to providing opportunities to those who are 'at risk of redundancy'.
MoJ are able to offer an interview to eligible candidates who meet the minimum selection criteria, except in a limited number of campaigns. Candidate's will not be eligible for the Redeployment Interview Scheme if they are applying on promotion.
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
This Vacancy is closed to applications.