About the job

Summary

At MHCLG, we’re working with policy teams to apply digital, user-centred thinking to important problems. In some cases, we’ll build new digital services – in others we expect to discover from our users that digital isn’t the answer. This role is going to be central to applying this thinking to funding services within MHCLG and is one of several new digital roles we are advertising within the Cities and Local Growth Unit, which is a joint unit between MHCLG and BEIS. Our mission is to empower places - from rural to major cities, from prosperous places to those facing challenges in the modern economy, to bolster their potential through boosting economic growth. We lead on a range of initiatives including support for towns and high streets; local strategies; devolution of powers and funding; and local economic intelligence. We work at different levels, from the small neighbourhood to the large sub-national strategy.

CLGU is responsible for delivering hundreds of millions of pounds of funding every year. We want to transform how we deliver funding through a high-quality digital service to the organisations who apply to us and receive our funding, and that we use feedback from them to continually improve our services and processes.

As an experienced Software Developer, day-to-day you will pair-program across the whole stack from frontend to backend to produce clean, high quality code. Experience of test-driven development is expected, as is as is experience of building RESTful APIs. The stack for our funding service is still to be confirmed, but our department generally uses modern programming languages – including Ruby, Python and Node.JS – and we would be interested to speak to any candidates with experience in these languages, or other modern ones, who would be interested to shape the direction of our technology stack going forward. The role will include the development of new products within the funding service and its continuous development and support. We need people who want to be involved in all aspects of our multidisciplinary team’s activity, from working with our user researcher to design, prototyping, and planning. We have big plans for this service and want to find developers who are ambitious as we are to build, run and continuously improve it.

Find out more about some of our preferred technology choices and ways of working in MHCLG by reading our blog about the Energy Performance of Buildings certificate register.

Job description

As a Software Developer, you will:

• Develop high-quality software following the clean architecture design pattern

• Support the delivery of a robust and secure service

• Follow development best-practice, including regular pair programming and TDD

• Maintain the live service, keeping it reliable and secure through monitoring and active management of the production infrastructure

• Become a domain expert and contribute to the direction of the product and wider government services

• Build up a robust automated test suite to support our continuous deployment environment

• Work collaboratively with a range of disciplines including product managers, designers and user researchers, as well as other developers, to meet the needs of users of the service

• Share knowledge of tools and techniques with the wider team, both developers and non-developers, as well as across the wider development community

Responsibilities

We are looking for someone with the following essential skills, experience, and knowledge:

• Experience of full stack development of web applications

• Experience of developing in modern programming languages (e.g. Ruby, Python, Node.JS)

• Experience building RESTful APIs

• Experience using SQL to work with relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL

• Experience of working with a live production system, including monitoring for performance and potential security issues, and triaging problems

• Experience of working on agile projects as part of a multidisciplinary team

• Competent use of Git for source control

Desirable capabilities, skills and experience

• Experience of working on digital services in Government and meeting the Government’s Digital Service Standard

• Knowledge of WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines, and experience implementing to meet at least “AA” standard

• Experience using AWS

Behaviours

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

• Working Together

Technical skills

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

• Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description

Benefits

• Learning and development tailored to your role

•An environment with flexible working options

• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity

• A Civil Service pension

Things you need to know

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check.

See our vetting charter.

People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles, and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

We are for everyone

At DLUHC we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We promote equality of opportunity in all aspects of employment and a working environment free from discrimination, harassment, bullying and victimisation.

We would strongly recommend that applicants get in touch with the vacancy manager to find out more information about this role.

We are for everyone

Most of our campaigns utilise multiple assessors and so it is possible that your application would be viewed by different assessors.

At sift, through your CV and covering letter we will be assessing:

Experience

Technical knowledge

Your covering letter should be no more than 1 page referencing how you meet the criteria set out in the job description.

You will need to merge your CV and covering letter into one document. Please ensure your document is anonymised – remove any personal details such as name and email address. When submitting your application Applied will ask you to upload a CV, when doing this you should upload your merged document of your CV and covering letter.

The interview will be of a blended nature consisting of experience, technical and behaviour based questions as listed in the advert. Candidates invited to interview will undergo a pair programming test as part of the selection process . More details will be provided in invite to interview.

In full the campaign will test the below Success Profile Elements:

Experience: Yes - Experience questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description

Technical: Yes – Technical questions will be based around the essential skills and criteria as listed in the job description.

Behaviours: Working Together

We do not consider direct CV applications – you must apply for this role via the application link on Civil Service Jobs:

Please note that near miss offers may be made at the lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign

BENEFITS:

Transfers across the Civil Service on or after 4 October 2018:

Any move to DLUHC 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.

For further information about the benefits available to DLUHC employees, please see the attached Candidate Pack.

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION:

London

Wolverhampton

Darlington*

Manchester

Leeds

Bristol

Cardiff

Belfast

Edinburgh

*Please note: The Darlington Economic Campus is a pioneering new cross-government hub which will bring together people across departments and public organisations to play an active role in the most important economic issues of the day. The work of the Campus will make a real difference to people both across the UK and internationally. There will be substantial career opportunities and exciting prospects - a career at the Campus means you will be working at the heart of Government, with access to the benefits and fantastic opportunities offered by the civil service. This role is based at DLUHC and we will be joined on the campus by:

HM Treasury

Department for International Trade

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Office for National Statistics

Department for Education

The opening date for the office will be confirmed soon. Ahead of opening, candidates who wish to be based in the Darlington office will be expected to work from home in the interim before moving to the new office in Darlington.

SIFT AND INTERVIEW DATES:

We will be sifting applicants as we go – so please don’t wait until the deadline to submit your application. Interview dates will be confirmed at a later stage, all interviews are currently being held remotely via videocall.

RESERVE LIST:

In the event that we identify more appointable candidates than we currently have posts available, we will hold applicant details on a reserve list for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. This may include roles at a lower grade. Candidates placed on a reserve list will be informed of this. Due to the length of time SC checks can take, our HR Shared Services team will contact reserve list candidates for London based roles to commence SC checks. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@communities.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list.

There may be opportunities for candidates to work flexibly depending on the business needs. This will be discussed with the vacancy manager on a case-by-case basis if you are successful for the role.

SC (Security Check):

Important note

Successful candidates for roles based in our 2 Marsham Street building must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Check and the process can take up to 8 weeks to complete.

Please note that successful candidates will need to pass the Security Check – this requires you to have been resident in the UK for the past 5 years. Please refer to the DLUHC Notes on Security Clearance section of our Candidate Pack for further information on Security Check (SC).

Candidates should also note that with effect from 1st August 2018 the department will also check all applicants who are successful at interview, against the Internal Fraud Database (IFD) held by the Cabinet Office. In accordance with the Civil Service Internal Fraud Policy, any applicant who is included on the IFD will be refused employment by DLUHC. Please see the Candidate Pack for further information on the Internal Fraud Database.

Grade 7 salary

The salary for this role is Circa £57,000 (London) or Circa £52,000 (National).

For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable.

Before starting your application it’s very important to make sure that you are eligible to apply and meet the Civil Service nationality requirements. All candidates are expected to read the information provided in the DLUHC candidate pack regarding nationality requirements and rules

Candidate Pack Information

Please see attached Candidate pack for further information and guidance on:

• Internal Fraud Database

• Reserve List

• Notes on Security Clearance

• Additional Information on Modernised Terms and Pay

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals from the EU, EEA or Switzerland with settled or pre-settled status or who apply for either status by the deadline of the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals working in the Civil Service
• relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals who have built up the right to work in the Civil Service
• certain family members of the relevant EU, EEA, Swiss or Turkish nationals

Further information on nationality requirements

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.

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.