About the job

Job summary

Would you like to be part of a team supporting the delivery of a range of cutting-edge intelligence applications and services to our armed forces?

About Defence Digital - who are we? We provide digital and technology services to our Armed Forces, ensuring they can operate securely via radio, satellite, and the internet. Operating at scale, with an annual budget in excess of £2Bn and a diverse team of 2,500 colleagues, we're aiming to make our Armed Forces some of the most technologically advanced in the world. To do that we're growing our capabilities in disciplines like data science, automation and cyber security.

Watch the video: Working at Defence Digital

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

Strategic Command is going through a significant transformation programme which aims to improve the way the Command conducts its business and delivers for Defence and the nation. As a consequence of this, all posts within Strategic Command Headquarters and in time the wider organisation, are/will be subject to review and potential changes as we continuously improve across the period of the transformation programme. These changes may be minor or could be more substantive and will generate new opportunities.  Throughout, the Command’s transformation programme is committed to following the MOD’s framework on managing and supporting people through the change process and places an emphasis on early and open consultation and engagement with the Command’s personnel and Trade Unions.

Job description

To provide key technology leadership to the delivery and product teams that form a service capability within the Defence Digital Foundry.

This is an exciting opportunity to help shape, guide and deliver on the MOD’s Digital Strategy for Defence. You’ll be given the support and autonomy to use your skills, knowledge, and experience to have an impact across Defence.
The purpose of the role is to lead, and provide guidance, on technical matters across a group of product and delivery teams that form a Service Capability within the Defence Digital Foundry. You’ll be working closely with the Service Owner, Delivery Manager and other Digital, Data & Technology (DDaT) professionals that make up our teams.

The role will include;

• Developing an end-to-end understanding of the applications and products which make-up the service capability
• Play a leading role in defining, and implementing, software architectural guidelines, patterns and development standards for the service, including chairing the service’s deign authority sessions.
• Representing, and providing leadership, for the delivery teams within the Service
• Ensuring integration and reuse across the Defence Digital Foundry to provide end-users with the best possible digital experience, and best value for money.
• Working closely with other Principal Developers across the Service Capabilities
• Engaging promptly in discoveries to help define the solution and approach.
• Providing technical leadership and mentoring to colleagues
• Supporting technology governance, innovation and continuous improvement across teams.

Person specification

We're looking for people with a strong engineering background, as well as the analytics and soft skills to make them a great Principal Developer.

We’re looking for you to be accomplished in one or more programming languages such as Java, Kotlin, C#, PHP, Python or Go and solid experience in Javascript, React, Python, Bash or Perl.

You’ll have solid practical experience of cloud architectures and infrastructure in a production environment, as well as exposure to supporting technologies and methodologies. You will have worked around multiple parts of the software lifecycle and be comfortable presenting and sharing your knowledge.

Ideally, you’ll have;

• Demonstrated experience with languages such as Kotlin, Java, C#, PHP, Python or Go.
• Demonstrated experience in Javascript libraries such as React
• Demonstrated experience in scripting languages like Bash, Perl or PHP.

And be familiar with:

• IaaS services such as Amazon Web Services, Azure, Google Cloud Platform or similar.
• Source code management systems such as Git, build tools such as Maven and CI tools such as Jenkins, Concourse or similar.
• Experience in relational and non-relational databases such as Dynamo, Mongo, Cassandra & Oracle.
• Integration and Messaging technologies such as Kafka and RabbitMQ.
• Engineering large scale services and systems in multiple industries.
• Working in a team with a DevOps culture surrounded by lean / agile delivery methodologies.
• Working in a team using TDD/BDD
• Virtualisation and container technology like Docker or Kubernetes

As well, an aptitude for:

• Great planning, analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent people skills. Able to deal with stakeholders and engineers alike.

This role aligns to the Principal Developer on the Government Digital and Data framework. For mote information on this follow the link below;

Software developer - Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework (ddat-capability-framework.service.gov.uk)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,820, Ministry of Defence contributes £18,311 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

Things you need to know

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

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

To apply, please complete the CV and personal statement template provided on the CS Jobs dashboard. It is essential that your personal statement includes evidence of the following essential criteria and is no more than 1250 words.

Technical skills will be assessed at interview stage

Each one will be scored 1-7 and make up part of your overall score to assess your suitability to be invited to interview.

Your personal statement should provide a paragraph on each of the following, detailing your experience and suitability for each:

Essential Criteria

• Proven experience in leading and mentoring software development teams.

• Strong proficiency in modern programming and cloud technologies.

• Expertise in CI/CD pipelines and software development methodologies.

• Experienced with automated testing techniques and technologies.

• Ability to balance hands-on technical contributions with leadership responsibilities.

Equality and Diversity

Our people are at the heart of everything we do at Defence Digital. It’s vital that our workforce reflects the diversity of both our audience and the wider society in the UK, so we’re proud to be an equal opportunities employer and we actively seek candidates from diverse backgrounds and communities. We also recognise the importance of a good work life balance, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including part-time and job shares for all our roles. Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process if this is something you want to explore.

Candidates invited to interview will also be expected to deliver a 5-minute presentation. The topic will be provided nearer the interview date.

Hybrid Working

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working.  This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to capacity.  Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD office will also count towards this level of attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details).

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came in to effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn

At interview, you will be assessed against the following Success Profiles Behaviours: - 

• Communicating and Influencing  
• Leadership

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equality of opportunity. There is a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contact: DBSCivPers-Resourcingteam3@mod.gov.uk 

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical.  

The role currently being advertised has not been assessed as business critical and is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn. 

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window). 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. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.