About the job

Job summary

Keeping people safe and healthy matters and that’s what we do at the Health and Safety Executive. Every day, everyone on the team contributes to protecting lives and we apply our expertise to help influence change in mindsets about health and safety throughout industry. We undertake world-class science to build our knowledge about safe working practices, and then apply that understanding to the workplace, guiding every part of the economy to function safely. And when accidents happen, we investigate and hold those at fault to account whilst ensuring that lessons are learnt across industries. We are a modern, independent, data drive Regulator and we are proud to have made Great Britain one of the safest places to work in the world.

Technology, data, and digital services underpins everything that HSE does. We are a knowledge organisation, with a wealth of experience in keeping people safe. It is the responsibility of the Information Technology Services Division to ensure that everyone in the organisation can access our data and information, to share it and to use it to make effective decisions. We support over 3000 colleagues working in a hybrid style at home and in 26 offices across Great Britain. Our services keep inspectors functioning effectively and efficiently on industrial sites nationwide, from oil platforms in the North Sea to our deepest mines and quarries.

Job description

We strive to constantly improve the technologies and services supporting the organisation. Our end user computing devices are leading edge, and we are making significant progress in delivering new cloud-based services. Our service management and information management services are very highly regarded within the organisation and pride themselves on excellent customer service. Our commercial team has built strong relationships with suppliers and our project management team is embedded in our corporate change programme, transforming the older legacy systems that have underpinned the organisation for a long time.

We are a learning team, and everyone is encouraged to undertake training, development and courses that will keep them and the team current and excited by new opportunities. The team works well because everyone’s contributions and ideas are listened to and valued, and we can only grow and improve, if there is an enthusiasm to explore our disciplines and try new ways of working.

Travel

The post can be based in any HSE location (except for our London offices), however attendance at HSE Headquarters in Bootle will be required for Full ITS Meetings at minimum twice per year. For further information about HSE locations please click here.

Hybrid Working

At HSE, we are proud to be able to offer our people the opportunity to work in a hybrid way which combines working from home and the office.  This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your allocated office will be your contractual place of work.  There will be a requirement to travel to the office for various activities e.g., collaborative working, supporting, and training colleagues.  If hybrid working is suitable for you and your role, the arrangements will be determined primarily by business need, but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be considered.  Therefore, we would encourage candidates to consider if the commute from home to the office is a feasible distance to travel before making an application.  Please note that if you are successful, hybrid working will be discussed prior to taking up the post.

Please note: This post will require the successful candidate to provide a level of application support out of normal office hours (Monday-Friday 0900 – 1700). This will include responding to important application issues and implementing scheduled changes and fixes when required.

Person specification

This is a very exciting time to join ITS as we continue to support HSE in the transformation of our IT services with a focus on modernising our IT Operations. As part of an internal software development function within HSE’s Information Technology Services, you will join a team responsible for the development, testing and support of HSE applications. A software developer designs, runs and improves software that meets user needs. The applications are hosted on a number of technologies (e.g. Azure; SQL Server; Ingres;) and developed using a variety of tools.

In this role, you will be responsible for writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach and creating code that is open by default and easy for others to reuse. HSE’s IT Services are currently undergoing a modernisation and we are about to get started on significant IT enabled Business Transformation. We are reinforcing in-house capability to give us the skills and experience we need to take our ambitious business plans forward. This post provides a challenging opportunity for a junior software developer to further their career and expand our development capability. Working in a small, technically skilled development team, you will develop and enhance small line of business applications.

As a Software Developer for HSE, you will help to develop new information systems and manage changes to operational information systems which support the work of HSE.

Main duties: 

• Develop software solutions as part of a development team, including unit testing of developed objects/code 
• Manage, Support and develop more junior members of the development team 
• Document the design and build of systems being developed 
• Plan and account for project work to deliver systems development 
• Support the Change lifecycle, developing changes for operational systems
• Support the Application Maintenance team in keeping systems running when required  

Essential Skills and Criteria:  

The successful candidate will have experience in the following:  

• Experience of full Agile Software Development life cycle  
• Experience of full stack software development experience including C#/ASP.Net,  Javascript/Typescript frameworks (such as Angular or React), SQL database development and automated unit/integration testing 
• Experience of developing applications for cloud computing infrastructures such as Azure, AWS or GCP, including modern cloud CI/CD practices 
• Good communication skills; with the ability to convey complex technical concepts clearly and concisely. 

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £34,509, Health and Safety Executive contributes £9,997 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 and Experience.

Application Information

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete an anonymised CV of your career history and experience and a Personal Statement of no more than 500 words which should detail how you meet the essential skills and criteria for the role.

Application Guidance

Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply and how to complete a Personal Statement https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/how-to-apply/  

Sift Information

A sift will take place during week commencing 24th June 2024 where your application will be assessed on your CV and Personal Statement. Please note the CV and Personal Statement will be assessed together and so you will receive a combined score.

Interview Information

Interviews will take place via MS Teams during the week commencing where you will be assessed on the advertised Behaviours and your experience from your CV and Personal Statement. 

The interviews are due to take place during weeks commencing 1st July or 8th July 2024.

Please note that dependent on numbers of applications received these dates could be subject to change.

AI Tools & Platforms

During the application process candidates are allowed to utilise AI (artificial intelligence) platforms and Tools to support them in writing their Behaviours, CV’s and Personal Statements. However, all information submitted must be factually accurate. This includes presenting the ideas and experience of others, or those generated by artificial intelligence, as your own. All presented information will be assessed at the Interview Stage.

Security Clearance

Due to the nature of security checks undertaken, applicants must have 3 years continuous residency in the UK up to the date of the application and, Home Office approval for indefinite leave to remain within the UK.

Sponsorship

This role is not open to application from those who will require sponsorship under the points based system. Should you apply for this role and require sponsorship your application will be rejected, and any provisional offers of employment will be withdrawn.

Further Information 

Please note that a Reserve List will be held for the period of up to 12 months. 

It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of the terms and conditions they will adopt should they be successful in their application.

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.

For a summary of HSE terms and conditions as part of Civil Service Reform, please see the attached document. HSE is proud to be a part of the Disability Confidence Scheme (DCS). As a Disability Confident employer, we positively welcome applications from disabled people.

We are committed to making workplace adjustments to ensure anyone can participate in the recruitment and selection process. We offer a guaranteed interview scheme for all disabled applicants who provide evidence of meeting the minimum requirements necessary for the post. If, during the application or interview process, you require any assistance due to a disability or a medical condition, please contact us at the email address below to discuss how we can support you.

For example if you have a disability, and you need an application form in an alternative format or you would like to know more about our recruitment process, please contact: hr.resourcing-team@hse.gov.uk If successful in securing your role, HSE can provide suitable workplace adjustments to support you throughout your career with HSE.

Any move to HSE 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 here 

Please note, if you are a current civil servant and you are currently undergoing any of the following formal actions your application will not be progressed any further; Formal discipline action, any formal action regarding attendance, poor performance or any restriction of duties as a result of disciplinary action.

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

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)
• 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)

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.