About the job

Job summary

Here at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), we work on things that make a real difference to people’s lives.   

Whether it's through the homes we live in, the work of our local councils, or the communities we are all a part of, our work is at the top of the political agenda. We have ambitious and far-reaching outcomes to achieve this year and, if you are thinking of joining us, there’s never been a more exciting time.   

The department has circa 3,500 staff who are based in 20 offices across the UK.  

The Funding Service Design team is part of the Digital Directorate in DLUHC, a department which delivers billions of pounds of funding to local authorities, community groups and housing organisations across multiple funds and programmes.    

To ensure funding has maximum impact, we're improving the experience of those delivering and receiving our funding, ensuring good governance, performance and risk management, and establishing robust monitoring and evaluation that directly informs future programme design. Key to this improvement work is our commitment to build a new digital service for the full funding lifecycle and, as Principal Developer in the Funding Service Design Team, you'll play a critical role in delivering this commitment.

Important - To apply for this role you will need to submit a CV and covering letter. These need to be merged into one document. 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. There are further details in the Selection Process section further below in this advert. 

Job description

As principal developer (management), you will: 

• lead and plan development across all of the micro-services and teams in DLUHC’s Funding Service 
• be expert in many technical areas, providing support to teams working in/with a mix of languages and technologies including Python, Flask, Django, AWS, Pandas, Openpyxl, XlsxWriter, X Gov forms (not Gov.uk forms), Microsoft Power Platform, Azure 
• guide the ways in which the team works, working closely with a digital product managers and delivery managers and be involved in identifying appropriate technology and approaches, deciding when software should be written 
• provide technical leadership, coach and mentor the team and promote knowledge sharing and adoption of good practice 
• lead the technical design of systems and services and partner with our internal team, other government departments and external suppliers to help us build good digital services that meet the Government Service Standard 
• actively explore opportunities for cross-government alignment in order to realise benefit 
• switch between different problems and responsibilities and remaining directly involved in service delivery and help support procurement activities and recruitment for other technical specialists

Person specification

As principal developer (management), you'll have:

• proficient in a wide range of modern technical systems, having worked in software development at a senior or lead level previously   
• working experience with microservices 
• Strong familiarity with version control systems, especially git. Experience using GitHub Copilot is a plus. 
• experience of developing in modern programming languages (e.g Ruby, Python, Node JS), building RESTful APIs and using SQL to work with relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL 
• knowledge of Python web frameworks, ideally Flask (else Django or similar) 
• AWS experience, ideally with knowledge of containers (Docker / ECS) 
• understand software design principles and take a systematic approach to solving problems   
• have experience of using testing to validate solutions  
• understand agile environments and version control  
• be able to translate technical concepts between our software engineering, delivery management and service management teams  
• understand and resolve technical disputes across varying levels of complexity and risk  
• be able to partner with business and technology stakeholders to translate business problems into technical designs  
• have experience in identifying and addressing wider technical implications relating to the broader business strategy  
• evidence of where you have created optimal designs through an iterative process (i.e. Agile), and where you have aligned user needs with the system requirements and organisational objectives  
• understand what good looks like for a high-performing software development team and know how to get there and have previous examples of working collaboratively both within your team and with other external partners to achieve collective goals successfully

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £67,280, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities contributes £18,156 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

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 

CV Declaration 

We recruit based on your knowledge and skills, and not background, gender or ethnicity - this is called name blind recruitment. 

Please remove references to your: 

• name/title
• educational institutions
• age
• gender
• email address
• postal address
• phone number
• nationality/immigration status

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

Important - To apply for this role you will need to submit a CV and covering letter. These need to be merged into one document. 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 the following success profiles elements:    

Experience

Technical 

At interview stage there will be a technical test released, more info to come.

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

Experience: 

Technical: 

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

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 

Group 1 DDaT roles

DLUHC has implemented the DDaT capability framework for Group 1 roles. Applicants that are successful at the sift stage will be required to complete a capability assessment at interview.

DLUHC will honour completed capability assessments for this role from other Government Departments for existing Civil Servants. Please provide a copy of your capability assessment to the Hiring Manager when applying. If you have any queries on pay, please contact the Hiring Manager.

Salary is determined by performance at interview, within the range advertised. Each experience or technical skill is assessed between 1-3, representing working towards, at or above the job level requirements. You are awarded a proficiency level accordingly, and you will be given opportunities at least once a year to re assess your capability and progress through the pay scale within your grade. An additional digital allowance may be payable depending on level of assessed capability.

Candidates moving from another government department have the option to retain their current salary where the principle for implementation is there is no detriment where existing pay exceeds the indicative level. Where individuals are at a lower salary than their assessed level, they will receive an upward adjustment.

G6 Group 1 DDaT salary

• The salary for this role will between  £67,280 - £72,960 (National). depending on the proficiency level assessment.
• An additional digital allowance may be payable depending on the level of assessed capability up to £11,335
• For applicants in receipt of existing allowances, we will assess each case individually and aim to match the digital allowance implemented with no detriment.
• For existing civil servants, the usual policy on level transfer and promotion will apply and is non-negotiable

Please note that the average employer pension contribution is based upon the National minimum salary for this role. Should your agreed starting salary for this role be different, the average employer pension contribution will be calculated accordingly. If you are a Secondee, this will not apply as you will remain on your home organisation’s terms and conditions. 

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:

• Birmingham
• Bristol
• Darlington
• Manchester
• Wolverhampton

Sift and Interview dates

Sifting is envisaged to take place W/C 15/01/2024 with interview dates to be confirmed. 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. Those candidates who do not wish to remain on the reserve list should contact recruitment@levellingup.gov.uk to be removed from the reserve list. 

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.

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. 

 

Internal Fraud Database 

The Internal Fraud function of the Fraud, Error, Debt and Grants Function at the Cabinet Office processes details of civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned. The Cabinet Office receives the details from participating government organisations of civil servants who have been dismissed, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned, for internal fraud. In instances such as this, civil servants are then banned for 5 years from further employment in the civil service. The Cabinet Office then processes this data and discloses a limited dataset back to DLUHC as a participating government organisations. DLUHC then carry out the pre employment checks so as to detect instances where known fraudsters are attempting to reapply for roles in the civil service. In this way, the policy is ensured and the repetition of internal fraud is prevented.  

For more information please see- Internal Fraud Register 

SC (Security Check)

Important note

Successful candidates  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).

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. 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.