Senior Software Engineer

About the job

• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

This role may be located in one of the following locations; Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne and Sheffield.

Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here.

Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, the role will initially be based at Benton Park View. It will then move to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027.

For candidates requesting to work in Sheffield King’s Court, please note these roles will initially be based at King’s Court and then move to 1 West Bar by early 2028.

About the job

Job summary

Are you ready to shape the future of digital services that impact millions of lives?

Want to work on meaningful technology that drives real-world change?

We’re looking for an outstanding Grade 7 Senior Software Engineer, where your expertise will help transform how the UK’s largest government department delivers digital services and change the face of public services, with the potential to dramatically transform the future of millions of people.

We’re building modern, scalable systems that support critical internal functions, from HR and finance to security and compliance, ensuring our colleagues have the tools they need to serve the public effectively.

You’ll work in a collaborative, agile environment as part of a multi-functional agile delivery team alongside talented engineers, architects, and product teams. We value clean code, automation, and continuous improvement. Whether you come from a commercial tech background or have public sector experience, you’ll find opportunities to innovate, lead, and grow.

We use a range of modern technologies, including AWS (Amazon Web Services), Kubernetes, Java, and CI/CD (Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment) pipelines. You’ll have access to excellent learning and development, flexible working, and a strong engineering community that supports your career progression.

Make an impact. Build something that matters.

Job description

As a Senior Software Engineer, you’ll play a key leadership role in our agile delivery teams, shaping the future of digital services in the UK’s largest government department.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design, development, and deployment of high-quality software solutions that meet user needs and policy intent.
• Champion engineering best practices, including CI/CD, automated testing and cloud-native development.
• Mentor and support junior engineers, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
• Collaborate with Product Managers, Delivery Managers and other specialists to deliver value iteratively.
• Ensure systems are secure, resilient, and performant, adhering to government standards and accessibility requirements.
• Contribute to technical strategy and architecture decisions across teams and domains.

This role provides opportunities to lead and contribute in areas such as:

• Software Development: Designing, building and maintaining secure, scalable software using modern technologies including Java, Spring Boot, JavaScript and Node.
• Technical Leadership: Providing technical leadership across engineering teams and projects, supporting agile delivery and continuous improvement.
• Cloud & DevOps: Developing and supporting cloud-based solutions using AWS and infrastructure-as-code tools such as Terraform or CloudFormation.
• Problem Solving: Tackling complex technical challenges and helping to shape robust, scalable solutions.
• User-Centred Design: Contributing to the delivery of accessible and inclusive digital services that meet user needs.
• Collaboration & Communication: Working effectively with colleagues across professions to deliver high-quality digital outcomes.

Please note: Some occasional on-call and/or rota working may be required as part of these roles.

Person specification

See selection process for further details.

If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Aisha.Gultasab@dwp.gov.uk

Technical skills

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

• Technical Leadership

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes

£16,786 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.

Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

Hybrid Working

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.

If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.

If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.

Salary Information

Pay for this role is from £57,946 to £80,664.

The maximum salary for the grade is £68,205, however a Digital Allowance of up to £12,459 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed.

Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview.

Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary.

Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase applied to their current substantive salary, whichever is greater.

Any temporary allowances that you are currently in receipt of will not form part of the calculation to determine your pay. Any allowances that are in payment will cease when you move into your new role.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

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

Stage 1: Application

Your application will consist of four parts:

1. A Personal Details application form.

2. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed.

3. Personal statement - up to 1000 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below:

• Programming and Build: Strong hands-on experience in designing, building, and maintaining secure, scalable software using modern Java.
• Agile working: Demonstrated experience working in agile, multi-disciplinary teams to deliver user-centred digital services. Ability to collaborate effectively with Product Managers, Delivery Managers, and other specialists.
• Development Process Optimisation: Experience with AWS, containerisation (Docker, Kubernetes), and infrastructure-as-code tools (Terraform, CloudFormation). Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and automated testing.
• Systems Design: Ability to design robust, resilient, and maintainable systems, contributing to architectural decisions and ensuring alignment with DWP’s technical strategy.
• Information Security: Understanding of secure coding practices, service resilience, and operational support. Ability to ensure systems meet security, accessibility, and performance standards.

4. Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of: Technical Leadership . This statement should be used to provide example(s) of how you meet the criterion below:

• Proven ability to lead software engineering teams, providing technical direction and mentoring engineers. You should demonstrate how you have influenced stakeholders, shaped technical strategy, fostered continuous improvement and knowledge sharing, and driven improvements to engineering practices, processes or tooling within large-scale operational environments.

Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.

Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.

The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge.

An initial sift will be conducted using the technical statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift.

If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement.

For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.

Important Information

• You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.
• Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.
• If your employment history, personal statement or technical statement contain any personal details your application will be withdrawn.

Stage 2: Coding Test

Candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be sent a coding test to complete remotely. The exercise will focus on the technical elements listed in the Essential Criteria in this advert.

Full details will be sent to candidates when the exercise is issued. Candidates will have 7 days to complete the test from the date