Lead Developer

• Details
• Reference number
• 475867
• Salary
• £69,675 - £92,275

£77,425 - £92,275 Offers made above this will be made up with a specialist pay allowance. Based on capability. The base salary of this grade is £69,675.

GBP

• Job grade
• Grade 6
• Contract type
• Permanent
• Business area
• GDS - GOV.UK
• Type of role
• Digital
• Information Technology
• Working pattern
• Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time, Compressed hours
• Number of jobs available
• 1
• Contents

• Location
• About the job
• Benefits
• Things you need to know
• Apply and further information

Location

Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Government Digital Service (GDS) is the digital centre of government. We are responsible for setting, leading and delivering the vision for a modern digital government.

Our priorities are to drive a modern digital government, by:

• joining up public sector services
• harnessing the power of AI for the public good
• strengthening and extending our digital and data public infrastructure
• elevating leadership and investing in talent
• funding for outcomes andprocuringfor growth and innovation
• committing to transparency and driving accountability

We are home to the Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (I.AI), the world-leading GOV.UK and at the forefront of coordinating the UK’s geospatial strategy and activity. We lead the Government Digital and Data function and champion the work of digital teams across government.

We’re part of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and employ more than 1,000 people all over the UK, with hubs in Manchester, London and Bristol.

The Government Digital Service is where talent translates into impact. From your first day, you’ll be working with some of the world’s most highly-skilled digital professionals, all contributing their knowledge to make change on a national scale.

Join us for rewarding work that makes a difference across the UK. You'll solve some of the nation’s highest-priority digital challenges, helping millions of people access services they need.

Within GDS, the Digital Products Group is responsible for running and evolving some of the UK government’s most critical digital products and platforms. This includes GOV.UK, the trusted source of authoritative government services and information. GOV.UK supports millions of individuals and businesses each week to find information and complete tasks that are essential to live, work and do business in the UK.

The GOV.UK website supports an average of 88m visits per month, making it one of the most used digital services in the UK. But GOV.UK is now much more than a web platform, reaching users through an increasing variety of channels including GOV.UK Social, GOV.UK App and GOV.UK Chat. Together these form a core part of the UK’s digital public infrastructure.

This role will be working in the GOV.UK Web and Publishing teams. A key focus will be driving forward our technical strategy of multi-channel publishing and improved AI content discovery.

Job description

As a Lead Developer in GOV.UK, you’ll work across a business area of 1-3 related engineering teams, using your engineering experience to empower teams and guide technical work. Expect a mixture of engineering management, engineering design and technical strategy. You’ll shape technical strategy and take accountability for engineering outcomes in your area. You’ll grow engineering capability through recruitment and community engagement, helping to continuously improve how the engineering function operates across GOV.UK.

From time to time it might be beneficial to review code or pair / mob with engineers but that will be ad-hoc rather than regular, as this isn’t a hands-on technical role.

As a Lead Developer you’ll:

• work with 1-3 engineering teams in a related area, taking responsibility for engineering outcomes
• shape technical strategy in your area, collaborating with leadership peers and teams
• line-manage 4-6 technologists, supporting their career progression, development and wellbeing, and providing regular coaching and performance feedback
• set engineering teams up for success through empowerment, effective technical leadership and decision making support
• plan and develop engineering capability within your area, recruiting civil servants and interim/contractor technologists and championing inclusive recruitment practices
• be a visible champion of the engineering community in GOV.UK, developing the wider team and engineering practices
• support Head of Engineering with specific tasks to improve the engineering function at GOV.UK
• work with security colleagues to ensure the security of the services in your

Person specification

We’re interested in people who have:

• have experience leading and managing engineering teams / engineers
• substantial experience working in software engineering or a closely related technical discipline. (Note: not required to be a hands-on coder in the role)
• experience of upholding a high standard of engineering practices and optimising the development process
• an interest in making an impact beyond the team level
• ability to effectively communicate and influence at a programme leadership level
• a good understanding of security concerns and practices across the SDLC

If you meet a few of those criteria but think that you might not meet every last one then don’t let that stop you from submitting an application.

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service 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

Office attendance

The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.

DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - we only ask for a CV, responses to 2 knockout questions and a security check question Important tip - please ensure that your responses include how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• a 30 minute phone screen where you will be asked a few role-related questions to enable us to get to know you better
• a 60 minute scenario-based interview focused on managing/leading engineering teams (conducted over video conferencing)
• a 90 minute competency-based panel interview including system design question (conducted over video conferencing)

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:

• have experience leading and managing engineering teams / engineers

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• seeing the big picture
• communicating and influencing
• developing self and others
• making effective decisions
• leadership

We will also be assessing your experience and skills against the following skills defined in the Lead Developer (management) role:

• development process optimisation
• modern standards approach
• information security
• systems design

• Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here
• Recruitment Timeline
• Sift completion: 20th August 2026
• Phone Screen: 28th August 2026 onwards
• Technical Interview: 10th September 2026 onwards
• Panel interviews: 21st September 2026 onwards

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

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.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Location

Whilst this role's location is Manchester, if you are a current Civil servant working in DSIT and based in Bristol/London you are also able to apply for this role. If you are successful, you will retain your current location and pay.

Security:

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record 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 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)
• 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

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.

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.

Diversity and Inclusion

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 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk
• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : gdsrecruitment@dsit.gov.uk

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should contact gds-complaints@dsit.gov.uk in the first instance.

If you are not satisfied with the response you receive you can contact the Civil Service Commission by email: info@csc.gov.uk Or in writing: Civil Service Commission, Room G/8 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ.