Senior Python Developer

We re recruiting for Senior Python Developers here at Justice Digital, to be part of our warm and collaborative CTO team.

This role aligns against the Senior Developer role from the Government Digital and Data Framework

The Chief Technology Office drives a flexible and forward-looking strategy that empowers people through innovative and secure technologies, enabling excellent justice services for all.

You ll be confident working with other developers on our tech stack and comfortable learning new technologies and systems. We use a variety of different technologies and will work with you to place you in a team that matches your skills, interests and aspirations wherever possible.

The role will be part of a multi-disciplinary team working on the department's Data Platform Services, which are about to enter an exciting period of transformation. Building on the success of the department's Analytical Platform and data catalogue services, we are aiming to develop a new service that will provide MoJ staff with the best data platform in government, providing its users with the tools they need to explore, analyse, visualise, and share data securely.

You will work with user researchers, product managers, designers, delivery managers, technical architects and content specialists who share a vision for improving government through smarter use of technology.

To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital please take a look at our blog and our Digital and Technology strategy 2025, As a Senior Python Software Developer at the MoJ you will have technical and people responsibilities.

Technical:

• Securely designing, building and maintaining APIs, services and systems
• Working on pre-existing codebases
• Improving the resilience and stability of software
• Applying practices to enable continuous delivery

People:

• Developing and influencing people via line management duties, informal and formal coaching, and mentoring
• Supporting lead developers in building high performing teams
• Helping to build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community, growing awareness, inclusivity, and balance

If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!, * Demonstrate proven experience of Python.

• Apply modern development and deployment techniques to your work, including continuous integration and continuous delivery.

Please note, failure to provide both documents will result in a rejection of your application.

2. A diverse panel will review your application against those requirements above.
3. Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a 1-hour panel interview held via video conference. A short technical exercise will need to be completed and presented during the interview. More information will be shared with enough notice.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on Demonstrate proven experience of Python will be conducted before the sift.

In Justice Digital, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks.

During the interview, we will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours:

• Working Together

• Changing and improving, This role is being delivered in partnership with PeopleScout, our managed recruitment service provider. As part of the recruitment process, your personal data will be shared with PeopleScout for the purposes of candidate assessment, communication, and selection. PeopleScout will process your data on behalf of the Ministry of Justice in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. Your data will be handled securely, used only for recruitment purposes, and retained only as long as necessary. The Ministry of Justice processes your personal data under the lawful bases of:

• Contractual necessity to assess and progress your application,

• Legal obligation for checks such as right to work,

• Legitimate interest to improve recruitment processes and ensure fair selection., Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.

We use a range of technologies and we re looking for people who specialise in one or more of them (Ruby, Java or Python) and who love learning new languages and frameworks.

For example, we might use Python to write our application code, Circle CI or GitHub Actions for CI/CD, Sentry for application monitoring, Kubernetes and Docker to schedule and run our services (read about our Cloud Platform), AWS for most of our infrastructure, GOV.UK Design System for our web interfaces and use Macbook Pros.

For front-end development, we value a robust understanding of the underlying web technologies. We value well-maintained, open-source tools that can be used to produce semantic HTML, performant CSS and unobtrusive JavaScript or TypeScript, and we assess all our services against accessibility criteria.

We re happy to help you learn our tech stack once you re part of our team, and do not require an exact match in your experience of languages. Check out GitHub for a closer look at the technologies we use, and a complete list of services that we build and maintain. We subscribe to the manifesto for agile software development., * Demonstrate proven experience of delivering large and complex software solutions.

• Demonstrate proven experience of Python.
• Apply modern development and deployment techniques to your work, including continuous integration and continuous delivery.
• Champion software maintenance, clean code, coding standards and practices that make change and consistency easier.
• Write automated tests to continuously validate your work.
• Thrive when you work as part of a team that abides by the spirit of the manifesto of agile software development.
• Enjoy sharing knowledge and working in a multi-disciplinary team.
• Hold yourself and others to a high standard.
• Solve problems in a systematic way.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance.

London: 63,343 - 73,875 (which may include an allowance of up to 10,532)

National: 58,511 - 69,150 (which may include an allowance of up to 10,639), * 37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.

• A 1k per person learning budget is in place to support all our people, with access to best in class conferences and seminars, accreditation with professional bodies, fully funded vocational programmes and e-learning platforms
• Staff have 10% time to dedicate to develop & grow
• Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 28.97% from April 1st 2024 (Contribution Rates)
• 25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the King s birthday. 5 additional days of leave once you have reached 5 years of service.
• Compassionate maternity, adoption, and shared parental leave policies, with up to 26 weeks leave at full pay, 13 weeks with partial pay, and 13 weeks further leave. And maternity support/paternity leave at full pay for 2 weeks, too!
• Wellbeing support including access to the Calm app.
• Nurturing professional and interpersonal networks including those for Carers & Childcare, Gender Equality, PROUD and SPIRIT
• Bike loans up to 2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)
• Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.
• 5 days volunteering paid leave.
• Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.

We currently have over 200+ experienced developers who make up the engineering community across the MoJ. You will coach and mentor junior colleagues and take part in informal support networks with your peers. You will be encouraged to play an active role in the engineering community and culture. We take the responsibility of supportive and effective line management very seriously. We will value the skills you bring to the civil service and help you to build on them. When the time is right we will support moving between teams or government departments to learn different technologies, or take on more responsibility, according to your career goals. Take a look at our developer blog and Justice Digital blog to get a sense of our work and culture.