Lead Software Engineer

As a Lead Software Engineer, you'll set engineering standards, promote best practices, and enable teams to deliver high-quality software.

You'll use your leadership and collaboration skills to influence the department's technical vision, resolve blockers, and foster collaboration across the engineering community.

This role is about leading multiple engineering teams within DWP Digital, making sure the right people are working on the right problems, and shaping how we build future technology solutions that deliver real value to millions of users. You'll work across citizen-facing products, contact centre solutions, and platform services, driving innovation and problem-solving at scale.

You'll also play a key role in advancing engineering practices across DWP and government, accelerating the adoption of microservices and event-driven architectures, and supporting the next generation of engineers through coaching and recruitment., Do you want to play a pivotal role in delivering some of the country's most important tech projects? We're recruiting innovative, curious, and enthusiastic digital specialists who want to be part of our huge transformation.

DWP Digital improves user experiences for the Department for Work and Pensions' customers and colleagues. The services we build are used by millions of people to access the support that they need at different times of their lives.

Own Your Career

The large-scale digital transformation we're undergoing requires a wide range of skills. That's why we have over 5,000 experts working on a variety of important projects, and why we're recruiting even more.

We need people with experience in engineering, data, product design, architecture and much more. Opportunities to work with us range from early talent and apprenticeships that will enable you to grow with DWP Digital, all the way up to senior roles that will allow you to shape the future direction of the organisation. Our dedication to development means you will have ample opportunity to learn and thrive at the cutting-edge of the industry., In 2022, our award highlights include our API Integration team being awarded Kong's Top Public Sector Innovation Award and the Red Hat Innovation Award. We also won the Organisational Exit from the Pandemic category at the UK IT Industry Awards and were highly commended for Digital Transformation Project of the Year. At the Civil Service Awards, we won Best Use of Data and Technology and won the cross-government award One Civil Service for collaborating on issuing cost of living payments.

• Proven software engineering expertise in design, development, and support of complex systems.
• Leadership experience managing multiple engineering teams, setting standards, and driving consistency.
• Strong knowledge of microservices, event-driven architectures, and modern engineering practices.
• Ability to define priorities, delegate effectively, and coach teams to build capability.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills, including explaining technical concepts to non-technical audiences.
• Familiarity with technical governance, domain-driven design, and continuous improvement in engineering practices.

Pay: We offer competitive pay for this role of up to £92,522

The maximum salary for the grade is £80,267, however a Digital Allowance of up to £12,225 per annum is also available for exceptional candidates.

Pension: You'll get a brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions of 28.97%, worth up to £23,253 per year.

Holidays: A generous leave package starting at 26 days rising to 31 days over time.

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

• An award-winning environment and culture: Employer of the Year 2023 (Women In IT Awards), Founders Award for Outstanding Digital Leadership 2023 (Digital 100)
• Flexible working including flexible hours and flex-friendly policies
• Bring your authentic self to work with 'I Can Be Me in DWP'
• Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more
• Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it's even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference
• Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities.

DWP is the UK's largest government department. We offer support and services to over 20 million daily users, and make payments worth over £195bn a year. Our Lead Software Engineers are experts in their field, role models in software craft and have proven experience in the design, development, and support of software products. Our DWP Digital community is building solutions that impact millions of people every day. We're doing it with modern engineering practices, cloud-native platforms, and tools that rival the best in industry., DWP Digital is a growing community of nearly 5,000 digital experts leading the transformation of the UK's largest government department - the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)., We have seven digital hubs located across the country - Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. They are designed to enable agile ways of working, allowing teams to collaborate to deliver world-class government digital services.