Senior Software Engineer

The Digital, Data and Technology (DDAT) directorate has recently been established in UKEF, drawing together the expertise in digital currently within the organisation to provide representation of digital services, user centred design, analytics and technology at the highest levels. The areas with the directorate work closely with all areas of the business such as the Business Group, Operations and Strategy and Policy., UKEF is committed to be a more customer-centric organisation, making it easier for customers to deal with us, offering improved response times, quicker decision-making and improved case-processing. To enable this, UKEF is committed to using digital as a primary means for managing relationships with a wider range of stakeholders. Focusing on developing end-to-end services that meet user need and enable business outcomes, this is an exciting new role showing the growth and drive of UKEFs digital ambition.

This role requires you to work with other leads and senior management to develop NodeJS applications. This role also requires you to integrate NodeJS applications with other systems, develop microservices and serverless applications and create and maintain technical documentation. Effective communication with project stakeholders is also an essential aspect of the role.

Main Activities

In this role, you will:

• Work with other discipline leads and senior management to proactively plan technical delivery work, making sure to balance long term engineering sustainability with short term delivery pressures, advocating for technical quality and bringing practical considerations to high level designs
• Advocate user-centric, agile approaches which focus on rapid, effective delivery of high-quality digital services
• Build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community, growing awareness, inclusivity, and balance
• Develop NodeJS applications using frameworks like Express.js or Nest.js.
• Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines for NodeJS applications.
• Ensure that NodeJS applications are optimised for scalability and maintainability.
• Develop APIs and integrate with third-party APIs.
• Integrate NodeJS applications with other systems using APIs, webhooks, or other technologies.
• Develop microservices and serverless applications using NodeJS.
• Ensure that NodeJS applications follow best practices for security and data protection.
• Develop unit tests and integration tests for NodeJS applications.
• Create and maintain technical documentation for NodeJS applications.
• Stay up to date with the latest NodeJS and web development trends and technologies.
• Communicate effectively with project stakeholders, including customers, product managers, and other engineers, to ensure alignment on technical decisions and project goals.

This role Is aligned to the DDaT Capability Framework - Software Developer.

This list is not exhaustive, and you may be required to carry out additional duties according to business need., + You can design solutions and services with security controls embedded, specifically engineered with mitigation of security threats as a core feature.

• Modern standards approach (A)

• You can competently apply modern standards approach and guide others to do so.

• Programming and build (software engineering) (A)

• You can collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications.
• You can use the agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using the right standards and tools.

• Systems design (A, I)

• You can design systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact, and business or technical complexity.
• You can select appropriate design standards, methods and tools, and ensure they are applied effectively.
• You can review the systems designs of others to ensure the selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology.

• Service support (I)

• You can identify, locate and fix faults

• Systems integration (I)

• You can define the integration build. You can co-ordinate build activities across systems.
• You can understand how to undertake and support integration testing activities.

• Prototyping (A)

• You can approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others.
• You can establish design patterns and iterate them.
• You can use a variety of prototyping methods and choose the most appropriate.

• User focus (I)

• You can collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally.

• You can explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. You can champion user research to focus on all users.

• You can prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so.

• You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use., + Based on your experience, describe a NodeJS application or microservice you have designed or contributed to. o What frameworks and integration patterns did you use, and why? o How did you ensure the application was scalable, secure, and maintainable? o What challenges did you encounter integrating with databases or third-party APIs, and how did you address them?

• Drawing on your experience, explain how you have implemented automated testing and CI/CD pipelines for NodeJS applications. o What types of tests did you prioritise, and which tools did you use? o How did your approach to CI/CD improve code quality, security, or delivery speed? o Can you share any lessons learned or improvements you made to your testing or deployment processes?

For the initial sift your application will be evaluated against:

• Experience - Application and Statement of Suitability
• Technical - Questions, 250 Words

• Based on your experience, describe a NodeJS application or microservice you have designed or contributed to. o What frameworks and integration patterns did you use, and why? o How did you ensure the application was scalable, secure, and maintainable? o What challenges did you encounter integrating with databases or third-party APIs, and how did you address them?

• Drawing on your experience, explain how you have implemented automated testing and CI/CD pipelines for NodeJS applications. o What types of tests did you prioritise, and which tools did you use? o How did your approach to CI/CD improve code quality, security, or delivery speed? o Can you share any lessons learned or improvements you made to your testing or deployment processes?

In the event of a high volume of applications, there will be a pre-sift on the following:

• Technical Questions - 250 Words

• Based on your experience, describe a NodeJS application or microservice you have designed or contributed to. o What frameworks and integration patterns did you use, and why? o How did you ensure the application was scalable, secure, and maintainable? o What challenges did you encounter integrating with databases or third-party APIs, and how did you address them?

• Drawing on your experience, explain how you have implemented automated testing and CI/CD pipelines for NodeJS applications. o What types of tests did you prioritise, and which tools did you use? o How did your approach to CI/CD improve code quality, security, or delivery speed? o Can you share any lessons learned or improvements you made to your testing or deployment processes?

If you are successful following the sift stage, you will be invited to an initial technical interview; this will include the following assessment:

• Behaviours / Experience - a formal panel interview where you will be interviewed across all one behaviours

• Behaviour - Delivering at Pace

• Technical - Questions

• This will be technical questions designed to evaluate your skills, knowledge, and experience in software development, including areas such as algorithms, data structures, and design patterns.

Details of interview panel members will be e-mailed to all successful candidates who are invited for interview. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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., * 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

Do you have experience in Test automation?, UK Export Finance is looking for motivated individuals with a desire to learn about the business. Successful candidates will be provided not only with functional training to enable them to do well in their role, but also with personal development to help them to achieve their career ambitions. Please note that the person specification below outlines at which stage(s) you will be assessed on how you meet the criteria for the role(s) including:-, * Graduate-level education or demonstrable equivalent professional experience, along with evidence of ongoing professional development. (A), * Knowledge of the Technology Code of Practice. (A)

• Knowledge of SDLC (Software Development Lifecycle). (A, I)
• Knowledge of Automated Testing and CI/CD techniques. (A, I), * Experience in most of the following areas; (A, I)

• JavaScript, NodeJS and Express.JS.
• Azure Cloud Computing.
• NoSQL and SQL Databases, including MongoDB and MSSQL.
• RESTful and GraphQL API Development.
• Containerised Microservices (i.e. using Docker).
• GitHub, Azure DevOps or GitLab.
• GDS/MOJ Components., o Graduate-level education or demonstrable equivalent professional experience, along with evidence of ongoing professional development. (A), * Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

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

• Technical Question
• Technical Question
• Technical - Questions - This will be technical questions designed to evaluate your skills, knowledge, and experience in software development, including areas such as algorithms, data structures, and design patterns., This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills., + Graduate-level education or demonstrable equivalent professional experience, along with evidence of ongoing professional development. (A)

Alongside your salary of £56,475, UK Export Finance contributes £16,360 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%