Senior Developer

We are looking for people who are passionate about Engineering to join our community led team in Shared Applications Service (SAS). You will work in agile multidisciplinary teams with over 200 engineers in a modern cloud environment using the latest technologies. Our purpose as a team is to bring technical understanding in-house for over 600 Home Office applications.

You could be creating and maintaining some of the most critical public services in the United Kingdom and transforming how we use data and technology to improve these. We are responsible for designing, building and supporting solutions to help people prove their identity or apply for visas. You could also be working on critical IT systems that support policing and counter terrorism, which helps protect UK borders.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. Applicants can raise any queries to the email address at the bottom of the advert.

Watch this short video to hear from members of Home Office Digital talking about the projects they work on and their experience of working here: Working for Home Office Digital., The Senior Developer is key for our product delivery, you will develop core components of our solutions and help select appropriate technologies. Your subject matter expertise will enable you to operate with greater levels of autonomy and decision making.

You will work to our technical standards writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach, ensuring the code is open as far as possible and can be re-used.

The Senior Developer will be expected to mentor and lead other engineers in technical tasks, as well as support recruitment and assessment activities.

Tools and Technologies we use:

We are keen for Engineers to continue learning new technologies, we have a large range in the Home Office including:

• Backend: Node.js, Python, APIs (REST/GraphQL)
• Frontend: React, JavaScript, Typescript, Angular
• Data: Mongodb, Redis
• DevOps: AWS, Kubernetes, Docker, Ansible, Terraform, CI/CD pipelines
• AI: Python, Github Copilot, OpenAI., * Delivering secure, reliable and scalable software, and supporting your team with technical tasks when needed.
• Evaluating and advising on design choices and ensuring that software is high quality and balances technical and business considerations.
• Defining and documenting test cases for new systems and maintaining live systems to ensure ongoing performance.
• Evolving new approaches/solutions with other professions through discoveries, maintaining a focus on development and deployment.
• Helping prioritise and direct technical tasks across your team, to balance new and live services.

Like many organisations we need to maintain our services 24/7, therefore, on occasions there may be a requirement to work out of hours, for which you will be paid an additional allowance.

Working Pattern

This role is available on a full-time basis with the option of compressed hours working. This role is also suitable for part-time working hours, with a minimum requirement to work 3 days per week due to business requirements., * Designing scalable, maintainable and secure software solutions, including modern JavaScript-based architectures for web applications and services (SWDN – Level 4), At the beginning of the interview, you will be assessed on your technical capability through a technical problem-solving exercise. We will provide you with the information in the interview and you will be asked to share your screen with the panel, so you can point out various aspects.

If you are invited to an interview, you will be required to bring a range of documentation for the purposes of establishing identity and to aid any pre-employment checks. Please see the attached list of Home Office acceptable ID documents.

Sift and Interview dates

The sift will commence from 29/09/2026.

Interviews are expected to take place from 20/10/2026. (Subject to the Panel’s operational requirements/priorities).

Interviews will be conducted remotely via MS Teams.

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates will change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates., The allowance values are set by the Home Office, subject to remaining in a qualifying role. This allowance is non-contractual, subject to an annual review and could be withdrawn at any time.

For both new entrants and existing civil servants, the total compensation offer is a combination of base salary and, if applicable, a capability-based allowance. The pay ranges for this role are National: £62,732 - £69,006 and London: £66,732 - £73,406. New entrants to the Civil Service will start on the pay range minimum. For existing civil servants, our policies on level transfer and promotion will apply.

Reasonable Adjustments

If a person with disabilities is at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.

If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:

• Contact Government Recruitment Service via HOrecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
• Complete the “Assistance Required” section in the “Additional Requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you are deaf, a language service professional.

If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the ‘Contact point for applicants’ section.

Feedback 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., * 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

• Developing high-quality, testable code using JavaScript/TypeScript and modern frameworks, following agreed engineering standards and practices (PROG – Level 3)
• Defining and implementing automated testing approaches (unit, integration, end-to-end) to ensure quality and reliability of JavaScript applications (TEST – Level 3)

• Integrating and building services across front-end and back-end components, ensuring reliable deployment and interoperability in distributed systems (SINT – Level 4)

• Managing and utilising application data effectively (e.g. APIs, state management, persistence layers), ensuring appropriate handling and governance (DATM – Level 4)
• Supporting live JavaScript-based services, diagnosing issues, improving performance, and maintaining stability in production environments (ASUP – Level 4)

SFIA capability framework

Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) version 8 is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework: All skills A - Z English (sfia-online.org).

We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process.

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA framework). Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skills listed below.

Technical skills

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

• Software design (SWDN) - Level 4
• Programming/software development (PROG) - Level 3
• Testing (TEST) - Level 3
• Systems integration and build (SINT) - Level 4
• Data management (DATM) - Level 4
• Application support (ASUP) - Level 4, For meaningful security checks to be carried out, individuals need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. Learn more on our website. Security Checks - Home Office Careers.

Please note that this role requires Security Check (SC) clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years.

However, in exceptional circumstances security clearance applications for candidates who have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years may be considered. Failure to meet this residency requirement will result in your security clearance application being rejected., We are unable to sponsor any individuals via Skilled Worker Sponsorship / Tier 2 (General) work visas as we do not hold a UK Visa & Immigration (UKVI) Skilled Worker License.

£62,732 New entrants to the Civil Service will start their role on the salary band minimum £62,732 for National roles or £66,732 for London roles.

You may be eligible for an additional non-pensionable allowance, pending a Capability and Skills Assessment, with a value of up to £17,668. A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% GBP, Alongside your salary of £62,732, Home Office contributes £18,173 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides .

Why work for us…

Find out more information at: Benefits - Home Office Careers, but some of the primary ones are:

• A Civil Service Pension with employer contribution rates of at least 28.97%.
• In-year reward scheme for one-off or sustained exceptional personal or team achievements.
• 25 days annual leave on appointment, rising with service.
• 8 days of public holidays, plus 1 additional privilege day.
• Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. This is a non-contractual arrangement where all employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in an office.