Software Developer - Department for Education

What you'll do

Location: Coventry CV1 2WT, Manchester M1 2WD, Sheffield S1 2FJ. Whilst we aim to be flexible with working hours and location, please ensure you live within a commutable distance of your selected office locations.

Coventry is the apprenticeship service base and you will be required to travel there occasionally.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Education. The ESFA provides funding for education and skills for children, young people, and adults.

As part of this work, the ESFA is responsible for the delivery and operation of the online apprenticeship service, which provides employers with access to funding and training providers to deliver apprenticeships to their staff.

The apprenticeship service went live in April 2017 in line with the government’s ambition to transition the apprenticeship program to an employer-led model. The apprenticeship service currently delivers to:

• Over 100,000 employers (some that pay the apprenticeship levy, others that do not) have now registered to use the service to get funding for their apprentices
• Apprentices – around 4.5 million apprenticeship applications submitted through Find an Apprenticeship to date (since June 2016)
• End-point assessment organisations - 360+ EPAOs have issued over 180,000 certificates through the certification service to date
• Colleges and training providers – over 1,500 providers have delivered training to levy-paying employers

During 2020-21 the numbers of employers using the apprenticeship service have scaled up significantly as the 150,000+ employers that don’t pay the levy, have begun to transition to an employer-led model.

Classed as an exemplar digital project the service is developed in line with government and industry best practices.

As well as doing great work, we’re creating a place that’s great to work in. We offer brilliant training opportunities, industry-standard equipment, and support from expert colleagues. On top of that, you’ll find flexible working, inclusive culture, and a place where your opinion is valued.

Who you are

You will contribute to creating high-quality, maintainable software solutions and public-facing APIs that conform to industry best practices, Government Digital Service (GDS) standards, internal development guidelines, and which meet all given acceptance criteria, non-functional requirements, and definitions of done.

As a Software Developer in the Apprenticeship Service, you will work with colleagues of other professions such as Architects, Business Analysts, Testers, User Researches, and Designers to create the best solutions and take responsibility for the support of the applications you build, including occasional 3rd line support outside of office hours.

You will continuously seek to improve your own knowledge and take an active role in presenting and organising the Developer Clan community. You will do this by practice to share that knowledge with others, help to identify good practices for adoption and share our experience and knowledge with the wider team of both technical and non-technical colleagues.

You will be responsible for:

• To understand their own work area, be able to quickly get up to speed with issues
• Have a good understanding of the links to other areas and how their work fits within the structure of the organisation as well as having a good understanding of the external business environment
• To have technical expertise that allows them to make sound and balanced judgments
• To have the ability to guide more junior colleagues on complex issues within their area of the business
• Sound analytical skills and good judgment to inform their decisions or when providing opinions or advice
• To ensure architectural designs are implemented as described and feeding back any issues that they may encounter
• Ensure they are producing high-quality, well-tested software that conforms to all technical guidance and standards
• Ensure any reusable code created and any innovative work done within the team is communicated
• Share knowledge of tools and techniques with the wider team of developers and non-developers
• Be involved in the recruitment process and where appropriate, help sift and interview
• Take an active role in the Developer Clan community of practice

Its essential you have:

• The ability to deliver clean and maintainable code that meets requirements and conforms to best practice and can coach, mentor, and guide others in doing the same
• Experience building cloud-based web applications and detailed knowledge of C#, .Net, and ASP.NET programming languages
• A detailed understanding of front-end web development and associated technologies, including Html, Css and JavaScript
• Able to develop software using both SQL and Document data stores
• An ability to communicate technical concepts to a non-technical audience
• Ability to quickly research and learn new programming tools and techniques
• Experience in agile development, software patterns, SOLID principles, continuous integration and deployment and Test-Driven Development
• Experienced in turning technical designs into working software
• A good understanding of architectural patterns and principles
• An awareness of distributed, enterprise-level, applications
• Experience using the git version control system

How to apply

Simply, hit apply. We only ask for a CV and Cover Letter/Statement of Suitability. Important tip - please ensure that your Statement of Suitability includes how you meet the Skills and Experience listed above.

*Salary - The base salary is £36,498. Offers made above the base salary will be made up with a non-pensionable specialist DDaT allowance, which is based on capability.

New entrants are expected to join on the pay band minimum however salaries up to £40,297 may be applied, dependent on skills and experience. For exceptional candidates, an additional non-pensionable allowance of up to £7,000 may be available. The Digital, Data, and Technology (DDaT) Profession Capability Framework categorisation is under the Technical job family and is defined as a Software Developer

At the interview stage you will be asked:

• Technical test in C#sharpe
• Experience
• We'll assess you against these behaviours

Please note this role is for the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) is an executive agency, sponsored by the Department for Education. Government Digital Service supports departments across government with DDaT (Digital, Data and Technology) recruitment.

Position type : Permanent Working pattern : Full time (37 hours per week), Job share, Flexible working, Part time, Condensed hours Grade : Senior Executive Officer / Band B2+ Hours per week : 37 hours per week Salary : £36,498 - £40,297. * Please note the base salary for this role is £36,498. Offers made above the base salary will be made up with a non-pensionable specialist DDaT allowance, which is based on the capability Closing date for applications : 07 October 2021

How you'll be assessed

In the Civil Service, we use our Success Profiles. For each role we advertise we consider what you will need to demonstrate to be successful. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, drives up performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We will be looking at your experience, career history and achievements that are relevant to the specific job role. We may assess your ability, strength, experience, technical/specialist skills and behaviours.

For this role the following behaviours are the most relevant:

- changing and improving - making effective decisions - working together