Job Description
Developer
Location: National*
Closing Date: 3rd July 2026
Interviews: w/c 20th July 2026
Grade: SEO
(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)
Salary**: London: £49,325 – £56,050 (which may include an allowance up to £6,725)
National: £42,914 – £51,675 (which may include an allowance up to £8,761)
Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working
Contract Type: Permanent
Number of vacancies: 11
Vacancy number: 19092
*We offer a hybrid working model, allowing for a balance between remote work and time spent in your local office. Office locations can be found ON THIS MAP
Please note that unless you are an existing member of staff at Justice Digital, Data and Science, the only London location being recruited to is 10 South Colonnade, E14 4PU. We are no longer recruiting to 102 Petty France, SW1H 9AJ.
The Role
Please note this role requires you to pass Security Check clearance. Please click on the link for details.
We’re recruiting for Software Developers here at Justice Digital, Data and Science to be part of our warm and collaborative LAA Digital team.
This role aligns against Software Developer from the Government Digital and Data Framework
You’ll be working with other developers on our tech stack and will have lots of opportunities to learn 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.
As an example, you could be:
- Reducing reoffending rates by improving the scheduling of prison visits in our Prisons team
- Enhancing access to justice by developing a service to apply for legal aid in the Legal Aid Agency
- Improving outcomes for offenders by building tools to manage rehabilitation services in our Probation team
- Building services used by legal aid providers to make the provision of legal aid more sustainable
You will be working 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
Our Tech Stack:
We rely on Ruby, Java or 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, including how tools like Express.js can support server-side rendering as part of the interface layer. 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 a 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.
Our Community:
We currently have over 150 developers who make up the engineering community across the MoJ. You will be encouraged to play an active role in the engineering community and culture, and take part in informal support networks with your peers.
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.
You’ll receive a range of excellent benefits when you join our department, including:
- A generous employer pension contribution of 28.97% through the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
- 25 days of annual leave, (increasing to 30 days once you have reached 5 years of service), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday.
- Flexible working arrangements including hybrid working, working part time or compressed hours. Designed to support a positive work–life balance.
- Employees are allocated 10% of their working time for personal and professional development.
- 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.
- 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!
You can find more details of the Benefits we offer here. To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital, Data and Science please take a look at our blog.
Key Responsibilities:
As a Software Developer at the MoJ you will have technical and people responsibilities.
Technical:
- Helping to design, build and maintain APIs, services and systems
- Working on pre-existing codebases
- Improving the resilience and stability of software
People:
- Supporting Senior Developers in building high performing teams
- Help 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!
Person Specification
Essential
- Experience building and maintaining server-side applications, with solid understanding of at least one programming language.
- Comfortable working across both front-end and back-end systems.
- You write clean, maintainable code and apply practices that support change, scalability, and long-term delivery.
- Confidence in writing and reasoning about automated tests and making decisions about what and how to test.
- Practical experience working in Agile teams, including how planning, team roles, and delivery processes shape how you work.
- Experience in contributing to technical discussions and solving problems as part of a team.
- Actively collaborates and shares knowledge with others, learning alongside teammates.
- Motivated by continuous improvement, actively seeking to grow your skills, learn new technologies and sharing your knowledge.
- Able to deliver quality work in a timely manner, taking responsibility for priorities, maintaining momentum, and adapting when needed to help the team achieve its goals.
- Proficiency with our current tech stack e.g. Java, Python, Ruby.
Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for SC clearance
We welcome the unique contribution diverse applicants bring and do not discriminate based on culture, ethnicity, race, nationality or national origin, age, sex, gender identity or expression, religion or belief, disability status, sexual orientation, educational or social background or any other factor.
Our values are Purpose, Humanity Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and an inclusive culture in our workplace.
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.
Salary Information**
Base salary for this role is from £49,325 – £53,081 (London) and £42,914 – £46,182 (National).
- New entrants to the Civil Service joining the MoJ are expected to start at the minimum of the pay band.
- Existing Civil Servants moving on a level transfer will retain their current base salary or move to the minimum of the pay band for the role, whichever is higher.
- Existing Civil Servants who are promoted will either move to the bottom of the new grade’s pay band or receive a 10% uplift, whichever provides the greater increase.
- Candidates may also be eligible for a non‑pensionable Government Digital & Data Allowance of up to £6,725 per year (London) or ££8,761 (National). This is a temporary allowance, reviewed annually and may be retained, amended, or withdrawn.
The final offer will reflect the skills and experience you demonstrate during the assessment process.
How to Apply
In Justice Digital, Data and Science, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We shall assess a combination of your Experience, Technical skills and Behaviours during the assessment process.
Stage 1 - Application and sift:
To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:
- A CV detailing your career history (including any relevant qualifications). Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Person Specification of this advert.
- A Personal Statement (no more than 750 words) which should outline your experience and skills, giving clear examples of work undertaken. It should specifically address the following question: Tell us about a development project you've worked on that best demonstrates your skills and suitability for this role.
Your response should specifically address the following 2 criteria listed below, using a separate paragraph for each.
- Experience building and maintaining server-side applications, with solid understanding of at least one programming language
- Comfortable working across both front-end and back-end systems.
Candidates who do not adhere to the Personal Statement directions above may be rejected on this basis.
A diverse sift panel will review the information in your CV and Personal Statement to assess the sift criteria specified above. We operate an anonymous shortlisting process. Please ensure your CV and Personal Statement do not include your name or any other identifying details.
Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on “Proficiency with our current tech stack e.g. Java, Python, Ruby” will be conducted before the sift.
Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance
Stage 2 - Interviews:
Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a panel interview held via Microsoft Teams. At interview stage, you will be assessed against the following Success Profile elements - Experience, Technical and the following Behaviours:
- Working Together
- Developing Self and Others
- Making Effective Decisions
- Delivering at Pace
As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a technical test that assesses your technical experience against the following criteria:
- Motivated by continuous improvement, actively seeking to grow your skills, learn new technologies and sharing your knowledge.
- Proficiency with our current tech stack e.g. Java, Python, Ruby.
- Developing Self and Others.
Further details will be provided if successful at sift.
Appointments are made strictly in merit order. In the event that two or more candidates receive identical interview scores, the “Working Together” behaviour will be applied as the primary lead criterion to determine the final merit order.
Should you be unsuccessful in the role that you have applied for but demonstrate the capability for a role at a lower level, we reserve the right to discuss this opportunity with you and offer you the position without needing a further application.
A reserve list may be held for up to 12 months, from which further appointments may be made.
Use of Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Terms & Conditions
Please review our Terms and Conditions which set out how we recruit and provide further information related to the role and salary arrangements.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact digitalanddatarecruitment@justice.gov.uk
