Job Description
Senior Software Developer
Location: National*
Closing Date: 1st March 2026
Interviews: w/c 16th March 2026
Grade: Grade 7
(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)
Salary: London: £63,343 – £73,875 (which may include an allowance up to £10,532)
National: £58,511 – £69,150 (which may include an allowance up to £10,639)
Working Pattern: Full-time/Part-time/Flexible working
Contract Type: Permanent
Vacancy number: 14899
*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
The Role
We’re recruiting for Senior Software Developers here at Justice Digital, to be part of our warm and collaborative LAA (Legal Aid Agency) and Probation Digital teams.
This role aligns against Senior Software Developer from the Government Digital and Data Framework
About Us: At Justice Digital, we're dedicated to leveraging technology to drive impactful change across the justice system. As a Senior Software Developer, you'll play a pivotal role in enhancing access to justice and improving outcomes for offenders through innovative digital solutions.
Responsibilities: You’ll collaborate closely with fellow developers on our diverse tech stack and embrace opportunities to learn new technologies and systems. We tailor team assignments to align with your skills, interests, and career aspirations. For instance:
Enhancing access to justice by developing a service to apply for legal aid in the Legal Aid Agency
Supporting victims of crime to apply for compensation in a trauma-informed way by bringing more of the process online in the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority
Improving outcomes for offenders by building tools to manage rehabilitation services in our Probation team
Maintaining transparency of government by managing freedom of information requests and parliamentary questions in our Central team
Collaboration: You’ll collaborate closely with user researchers, product managers, designers, delivery managers, technical architects, and content specialists who share our vision of leveraging technology to transform government services.
Our Tech Stack
Technologies: We use a diverse range of technologies, and we’re seeking individuals who specialise in one or more and are eager to learn new languages and frameworks. Our tech stack includes:
Application Code: Java, Kotlin, Python, TypeScript
CI/CD: GitHub Actions
Monitoring: Sentry
Containerisation: Kubernetes, Docker
Cloud Infrastructure: AWS
Web Interfaces: GOV.UK and MoJ Design Systems
Front-End Development: We value a deep understanding of web technologies, emphasising semantic HTML, performant CSS, and JavaScript or TypeScript. Accessibility is a core consideration across all our services.
Learning and Support: Once part of our team, we'll support you in mastering our tech stack, regardless of your current experience. Explore our GitHub for insights into our technologies and the services we develop and maintain.
Our Community: Join over 400 experienced developers who form our vibrant engineering community across the MoJ. You’ll have opportunities to mentor junior colleagues and participate in informal support networks with peers. We encourage active engagement in shaping our engineering culture and community.
Career Development: We take pride in our supportive and effective line management. Your skills are highly valued, and we’re committed to helping you expand them within the civil service. You'll have opportunities to move between teams or departments, explore new technologies, and take on increased responsibilities aligned with your career goals.
To help picture your life at MoJ Justice Digital please take a look at our blog and our Digital and Technology strategy 2025
Key Responsibilities:
As a Senior Software Developer, you will:
Technical
Securely design, build, and maintain APIs, services, and systems.
Contribute to and enhance existing codebases.
Improve the resilience and stability of software through best practices.
Apply methodologies to facilitate continuous delivery.
People
Develop and mentor team members through line management responsibilities, both formally and informally.
Support lead developers in cultivating high-performing teams.
Foster a diverse, inclusive culture within the development community, promoting awareness and inclusivity.
If this feels like an exciting challenge, something you are enthusiastic about, and want to join our team please read on and apply!
Benefits
37 hours per week and flexible working options including working from home, working part-time, job sharing, or working compressed hours.
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
Staff have 10% time to dedicate to develop & grow
Generous civil service pension based on defined benefit scheme, with employer contributions of 28.97% from April 1st 2024 (Contribution Rates)
25 days leave (plus bank holidays) and 1 privilege day usually taken around the Kings’ birthday. 5 additional days of leave once you have reached 5 years of service.
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!
Wellbeing support including access to the Calm app.
Nurturing professional and interpersonal networks including those for Carers & Childcare, Gender Equality, PROUD and SPIRIT
Bike loans up to £2500 and secure bike parking (subject to availability and location)
Season ticket loans, childcare vouchers and eye-care vouchers.
5 days volunteering paid leave.
Some offices may have a subsidised onsite Gym.
Person Specification
Essential
Demonstrate proven experience of delivering large and complex software solutions
Demonstrate proven experience working in Java or Kotlin and be confident learning new languages
Apply modern development and deployment techniques to your work, including continuous integration and continuous delivery
Support a culture of software maintenance, clean code, coding standards and practices that make change and consistency easier
Write automated tests to continuously validate your work
Thrive when you work as part of a team that abides by the spirit of the manifesto of agile software development
Enjoy sharing knowledge and working in a multi-disciplinary team
Hold yourself and others to a high standard
Solve problems in a systematic and innovative way
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.
How to Apply
Candidates must submit CV and Statement of Suitability (750 words max), which describes how you meet the requirements set out in the Person Specification above.
Application Guidance
Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply and how to complete a Personal Statement
In Justice Digital, we recruit using a combination of the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability and Success Profiles Frameworks. We will assess your Experience, Technical Skills and the following Behaviours during the assessment process:
Communicating and influencing
Working Together
Developing Self and Others
Making Effective Decisions
A diverse panel will review your application against the Person Specification above.
Successful candidates who meet the required standard will then be invited to a 90-minute panel interview held via video conference. The final 30 minutes will consist of a technical test, where you will be asked to take part in a code review exercise. This will be discussed during the interview.
Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift based on “Demonstrate proven experience working in Java or Kotlin and be confident learning new languages” will be conducted before the sift. The panel will be conducting a sift on the following criteria from the Person Specification above:
“Demonstrate proven experience of delivering large and complex software solutions.”
“Demonstrate proven experience working in Java or Kotlin and be confident learning new languages.”
“Apply modern development and deployment techniques to your work, including continuous integration and continuous delivery.”
“Enjoy sharing knowledge and working in a multi-disciplinary team.”
Candidates who do not demonstrate examples/details of their experience of the requirements stated under the Person Specification above in their Cover Letter will be rejected on this basis.
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
