Principal Software Developer

Location: National*

Closing date: 15 June

Interviews: w/c 29 June

Grade: 6

(MoJ candidates who are on a specialist grade, will be able to retain this grade on lateral transfer)

Salary** (for more information, please see below):

London: £75,674 - £87,875 (which may include an allowance of up to £12,201)

National: £71,381 - £83,700 (which may include an allowance of up to £12,319)

Working pattern: full-time, part-time, flexible working

Contract Type: Permanent

Number of vacancies: 3

Vacancy number: 17500

*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 three Principal Software Developers here at Justice Digital, Data and Science, to be part of our warm and collaborative Office of the Chief Technology Officer (OCTO), Legal Aid Digital (LAA) and Prisons and Probation Digital (HMPPS) designing and delivering digital services that make a genuine difference to people's lives, alongside championing the adoption of emerging technologies.

The Principal Developer will work under the Chief Engineer and alongside the Head of Profession for Engineering and will drive the product teams within OCTO, LAA and HMPPS, as well as acting as a leader within the software development profession across the MOJ.

This is a hands-on technical role where you'll work directly with product teams across the department, bringing your expertise to help deliver solutions that reduce friction and improve engineering practices across Justice Digital, Data and Science. You'll guide the Chief Engineer's product teams while providing leadership to the wider software development profession at MOJ. Beyond delivery, you'll also be expected to horizon scan and experiment with new products and tools in an R&D capacity, identifying emerging technologies that could benefit the organisation.

This role aligns against the Principal Developer role from the Government Digital and Data Framework.

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

• Work with the Chief Engineer to define, maintain and own CTO's engineering strategy, aligning with its wider business objectives.
• Oversee and guide technical teams, influence technical choices and seek out opportunities for digital transformation including:
  • Lead the Developer Assurance team, comprised of Staff Engineers, to ensure that development standards are maintained across
  • Justice Digital, Data and Science
  • Lead the Engineering Standards team to develop and deliver a world class development portal, that documents Justice Digital, Data and Science engineering standards
  • Work alongside the Principal DevOps Engineer to work with the DevX team, working on R&D projects to scope out new and emerging technologies to adopt across the department.
• Mentor, coach, and line manage lead and senior developers
• Look for opportunities to collaborate and reuse common components, communicating with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Build and maintain an inclusive culture across the software development community.
• Manage recruitment and allocation of developers to teams, identifying gaps in capability, ensuring a good balance of skills and seniority.
• Work with the engineering principals across other agencies to help break down silos and work on cross cutting initiatives.

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 leading and growing software development teams and technical capability and fostering an inclusive, high-performing team culture.
• Expertise designing, building and operating reliable, secure, and maintainable digital services.
• Experience coaching, mentoring and line managing senior developers or technical leads.
• Confidence working within agile environments to iteratively working software designed around the users need.
• Confidence working across teams and reaching out across organisational/team boundaries to understand common technical approaches and patterns.
• Experience supporting live services and managing technical risks.
• Code review.

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 £71,381 to £80,419 (National) or from £75,674 to £85,257 (London).

• 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 £12,201 per year (London) or £12,319 (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.

Why JDDS?

Over the past year, we have strengthened our focus on attracting and retaining women and non-binary people in technical roles across the Ministry of Justice. We have steadily been increasing representation through targeted activity, including community forums, support and mentoring, and visible senior allyship committed to sustained improvement.

We’re proud to back this up with action. Our internal Women in Digital, Data and Science Forum builds community for women and non-binary colleagues across all grades, creating space to share experiences, grow confidence, and shape practical changes. We also support cross-government work to remove barriers for women and girls entering and progressing in tech, and we offer routes in through apprenticeships and structured development.

We’re proud that this work is recognised externally too: Justice Digital, Data and Science (Ministry of Justice) was named Best Employer of the Year at the Women in Tech Excellence Awards 2025.

Read more about our work and culture in the blog posts below:

• Six Months in – Building the Women in Engineering Working Group, by Rosie Brigham, Deputy Head of Profession for Engineering.
• Designing Digital Services for Everyone: Why LGBTQ+ History Still Matters, by Mark Stanley, Deputy Director for Prisons.
• It started with a Quiz: Discovering a Different Kind of Strength, by Eva Horvathova, Capability Manager.

Our values are Purpose, Humanity, Openness and Together. Find out more here about how we celebrate diversity and foster an inclusive culture in our workplace.

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 2 criteria listed below, using a separate paragraph for each.
• Experience coaching, mentoring and line managing senior developers or technical leads.
• Confidence working within agile environments to iteratively working software designed around the users need.

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 the same criteria (“Experience coaching, mentoring and line managing senior developers or technical leads” and “Confidence working within agile environments to iteratively working software designed around the users need”) 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:

• Leadership
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Communicating and influencing

As part of your interview, you will be asked to deliver a short technical test that assesses your technical capability. 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 behaviour “Communicating and influencing” 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