Senior Full Stack Developer - Justice Redact

Location: National*

Closing Date: 15^th November

Interviews: 2/3/4 December

Grade: 7

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

Salary (for more details, please read further down) **:

London: £63,343 - £73,875 (may include an allowance of up to £10,532)

National: £58,511 - £69,150 (may include an allowance of up to £10,639)

Working pattern: Full-time, Part-time, Flexible working

Contract Type: Permanent

Number of vacancies: 1

Vacancy number: 23724

*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

We’re recruiting for a Senior Full Stack Developer here at Justice Digital, Data and Science to be part of our warm and collaborative Justice Redact team. You will help us roll out a new service that will improve how personal and sensitive information is redacted from Offender Subject Access Requests (OSARs).

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

OSARs are one of the Ministry of Justice’s largest sources of personal data requests. The vetting staff who process these requests currently use a range of tools and processes to identify and redact personal and sensitive information from documents. We are developing an AI-assisted service to help them do this work more quickly, accurately and consistently, while keeping human oversight at the centre of the process.

You’ll join the Justice Redact team at an exciting stage of the service’s development. The product has been through Alpha and is moving towards Private Beta and wider operational use. You’ll help us strengthen, improve and scale the service based on feedback from the people who use it.

This is a hands-on development role. You’ll work across the front end and back end of the service, contributing to an existing codebase and helping us build a secure, accessible and maintainable product.
A key part of the role will be building strong relationships with the OSARs operational team, understanding their needs and translating these into effective technical solutions. You will be expected to work independently, take ownership of development tasks and be comfortable working in an evolving environment where we are learning and iterating as we go.
Alongside the OSARs work, you will regularly engage with the wider Justice Redact team to understand the development of the strategic reusable redaction platform and how the two workstreams fit together. You will help ensure that what we build for OSARs can contribute to the longer-term platform ambition.

The role is particularly suited to someone who enjoys working in an environment where requirements are evolving, problems are sometimes ambiguous, and good solutions are developed collaboratively with users and the wider team.

About Justice Redact
Justice Redact is an AI-assisted redaction service being developed within the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). We are preparing to launch our Private Beta MVP, initially focused on Offender Subject Access Requests (OSARs) - the largest source of personal data requests in the MoJ.
The service combines AI with human oversight to help OSARs vetting teams work more efficiently, consistently and accurately when identifying and removing sensitive and personally identifiable information.
OSARs is our starting point, with the immediate priority being to roll out Justice Redact to more OSARs vetting staff and continue developing the service to support the redaction work they carry out.

The wider programme is exploring how capability developed through this work could eventually contribute to a reusable redaction service across the MoJ and potentially wider government. For this role, however, the focus will be firmly on supporting the OSARs vetting team, their redaction workflows and the continued development and scaling of Justice Redact.

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

• Develop, enhance and maintain the Justice Redact service as it moves through the Digital Delivery Lifecycle from Beta to Live.
• Build new features and functionality to support the rollout of the service to more OSARs users and respond to evolving operational needs.
• Work directly with operational users to understand problems and identify technical solutions to understand problems, test solutions and identify opportunities to improve the service
• Take ownership of development tasks and contributing to technical design, architecture and making pragmatic decisions about technical approaches.
• Work across the front end and back end, building robust, scalable and maintainable software.
• Write high-quality, well-tested code and contribute to automate testing, continuous integration and delivery, code reviews and other good software engineering practices.
• Work with specialist teams, including accessibility and assistive technology teams, to support accessibility testing and ensure the service works effectively for a diverse range of users.
• Collaborate closely with Data Scientists, DevOps, Product, Design, User Research and Delivery colleagues to solve problems and deliver user-centred technical solutions.
• Contribute to the development of reusable technical components, patterns and approaches for the longer-term redaction platform.
• Share knowledge and support the ongoing development, operation and transition of the service, including helping colleagues understand technical decisions and supporting a smooth handover as the service develops.

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:

• Delivering complex software - proven experience of delivering a complex software solution into production, including your contribution to the design, development, testing and deployment of the service.
• Full-stack engineering and technical practice – experience of developing and maintaining software across the back end and web front end, including automated testing, APIs and modern continuous integration and delivery practices.
• Collaborative problem solving – demonstrate how you have worked with a multidisciplinary team to understand a complex problem, make technical decisions and deliver a pragmatic solution, particularly where requirements or the problem was not fully defined.
• Production software development - strong experience developing production services using Typescript, React (Next.js), and Python (FastAPI), with the ability to work confidently across the front end and back end.
• API and data modelling - experience designing, developing and maintaining REST APIs and data models, including experience with relational databases such as PostgreSQL.
• Cloud infrastructure and operations - hands-on experience deploying, operating and optimising cloud-based services, ideally using AWS services such as S3, SQS, RDS, and applications deployed to Kubernetes.
• Technical design and decision-making - proven ability to make sound technical decisions that balance performance, scalability, maintainability, security and reusability, and to contribute to technical design and architecture.
• Software lifecycle and data processing - experience working with working with existing codebases and taking technical responsibility throughout the software development lifecycle, from development and testing through to deployment and ongoing support. Experience with document or PDF processing, structured or unstructured text extraction, or similar data-processing pipelines is desirable, or the ability to quickly develop this knowledge.
• Technical leadership and knowledge sharing - ability to provide technical advice, share knowledge and guide colleagues on good development practices, standards and tools, including through code reviews, pairing or mentoring.
• Secure, accessible and user-centred delivery - commitment to building secure, accessible and user-centred services, working effectively with multidisciplinary teams and operational users, and collaborating with specialist teams, including accessibility and assistive technology colleagues, to translate user and business needs into pragmatic technical solutions.

Willingness to be assessed against the requirements for BPSS 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 £58,511 to £65,329 (National) or from £63,343 to £70,725 (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 £10,532 per year (London) or £10,639 (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 three criteria listed below, using a separate paragraph for each.
• Delivering complex software – demonstrate proven experience of delivering a complex software solution into production, including your contribution to the design, development, testing and deployment of the service.
• Full-stack engineering and technical practice – demonstrate experience of developing and maintaining software across the back end and web front end, including automated testing, APIs and modern continuous integration and delivery practices.
• Collaborative problem solving – demonstrate how you have worked with a multidisciplinary team to understand a complex problem, make technical decisions and deliver a pragmatic solution, particularly where requirements or the problem was not fully defined.

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 “delivering complex software - demonstrate proven experience of delivering a complex software solution into production, including your contribution to the design, development, testing and deployment of the service”.

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:

• Making effective decisions
• Working together
• Communicating and influencing

As part of your interview, you will be asked to prepare and deliver a short presentation that assesses your technical capability. Further details will be provided if successful at sift, but it will be based on the following scenario:

Scenario

Justice Redact is being rolled out to more OSAR staff. The service uses AI to identify potential personal and sensitive information in documents and presents suggested redactions to operational users for review.

The service is currently moving from Beta towards Live. As usage increases, the team need to ensure that the service is robust, scalable, secure, accessible and maintainable.

You have been asked to consider how you would approach the next stage of development and identify the technical priorities you would address.

Appointments are made strictly in merit order. In the event that two or more candidates receive identical interview scores, the technical assessment score 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