Applications must be submitted by;
11-09-2025
Vacancy for Java Developer
As an experienced Software Developer, the role holder will work in-house contributing to the development of a number of different systems for IUK. With a passion for cutting-edge technology, the role holder will provide technical input and innovation to ensure appropriate solutions are in place to meet business requirements. Utilising their strong technical skills, the role holder will provide quality solutions to the business through the use of existing standards and technologies. They will need to have an aptitude to pick up new skills quickly and work with other developers within the team and other areas of the organization.
*Please note this advert will close on on Wednesday 10th September 2025
Watch our video “Why Join Innovate UK?” here.
Title: Java Developer
Band: UKRI Band E (UKRI Ts & Cs)
Salary: £45,272 gross per annum
Reports to: Development Manager
Location: Swindon (Hybrid Working)
Contract: Permanent
Innovate UK recognises the importance of work-life balance and we will be happy to discuss any requests for flexible working arrangements.
Context:
The Innovation Funding Service is currently undergoing a wealth of implementation programmes including adding support for new Government initiatives and investigating how AI solutions could be utilised. The goal is to improve productivity and security, automate processes and improve customer experience.
We particularly welcome female applicants as women are under-represented within Innovate UK in this type of role.
Job Purpose:
As an experienced Software Developer, the role holder will work in-house contributing to the development of a number of different systems for IUK. With a passion for cutting-edge technology, the role holder will provide technical input and innovation to ensure appropriate solutions are in place to meet business requirements. Utilising their strong technical skills, the role holder will provide quality solutions to the business through the use of existing standards and technologies. They will need to have an aptitude to pick up new skills quickly and work with other developers within the team and other areas of the organization.
Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:
A Java Developer delivers software components that form part of an IUK product. In this role, you will:
1. Write clean, secure and well-tested code
2. Follow best-practice guidelines and help to improve those guidelines
3. Operate the services and identify issues in the live environment
4. Coach and mentor more junior colleagues
This is not an exhaustive list and you might be encouraged to undertake any other duties across the wider directorate, commensurate with the Band and level of responsibility of this post, for which the post holder has the key experience and/or training.
Skills needed for this role:
5. Availability and capacity management. You can manage the service components to ensure they meet business needs and performance targets.
6. Development process optimisation. You can explain the importance of developing process efficiency and the common ways in which processes are optimised. You can support specific activities to improve development processes. You can spot or identify obvious deficiencies.
7. Information security. You can discuss information security. You can design solutions and services with security controls embedded, specifically engineered as mitigation against security threats as a core part of the solutions and services.
8. Modern standards approach. You can competently use modern standards approach and guide others in so doing.
9. Programming and build (software engineering). You collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications and use these agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium complexity, using the correct standards and tools.
10. Prototyping. You see prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others. You establish design patterns and iterate them. You know a variety of methods of prototyping and can choose the most appropriate one.
11. Service support. You can help fix faults following agreed procedures. You can carry out agreed maintenance tasks on infrastructure.
12. Systems design. You can translate logical designs into physical designs. You can produce detailed designs. You know how to document all work using required standards, methods and tools, including prototyping tools where appropriate. You can design systems characterised by managed levels of risk, manageable business and technical complexity, and meaningful impact. You can work with well understood technology and identify appropriate patterns.
13. Systems integration. You can build and test simple interfaces between systems, or work on more complex integration as part of a wider team.
14. User focus. You know how to collaborate with user researchers, business analysts and product owners and can represent users internally. You understand the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. You can champion user research to focus on all users. You can prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to be used.
Person Specification:
Experience & Qualifications:
(S) Assessed at shortlisting
(I) Assessed at interview
(S&I) Assessed at both shortlisting and interview
15. A degree in Computer Science or a related subject is not essential but is desirable. It is more important to be able to demonstrate projects you have worked on and your role in them (S&I)
16. Demonstrable experience designing, coding, testing, debugging Java 8 / Java 17 based systems (S&I)
17. Previous work in an agile software development environment within SCRUM teams (S&I)
18. Skills in back-end/front end web technologies: Thymeleaf, JSP, HTML, CSS, etc (S&I)
19. Experience developing Spring Boot / MVC microservices (S&I)
20. Knowledge of Continuous Integration & Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) using Gradle / Maven (S&I)
21. Familiar with Git or other source control systems, including branching, merging, etc (S&I)
22. Good knowledge of RDBMS including data modelling, SQL scripts, stored procedures (S&I)
Skills:
23. Excellent written and verbal communication
24. Strong task planning and delivery
25. Care, accuracy and attention to detail
26. Self-awareness
27. High levels of professionalism
28. A ‘self-starter’ with strong motivation to succeed
29. Excellent problem-solving with a ‘can-do’ approach
Competencies:
All team members demonstrate compatibility with and capability against our Core Competencies such as:
Thinking and Problem Solving – Stakeholder management – Communication skills – Influencing – Self-awareness/self-management – Strategic awareness – Working with others– Project management
Some of the above competencies will be assessed at interview stage, in addition to the criteria’s listed in the person specification.
Travel Requirements:
Swindon-based: There may be the occasional requirement for national travel.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:
Innovate UK is a diverse workforce of people. We believe that encouraging these differences and drawing the best from them will build a productive environment in which everyone feels valued, where talents are fully utilised and in which organisational goals are met. Underpinning this is a belief that it is a fundamental right for everyone to be treated equally, with fairness, respect and dignity. We will act directly and use our influence to ensure that this right is promoted and upheld; we encourage applications from all those who meet the criteria set-out in our role profiles.
Equal Opportunities:
We are an equal opportunities employer, committed to employing any person who meets the criteria for our roles. When undertaking recruitment we may require applicants to undertake certain tests or assessments, some of which will be online and others may be in-person. If you have a disability, heath condition or specific learning difficulty such as dyslexia then you may be entitled to support with undertaking this type of assessment exercise. Where you feel that reasonable adjustments are required to support you, we ask that you advise your recruitment point of contact in a timely fashion, providing further information. In confidence, Innovate UK will then review your application for adjustments and provide support as required.
UK Research and Innovation:
Employee Benefits:
We offer a benefits package crafted to provide an excellent work/life balance. This includes 30 days’ annual leave, public and privilege days, flexible working hours, an exceptional defined benefit pension scheme, and access to a variety of support networks and discount schemes.
Benefits of working at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
Flexible Working:
We understand the importance of work-life balance, and are happy to discuss the possibility of flexible working with applicants.
Pre-employment Screening:
To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a comprehensive pre-employment check on successful applicants as part of the recruitment process.
The role holder will be required to have the appropriate level of security screening/vetting required for the role. UKRI reserves the right to run or re-run security clearance as required during the course of employment.
UKRI supports research in areas that include animal health, agriculture and food security, and bioscience for health which includes research on animals, genetic modification and stem cell research. Whilst you may not have direct involvement in this type of research, you should consider how this aligns with your personal values or beliefs. To enable us to hire the very best people we will conduct a full and comprehensive pre-employment check as a crucial part of the recruitment process on all individuals that are offered a position with UKRI. This will include a security check and an extreme organisations affiliation check.
Applications must be submitted by;
11-09-2025