Length of employment: Job Summary: As Head of Role for Software Engineering, you will lead the Software Engineering profession across DWP Digital. You'll be an expert with broad industry experience who can define and assure best practice while influencing, leading, building capability and mentoring others. Working with other Heads of Role to deliver a "joined-up" service to Digital functions, providing best practice guidance on ways of working. The shared vision is to empower our Digital communities to define standards and enable effective professional performance of practice members. You'll need sound knowledge in the development of communities of practice, as well as being able to role model across the Practice. The Head of Role is a key part of the Practice Model and has key accountabilities in the following areas: Community of Practice Capability Building Knowledge Management Learning and Performance Management Resourcing Business Partnering As Head of Role, you'll be responsible for building a community of professionals, empowering the community to define standards, and enable effective professional performance of practice members. You will lead in building a network of professions and develop a Community of Practice identity within DWP and across Government to empower Practice members in their ability to develop and share transferrable skills, knowledge and experience. Please note: As part of the role, you may be required to travel regularly to the other digital hubs. The frequency of this will be discussed further should you be successful. Job Description: Community of Practice Promote and align the community with DWP's strategic goals. Use coaching and mentoring to drive continuous improvement. Forge cross-government links to shape the profession's future. Capability Building Strategy Track current and future skill demand across the job family. Embed industry trends into the capability roadmap. Map individual development needs and support career growth. Knowledge Management Share expertise and champion best-practice tools and methods. Stay current with emerging techniques and technologies. Authoritatively validate and apply role-specific processes. Learning & Performance Management Define clear career pathways and development plans. Equip managers with frameworks for training, coaching, and mentoring. Maintain a mentor network to support succession and retention. Resourcing Confirm and articulate role requirements against business demand. Own and update job descriptions to reflect organisational and industry needs. Oversee recruitment end-to-end, from assessment design to candidate placement. Business Partnering Build and influence senior stakeholder relationships. Align profession-wide decisions with DWP and DWP Digital strategy. Represent and promote the job family both internally and externally. We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours. Generous annual leave - at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro-rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave. Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme. Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly). Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year's continuous service. Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes. An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women's Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. This job role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. The number of days that anyone will be able to work at home will be determined primarily by business need but personal circumstances and other relevant circumstances will also be taken into account. If you are successful, any opportunities for hybrid working, including whether a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for you, will be discussed with you prior to you taking up your post. Salary Information Pay for this role is from £72,664 to £77,740. The maximum salary for the grade is £77,740, however a Digital Allowance of up to £12,255 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed. Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview. Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer should maintain their current salary. Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion may move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or 10% increase in salary whichever would be the greater. When giving details in your employment history and personal statement you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria below: Lead criterion: You will be an experienced Lead Software Engineer with a significant knowledge of Software Engineering, and you will understand the value the role holds within a Digital function. You are a passionate advocate of communities of practice - can confidently articulate the value of them, as well as being experienced in building and leading self-sustaining professional communities. You possess excellent leadership and stakeholder management skills - you can identify and build relationships at all levels and can negotiate and influence at a senior level on issues and the development and enhancement of services, products and systems. Demonstrate leadership in creating a culture that stays up to date with emerging trends within the profession and puts them into practice, while working collaboratively to define and promote a shared understanding of 'what good looks like' to drive best practice and consistency across the community. You have experience in coaching, mentoring, peer reviews, providing a friendly ear and creating development opportunities. You have experience in designing and leading recruitment strategies made up of multiple campaigns, utilising members of the wider community to deliver elements of successful campaigns. If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact Oliver.canham1@dwp.gov.uk. Stage 1: Application Your application will consist of three parts: 1. A Personal Details application form. 2. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed based on the essential criteria. 3. Personal statement - up to 1250 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person specification. The sift panel will use the information in your employment history and personal statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria. You will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and personal statement. An initial sift will be conducted using the lead criterion stated above. Candidates who pass the initial sift will progress to a full sift. For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital. Important Information You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form. Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered. If your employment history/personal statement contains any personal details your application will be withdrawn. We recognise that AI may be helpful when applying for this role, but it is important to use it in the right way. Read the DWP AI Candidate Guide to understand how you can make the best use of GenAI while ensuring your application remains authentic and effective. Stage 2: Interview If you're successful at sift stage you will be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed in the essential criteria. You will be asked to do a 10 minute presentation on a specific topic. Further details will be provided to candidates invited to interview. Interviews will take place from early June 2025. Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed. Further Information: Find out more about Working for DWP If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location. Reasonable Adjustment At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the "Reasonable Adjustments" section in the "Additional requirements" page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you're deaf, a Language Service Professional. For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page. The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.