Location
Bristol, Coventry, Darlington, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield. Please note – Bristol and Nottingham currently have site controls in place. Therefore, this location option is only available to existing DfE employees already assigned to this office location.
About The Job
These are exciting times at the Department for Education. In 2026 we’ll continue to build more user‑centred digital services for all our users, children, adults, and those in social care.
As a senior software developer, you will be part of a team responsible for developing and supporting scalable, secure, and high‑quality user‑centric digital services. Working with senior colleagues, you will lead team members on the design and build of digital services and will work closely with colleagues within multidisciplinary agile teams that focus on delivering work iteratively and at pace. You will innovate to radically transform how public services are delivered and improved.
If you are successful, you will be working in The Apprenticeship Service. This is an award‑winning digital service that puts employers in control of apprenticeship training, funding and recruitment. We connect thousands of employers, large and small, with apprentices and training providers so that the economy can thrive, and individuals and companies can upskill and fulfil their potential.
Apprenticeships are exciting options for both apprentices and employers—learning new skills, growing talent and making sure employers have access to the right skills to thrive.
We work in the Department for Education (DfE) to put employers and apprentices at the heart of apprenticeships—delivering a programme that is led by employer choice and demand, is higher quality and focused on occupational competence.
To do this we deliver innovative, user‑focused services that operate at scale and enable employers, apprentices, training providers and end‑point assessment organisations to work together to make apprenticeships great.
Job Description
* Lead and provide technical support for a group of developers within a multi‑disciplinary team, sometimes including line management.
* Develop software within the C# .NET technology stack to agreed standards.
* Build automated tests to support our continuous deployment processes.
* Create and sustain modern development standards, practices and techniques for our development community.
* Work with the development community to ensure we build sustainable digital products.
* Support the ongoing optimisation of automated integration processes.
* Advocate user‑centric, agile approaches which focus on rapid, effective delivery of high‑quality digital services.
* Support, coach and mentor less experienced developers and help them integrate into teams.
* Transform government into a modern, agile development centre by embedding practices such as test‑driven development, continuous integration & delivery.
* Triage and lead support of software issues within projects you are familiar with.
* Support sharing of methods and technologies across teams, government, and the industry by participating in and organising community events.
* Help build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community, growing awareness, and balance.
Person specification
Essential Criteria
* Strong practical experience of software development using C# .NET along with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
* Experience leading within technical teams to deliver user‑focused services in an agile environment.
* Strong experience of good software development practices such as Test‑Driven Development, CI/CD, and DevOps as well as modern development workflows, ideally using GitHub, and experience implementing software design concepts such as OOD, SOLID and design patterns.
* Strong experience in designing and implementing RESTful APIs or other loosely coupled architectures such microservices.
* Strong understanding of web application security and experience applying it.
* Experience in sharing knowledge, coaching others, and working in a diverse and inclusive multi‑disciplinary team.
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