Contents Location About the job Benefits Things you need to know Apply and further information Location ONS operates a flexible hybrid working model across the UK, with colleagues linked to one of our contractual locations in Newport, Titchfield (Fareham), London, Manchester, or Edinburgh, and working between office and remote throughout the week. As part of the hybrid working arrangement there is 40% a minimum office attendance requirement. Attendance is typically at your contractual office, with occasional travel to alternative locations. Due to estates constraints, there are currently temporary exceptions to this for colleagues based at Manchester who are required to attend the office for a minimum of 20% of their work time. About the job Job summary Are you an accomplished Software Engineer looking for a role where you can make a real impact, using your technical experience to enable us to deliver our Statistics for the Public Good strategy for the UK? We are looking for an experienced Software Engineer to join us. We are looking for forward-thinking people with a passion for Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery working on the latest cloud and software applications. You will have an eye for detail and stakeholder management skills to provide technical and procedural expertise working within our Digital Services (DS) Directorate. You will join the Blaise 5 team within the Digital Applications Division, who support and develop new technology in GCP that integrates with Blaise 5 software, which allows ONS to collect survey data online, telephone or face to face for major ONS social surveys. In addition to this, the team are also undergoing a programme of modernisation, uplifting all surveys from Blaise 4.8 into Blaise 5, and migrating them into the Cloud to meet ONS tier 0 legacy reduction objective. Job description A Software Engineer designs, develops, runs, tests and improve software that meets the users needs. They are responsible for writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach. They create a code that is open by default and easy for others to use. A senior developer delivers and integrates complicated or higher risk software to form a complete service. You will be responsible for developing social surveys and supporting Survey teams across the division using programming and scripting skills to resolve issues or provide solutions. There are also opportunities to lead on smaller projects across the division to meet user needs. Responsibilities The role will include: Designing software products to serve a variety of user needs and enhancing existing software products to meet evolving user needs. Ensuring a quality software product is delivered and maintained. Being a practitioner in the use of technologies and tools, evaluating and adopting those appropriate for the environment. Our tech stack includes C# with .NET 4.8, Python, Node, Javascript/TypeScript, React and Golang. Building infrastructure as code through Terraform; CI/CD using Azure DevOps and Concourse. Supporting an environment where continuous or on demand delivery can be enabled if needed by the business, using effective delivery and deployment techniques. Maintaining and supporting services, identifying, locating and competently fixing faults, and taking pro-active actions to avoid service disruption. Sharing knowledge of tools and techniques; identifying and sharing good practices and collaborating to improve the capability of the team. Person specification Essential Skills Criteria Programming and build (software engineering) (Practitioner) Collaborates with others when necessary to review specifications and uses these agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium to high complexity, using the right standards and tools. Contributes to code reviews and gives constructive feedback to others. Systems Design (Practitioner) - Designs systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact and business or technical complexity. Selects appropriate design standards, methods and tools and ensures they are applied effectively. Reviews the systems designs of others to ensure selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology. Communicating with business and technical colleagues to understand the bigger picture in order to elicit requirements. Functional and non-functional testing (Practitioner) Able to design, implement and execute a wide range of functional and non-functional testing techniques. Able to effectively communicate test results to both technical and non-technical stakeholders. Able to make decisions on running types of, and environments for testing. Able to raise defects with the business and help prioritise them based on defect severity. Able to think outside the box, ask the right questions and critically evaluate findings. Leads investigative work into problems and opportunities with existing processes, driving the collection of information and creation of recommendations for improvements. Can absorb large amounts of conflicting information and use it to determine solutions. Modern Standards Approach (Expert) Strong understanding and application of the most appropriate modern standards and practices. Takes responsibility for developing and refining standards and coaching and guiding others. Service Support (Practitioner) - Identifies, locates, and competently fixes faults. Able to investigate undocumented issues and develop fixes. Can triage issues and build stories for more involved issues, document processes and support more junior colleagues Behaviours We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process: Changing and Improving Managing a Quality Service Delivering at Pace Technical skills We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process: Programming and Build (Practitioner) Function and non functional testing (Practitioner) Service Support (Practitioner) Communication between technical and non technical (Practitioner) Benefits Alongside your salary of £43,013, Office for National Statistics contributes £12,460 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides. The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our 5400 valued colleagues across the business. Whether you are hearing about us for the first time or already know a bit about our organisation, we hope that the benefits pack attached (bottom of page) will give you a great insight into the benefits and facilities available to our colleagues, and our fantastic working culture. This role is part of the cross-government Government Digital and Data (formerly DDaT) profession framework. As a role within Government Digital and Data (formerly DDaT) at the ONS, we also offer benefits such as: Protected Learning Time to spend on your personal development and side-projects. A supportive and active Community of Practice which you will be expected to contribute to, helping ensure you and your colleagues get the training, development and opportunities you need to progress your careers. We are committed to supporting our peoples wellbeing by offering flexible ways of working that support a healthy work life balance. We are happy to explore opportunities with you about working flexibly in line with our hybrid working policies. Inclusion & Accessibility At ONS we're always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader were committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process. As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance. If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist. Things you need to know Selection process details This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills. Security Clearance For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected. If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn. At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence: Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records) UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency Security Services records Applicant Support All applicants will have access to AI resources, it is therefore important to remember these tools, although helpful in streamlining the writing process, cannot fully understand the organisational context, or requirements for the role you are applying for. To maintain authenticity and credibility of the application process, should you choose to use generative AI tools, you need to ensure the information you provide in your supporting evidence accurately reflects your skills, knowledge, and experience. ONS does not advocate relying solely on generative AI to write your application. Doing so may negatively impact your chances of success during the selection process. If you are invited to interview, please be aware the use of AI tools is prohibited and any suspected use may result in the termination of your interview and subsequent withdrawal from the campaign. Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes. Stage 1 Application & Sift Assessment at application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience, CV and personal statement. Your application should be tailored to highlight and demonstrate any skills, knowledge and experience that are relevant to the role. Your personal statement should be no longer than 1250 words. You should use this space to provide evidence for each essential and technical skills criteria within the person specification. As the criteria are scored, we would recommend that you give clear examples for each including the impact of your actions and set them out using the STAR acronym (Situation, Task, Action, Result). Success Profiles Behaviour examples are not required at this stage. In cases where there is a high number of applications the sift pass mark may be adjusted and candidates will be invited to interview in merit order, i.e. those scoring the highest. Stage 2 Interview Should you be invited to interview, you will be assessed using various assessment techniques aligned to the Civil Service Success Profiles framework, covering all the behaviours listed in the job advert and the required technical skills. More details on technical assessment criteria can be found within the role profile attached. Further information will be provided to successful candidates prior to interview. A presentation may be required at interview. Further information will be provided to shortlisted candidates prior to interview. A reserve list may be held for a period up to 12 months from which further appointments may be made. Important Dates Sift date: From 31/1/2025 Interview dates: From 13/2/2025 Dates subject to change. For the full terms and conditions of the post, please see attachment below. ONS Software Engineer role profile document attached below. Further information about skill levels for the Government Digital and Data roles available on Government Digital and Data pages of www.gov.uk - Government Digital and Data profession capability framework. This role falls within the remit of the Government Digital and Data Pay Framework (formerly known as DDaT) that was introduced at the Office for National Statistics from May 2022. This means that in the event that you are successful at interview, your starting salary will be calculated based on the scores achieved during the Technical section of the interview. Full feedback will be provided to you at the point of offer. Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window). See our vetting charter (opens in a new window). People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Nationality requirements This job is broadly open to the following groups: UK nationals nationals of the Republic of Ireland nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window). The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. Diversity and Inclusion 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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window). Apply and further information This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records. Contact point for applicants Job contact : Name : Government Digital and Data Recruitment Team Email : Government-Digital-and-Data-Recruitmentons.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : Government-Digital-and-Data-Recruitmentons.gov.uk Further information If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact recruitment.complaintsons.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission here Attachments 2424 ONS Recruitment Benefits Pack Update v4-00 Opens in new window (pdf, 1345kB) ONS_External_Vacancy_Terms - (1) Opens in new window (pdf, 37kB) Software_Engineer_Role_Profile Opens in new window (pdf, 214kB) Share this page Print Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn GMail