As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is already a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. But it’s where we go next that makes things really interesting. In our strategic vision: Archives for Everyone, we set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring. That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you. Job Overview Salary: £55,549 plus an additional market supplement of £4,451 per annum Contract type: Permanent Band: F / SEO Closing date: Sunday 22nd December at midnight Archives are special. As a home of our collective memory, The National Archives plays a unique role. We hold records of events of national and international importance as well as documents that speak to our everyday lives, over the last one thousand years. We’re looking for an enthusiastic and highly skilled Senior Frontend Developer to help shape and grow our frontend capability. Presenting The National Archives on the web is both challenging and endlessly fascinating, we develop services that work for the user, however complex the underlying systems may be. We believe that ensuring things work for end users is the only way to realise the efficiencies that come with digital transformation. The scale of the collection, diversity of audiences and variety of user needs, makes developing our digital services a challenge like no other. With your excellent coding skills, passion for accessibility and progressive enhancement your job is to ensure standards are defined, maintained and shared to help turn the ambition of being an archive for everyone into a user’s experience. This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department. A combination of onsite and home working is available and applicants should be able to regularly travel to our Kew site for a minimum of 60% of their work time. How to apply: To submit your application please click the 'Apply' button on this page. You will be asked to provide details of your work experience and write a personal statement. In your personal statement please explain, using examples, how you meet the essential criteria in the person specification below. You may draw on knowledge, skills, abilities, experience gained from paid work, domestic responsibilities, education, leisure interests and voluntary activities. Please note selection for interview will largely be based on the information you provide in this section. Job Description Job Purpose The Digital Services team at The National Archives are committed to delivering high quality, innovative, accessible and user centred services to diverse audiences (including government, the public, students and researchers). Working as a senior frontend developer you will have excellent coding skills and a passion for accessibility, usability and progressive enhancement. You will join a team of developers/designers who embrace user centred design, ensuring excellence in the implementation of our services, setting and raising standards, mentoring peers, creating and reviewing code. In this senior role, you will help us grow our digital capability, skills and culture in an open and collaborative environment, engaging widely with internal and external communities to share your expertise and learn from others. You’ll be part of a user centred, creative, motivated digital team who take on challenges and look for opportunities to do things differently. Working with colleagues at all levels; you will help shape ideas, gather requirements, and propose solutions that balance user needs with business goals. Your creativity and experience will be essential to help us shape, design and develop new services. You will be passionate about technology and your own skills development and will thrive in an environment which values and supports continuous learning and empowers staff. You will liaise with technical and accessibility specialists across UK government and beyond, sharing your knowledge, learning from others and raising the profile of our work. Role and Responsibilities Develop high quality HTML, CSS and JavaScript using the software design principle of progressive enhancement to deliver resilient interfaces that work for as many users as possible, regardless of their needs. Use modern language features, libraries, tooling and workflows (Continuous Improvement, Test Driven Development). Ensuring compliance with the GDS Service Manual and Technology Code of Practice. Support production systems, taking ownership of issues through to successful resolution so that the operation and availability of our services is maintained effectively. Actively look for ways to improve system robustness, resilience and stability. Follow and contribute to The National Archives’ development guidelines, design system and component library. Work across multidisciplinary product teams alongside product and delivery managers, user researchers, performance analysts, content and interaction designers, front and back-end developers. Coach and mentor peers. Proactively share your coding expertise with other developers in the team so that we can build our internal capability. Understand the whole system and take responsibility for teaching this to others. Engage actively with Agile working practices and maintain high levels of motivation and performance. Liaise with key stakeholders, building relationships, acting as a strong advocate for TNA’s digital services and ensuring that the needs of the users and the business are met effectively. Working Conditions Normal office environment Display Screen Equipment user Person Specification Essential Criteria: Significant experience coding clear, usable, accessible digital interfaces that work across a range of devices and browsers, which meet the latest WCAG standards at level AA. Excellent skills in the fundamental frontend technologies - HTML, CSS (including pre-processors such as SASS) and JavaScript to create clean code that is open by default and easy for others to reuse. Excellent experience of front-end development in Python using frameworks such as Django and Flask. Modern development approaches including Agile (such as Scrum and Kanban) and Test-Driven development; version control with Git. Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical issues and concepts to non-specialists and to provide advice and guidance based on experience and sound judgment. Work collaboratively in the open and proactively share knowledge. Experience of mentoring, coaching and supporting developers with both technical and non-technical aspects of their career development Excellent ability to analyse and problem solve, understand new concepts and quickly assimilate the details of complex systems. Experience of User Centred Design with the ability to take ideas from concept through to completion to create services which meet user needs in a way that is clear for all audiences. Desirable Criteria: Experience of delivering digital services in accordance with GDS Service Manual and Technology Code of Practice. Good understanding of version control with Git and GitHub. Knowledge of implementing and consuming APIs. Experience of developing applications hosted on Amazon Web Services. DevOps skills including experience of configuring CI/CD pipelines. Understanding of containerisation using Docker and microservice architecture. Data technologies and standards such as JSON, SQL, XSLT, XML Schema with an understanding of data structures including document, graph and relational models. 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. Benefits Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development. Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum. Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ ( opens in new window) Reasonable adjustments If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact The National Archives via careersnationalarchives.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section 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 Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. Security Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. People working with government assets must complete basic personnel security standard checks (opens in new window) 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 new window) Working for the Civil Service The Civil Service Code (opens in 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 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. This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. (opens in new window) Contact point for applicants: Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team Email: careersnationalarchives.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 The National Archives via email: careersnationalarchives.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)