Senior Frontend Developer (i.AI) - CO - G7

Job summary

About the team

Government must seize the opportunity of AI to drive outcomes in the public interest. This is of critical importance now. Government needs innovation and must not sleep on the opportunity presented by AI to drive better services for taxpayers and citizens. 

In November 2023, the creation of the incubator for AI (i.AI) was announced, and following early successes, the team was expanded in March 2024. Our mission is to harness the opportunity of AI to improve lives, drive growth, and deliver better public services. This is an AI product team that focuses on delivery of technical solutions to public service challenges, responding to ministerial steers about priorities and driving impact out into departments from the centre. 

i.AI delivers high impact products and is mission-led, delivering value and innovation within government. We are able to move fast and build things, and are set up specifically to pivot quickly towards priority use cases, and re-use technologies for future impact. 

You can see more about our work on ai.gov.uk  and on LinkedIn. We work in the open and our code can be found here: https://github.com/i-dot-ai 

The Incubator for Artificial Intelligence (i.AI) will be moving to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to form part of the new digital centre of government. If offered the position, you will be onboarded to, and initially employed by, the Cabinet Office, but will move with us to DSIT under the machinery of government change. This is expected to happen in April 2025, but this date is subject to change. If shortlisted, the hiring panel will be happy to answer any questions you might have. You're also welcome to reach out to us at i-dot-ai-recruitment@cabinetoffice.gov.uk  

Our team is based across Bristol, Manchester and London, and we work in a hybrid manner as default. A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace, although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance. We will consider part-time and flexible working arrangements - we encourage you to discuss your needs with the hiring manager if you are offered the role.

Job description

About the role

Alongside AI engineering, software engineering is the core technical discipline in the Incubator. Whilst AI engineers focus on the implementation and evaluation of machine learning and LLM technology, software engineers, including frontend developers, are responsible for integrating that technology into working software that delights users and delivers against well-defined metrics.

Frontend engineers collaborate with AI engineers to deliver working code from development to production, taking responsibility for the creation, testing and deployment of user interfaces using standard web technologies. They champion usability, accessibility and simplicity in frontend engineering.

Information session

To give you an idea of working in i.AI and to answer any questions you might have, we encourage you to attend our information session on Tuesday 29th October at 15:00. Please email us at i-dot-ai-recruitment@cabinetoffice.gov.uk and we'll send you a link to join.

Role Responsibilities

• Delivering clean, semantic HTML, CSS and JavaScript to support high-quality, accessible user experiences.
• Advocating for progressive enhancement, ensuring that applications work across a range of devices.
• Quickly delivering prototype code to support user research.
• Using your experience working with different frontend technologies to help the team make decisions about which technologies to adopt.
• Sharing your knowledge via activities like pair programming.
• Advocating for coding standards and good practices, especially for JavaScript.
• Supporting the effective management and performance of the team by promoting diversity, inclusion, regular, honest and constructive feedback, and supporting continuous improvement.

Person specification

Essential skills:

• Excellent grasp of HTML, CSS and the fundamentals of JavaScript.
• Experience delivering frontend code to production in a multidisciplinary team.
• Proficient with the core technical tools for frontend development.
• Experience working with design systems such as the GOV.UK Design System.
• Working knowledge of web application security and accessibility standards (OWASP, WCAG).
• Writing accessible code following a progressive enhancement approach.
• Ability to collaborate with software engineers, designers and non-technical stakeholders to ensure that the team’s work meets requirements.
• Able to prototype rapidly in code, for example using tools such as the GOV.UK prototype kit.
• Proactive in learning new skills and keeping up to date with the constantly changing landscape of frontend development

Experience of any of the following would be beneficial, though all we require is an interest in developing these skills in post:

• Experience working with products that have an AI component, such as chat interfaces.
• Experience building apps and services using server-side JavaScript runtimes such as Node.js.
• Proficiency with the wider ecosystem of frontend tools, such as linters, module bundlers and preprocessors.
• Python, which we use for our backend services.

Strong candidates come from many different backgrounds, and we encourage a broad range of applications to ensure we have a well-balanced team. Studies show that talented people, especially those from groups underrepresented in their field, are more likely to doubt themselves and feel like an "imposter". Unique perspectives enrich teams, so we urge you to have confidence in your potential contributions. If aspects of this role resonate with you, please apply. We look forward to your application.

Additional information:

A minimum 60% of your working time should be spent at your principal workplace. Although requirements to attend other locations for official business will also count towards this level of attendance.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Seeing the Big Picture
• Working Together
• Delivering at Pace

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Technical assessment at interview 1

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,403, Cabinet Office contributes £16,050 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

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.

Application process

As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and a 750 word personal statement. Please ensure that your personal statement includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “essential skills” section above. At this stage we will assess experience and essential skills.

Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the personal statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be invited to undertake a technical assessment. 

The technical assessment will be a pair coding exercise taking 1.5 hours. You will be given a task and asked to share your screen while you create the answer using your coding skills. There will also be some technical questions to test your knowledge. 

If successful at technical assessment, you will be invited to attend a panel interview, during which you will be asked to bring your CV to life through questions based on your experience. You might consider preparing your examples in the STAR format. We will also be asking questions around the behaviours outlined above, as well as technical questions relating to the essential criteria.

In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. We’ll be assessing your experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours: 

• Seeing the big picture
• Working together
• Delivering at pace

Expected timeline (subject to change)
Expected sift date – TBC
Expected interview date/s – TBC
Interview location - Your interview will either be conducted face to face or by video. You will be notified of the location if you are selected for interview.

Reasonable Adjustment

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 Government Recruitment Service via cabinetofficerecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. 

Complete the ‘Assistance required’ 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. 

If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out. 

Further information
If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any of the attachments, please contact the email address in the 'contact point for applicants' section.

Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years’ UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.

Please note terms and conditions are attached. Please take time to read the document to determine how these may affect you.

Any move to Cabinet Office 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

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.

Near miss offers may be made at a lower grade to candidates who do not meet the grade criteria for this campaign.

In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.

However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. 

For further information on National Security Vetting please visit the following page https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/demystifying-vetting

New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.

Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. 

A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government.

Existing Civil Servants and applicants from accredited NDPBs are eligible to apply, but will only be considered on loan basis (Civil Servants) or secondment (accredited NDPBs). Prior agreement to be released on a loan basis must be obtained before commencing the application process. In the case of Civil Servants, the terms of the loan will be agreed between the home and host department and the Civil Servant. This includes grade on return.

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.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.