Mobile Developer

Job description

You’ll join the GOV.UK App programme as a mobile developer, helping a growing team to deliver a personalised, proactive government experience to UK citizens.

You’ll build and maintain either the GOV.UK iOS or Android application, as part of a multidisciplinary team. The apps are native, written in Swift and Kotlin and use UIKit, SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose

As a mobile developer in GDS, you’ll:

• work as part of a multi-disciplinary agile team, getting involved with every part of the lifecycle of the application, from user research to releasing and monitoring the application
• build accessible apps, taking responsibility for the quality of code you produce
• build automated tests to maintain software quality
• share knowledge of tools and techniques with your wider team, both developers and non-developers
• support the live operation of the services we run, and participate in out-of-hours support rotas where necessary - you'll be paid an allowance, and a further hourly payment, for any duties you perform when on call
• be involved in helping recruit developers and, where appropriate, helping sift and interview
• provide technical leadership within team, advising and working with developers to identify the best solutions
• take responsibility for developing others, through line management and/or mentoring
• take responsibility for solving complex issues

You’ll share the responsibility for the digital transformation of the government. You’ll ensure high quality code is delivered in line with programme goals and delivery cycles. You’ll thrive using agile methods and enjoy working openly, collaboratively and as part of a multidisciplinary team focused on one or more services. Above all, you’ll want to make the government better, which may sometimes involve challenging the status quo.

Person specification

The skills we would expect a Developer to have: 

• experience in relevant native mobile application development, with detailed knowledge of the Swift or Kotlin ecosystem, and familiarity with SwiftUI or Jetpack compose
• be familiar with modern accessibility standards and WCAG guidelines
• have familiarity with Apple Human Interface Guidelines and App Store Review Guidelines
• familiarity with modern software development approaches such as automated testing, test-driven development (TDD), continuous integration, pair programming, code review and version control
• have experience working in a collaborative environment, and an understanding of the benefits of agile and multi-disciplinary approaches

Benefits

There are many benefits of working at GDS, including:

• flexible hybrid working with flexi-time and the option to work part-time or condensed hours
• a Civil Service Pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days of annual leave, increasing by a day each year up to a maximum of 30 days
• an extra day off for the King’s birthday
• an in-year bonus scheme to recognise high performance
• career progression and coaching, including a training budget for personal development
• a focus on wellbeing with access to an employee assistance programme
• job satisfaction from making government services easier to use and more inclusive for people across the UK
• advances on pay, including for travel season tickets
• death in service benefits
• cycle to work scheme and facilities
• access to an employee discounts scheme
• 10 learning days per year
• volunteering opportunities (5 special leave days per year)
• access to a suite of learning activities through Civil Service learning

Any move to Government Digital Service 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 

Office attendance
The Department operates a discretionary hybrid working policy, which provides for a combination of working hours from your place of work and from your home in the UK. The current expectation for staff is to attend the office or non-home based location for 40-60% of the time over the accounting period.
DSIT does not normally offer full home working (i.e. working at home); but we do offer a variety of flexible working options (including occasionally working from home).

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:

• a simple application screening process - We only ask for a CV and cover letter of up to 750 words. Important tip - please ensure that your cover letter includes how you meet the skills and experience listed in the “person specification” section above
• A 20 minute telephone interview 
• a 60 minute interview, including a 45 minute pair programming technical exercise - you'll work with a GDS engineer to solve a self-contained programming problem given to you in writing. You'll be asked to discuss the problem with the GDS engineer, devise a plan for solving it, and then to write code to solve the problem. As well as your programming and unit testing skills we'll be evaluating how you communicate and collaborate, and how you break down the problem. You'll use your own development environment for this (conducted over video conferencing)
• a 1 hour face-to-face interview (conducted over video conferencing)

Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.

In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:

• experience in relevant native mobile application development, with detailed knowledge of the Swift or Kotlin ecosystem, and familiarity with SwiftUI or Jetpack compose

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 technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.

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

• working together
• changing and improving
• making effective decisions
• communicating and influencing
• delivering at pace

We’ll also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the software developer role: 

• Availability and capacity management
• Information security
• Modern development standards
• Programming and build (software engineering)
• User focus

Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here

Recruitment Timeline

Sift completion: 8th April 2026

Phone screen: From 15th April

Tech tests: From 22nd April

Panel interviews: From 29th April

Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.

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

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.

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.

For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.

Sponsorship

DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.