Developer (Innovation) - HO - SEO
Government Digital & Data -
Location
Manchester M5 3LZ, Sheffield S3 8NU, Croydon CR0 2WF, Liverpool L3 9BP, Southport PR8 6DA
About the job
Job summary
Home Office Government Digital and Data designs, builds and develops services for the rest of the department and for government. Every year our systems support up to 3 million visa applications, checks on 100 million border crossings, up to 8 million passport applications and deliver 140 million police checks on people, vehicles, and property.
The Developer works on software components that form part of Digital Innovation Lab experimentation work. You will be involved in designing, running and improving software leveraging emerging technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. You will typically work under the guidance of senior colleagues in your team.
You will work to our technical standards writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach, ensuring the code is open as far as possible and can be re-used.
Job description
Transform Government with AI
Help deliver the UK government's AI vision while transforming the Home Office. Our Automation and Innovation portfolio is implementing the Government's Generative AI Framework, turning technological potential into reality.
National Scale Impact
Our work spans Border Security, Immigration, Asylum case management and Counter-Terrorism operations, developing technology that reunites families, creates safer communities, protects vulnerable people, and improves UK travel experiences.
Public Sector Innovation at Pace
We have delivered millions in efficiency savings through automation, allowing colleagues to focus on complex human-centred work. Our solutions create meaningful improvements in public service delivery.
Join Our Team
Join us to help pioneer new approaches and tackle diverse challenges that rarely exist in one organisation, to:
- Prototype, design and develop solutions that improve lives.
- Work with an exceptional range of AI and automation technologies.
- Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams and technical experts.
- Develop your skills at the forefront of public sector innovation.
If you're passionate about using technology to create tangible change at an unparalleled scale and pace, we want you on our team. Join us and use cutting-edge technology to help build a Home Office fit for the future - where innovation delivers real-world impact every single day.
What you will do
Your main day to day responsibilities will be:
- Applying a continuous learning approach to develop knowledge on emerging technology, staying up-to-date and relevant to the demands of the organisation.
- Delivering secure, reliable and scalable software for prototypes and proof-of-concepts; undertaking a breadth of development tasks.
- Designing new software using appropriate tools and in line with standards, proving designs through prototyping.
- Capturing your approach, reporting on progress and outcomes; keeping documentation up to date.
- Providing advice and guidance as your solutions progress through into delivery, balancing your work with your leadership.
- Working with other engineers to assess and evaluate new technologies or approaches.
Like many organisations we need to maintain our services 24/7, therefore, on occasions there may be a requirement to work out of hours, for which you will be paid an additional allowance.
Person specification
UK residency and security requirements - You need to have lived in the UK for the past 5 years.
Essential Criteria
You’ll be a self-starter with a demonstrable passion for innovating with new technology, with the following skills or some previous experience in:
- Evaluating emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) and highlighting risks and trade-offs.
- Researching emerging technologies to ensure that any risks or trade-offs, e.g. security or privacy concerns, are factored into all Innovation Lab activities and form part of handovers into delivery.
- Proven experience in building AI/ML prototypes or proof-of-concepts to demonstrate art-of-the-possible and inform stakeholder decisions. Skilled in Python, JavaScript, or similar languages.
- Applying agreed standards and tools to produce clear, well-documented code for hand-over to delivery teams, providing support throughout the lifecycle.
- Designing test approach for prototypes, ensuring test data used is representative, especially for use of AI/ML solutions, creating synthetic test data where appropriate.
- Assessing the quality and integrity of all data sources, demonstrating application of ethical principles when proposing use of artificial intelligence.
- Rapidly develop functional AI prototypes by integrating LLMs, APIs, and data sources, using lightweight CI/CD pipelines to automate demos and enable secure cloud-based experimentation.
SFIA capability framework
Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all engineering levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework: All skills A–Z — English (sfia-online.org)
SFIA levels of responsibility – Use the SFIA Levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each Technical Skill listed below.
SFIA Technical Skills
The essential technical skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework. Please see below for the relevant skills required for your role.
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Software design (SWDN) - Level 3
- Programming/software Development (PROG) - Level 3
- Testing (TEST) - Level 3
- Systems integration and build (SINT) - Level 3
- Data management (DATM) - Level 3
- Application support (ASUP) - Level 3
