Head of Platform Development - Maritime and Coastguard Agency - G7

Location

Southampton

About the job

Job summary

Can you provide senior technical leadership for Microsoft Power Platform, Dynamics 365 and modern software development?

Do you enjoy building high-performing technical teams, setting clear standards and driving continuous improvement?

Have you led platform development, governance or assurance across internal teams and third-party suppliers?

If so, we’d love to hear from you!

The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is seeking a Head of Platform Development to join our Digital and Technology Directorate. MCA is an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport, delivering statutory functions as flag, port and coastal State and supporting search and rescue, environmental protection and major maritime incident response. The Digital and Technology Directorate brings together digital, data and technology capabilities to design, build, operate and assure the systems and services that support MCA’s operational responsibilities. This role sits within the platform development team, leading the Agency’s software and platform development capability across Microsoft Power Platform, Dynamics 365, Foundry, operational AI and Copilot technologies. You will help shape technical strategy, strengthen governance and assurance, and build a high-performing team delivering secure, scalable and user-centred digital services.

Joining our department comes with many benefits, including:

• Employer pension contribution of 28.97% of your salary. Read more about Civil Service Pensions here
• 25 days annual leave, increasing by 1 day each year of service (up to a maximum of 30 days annual leave), plus 8 bank holidays and a privilege day for the King’s birthday
• Flexible working options where we encourage a great work-life balance.

Read more in the Benefits section below!

Find out more about what it's like working at: Maritime and Coastguard Agency - Department for Transport Careers

Job description

As the Head of Platform Development, you will provide senior technical and strategic leadership for MCA’s software platforms and services. You will lead the Platform Development team, set development and assurance standards, and shape delivery across Microsoft Power Platform, Dynamics 365, Foundry, operational AI and Copilot technologies, ensuring solutions are secure, scalable, maintainable and aligned to MCA priorities and government digital standards.  On the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework, this role is mapped to the role of Software Developer on level: Lead Developer - Management. 

Your responsibilities will include, but aren’t limited to:

• Leading MCA’s platform and software development strategy across internal and supplier-delivered solutions.
• Providing technical leadership across Power Platform and Dynamics 365.
• Define an approach to Microsoft Foundry and Copilot Studio Development.
• Defining and maintaining development, testing, release, integration and assurance standards.
• Building and leading a strong platform engineering capability, supporting recruitment, development and succession planning.
• Overseeing governance, quality standards and proportionate assurance processes across platform development.
• Owning the governance framework for citizen-developed Power Platform solutions, ensuring that makers across the Agency can innovate safely within clear standards, controls and support models.
• Assuring third-party developed systems, including design review, standards compliance and readiness for live service.
• Acting as technical authority for complex or high-risk development and integration initiatives.
• Building strong relationships with Digital, Architecture, Security, Commercial, operational teams and suppliers.

Great line management is important to us as an organisation, and we will equip and support line managers to develop the skills they need. We aim to empower line managers to create teams where people can flourish and deliver excellent outcomes for the public. 

For further information on the role, please read the role profile. Please note that the role profile is for information purposes only - whilst all elements are relevant to the role, they may not all be assessed during the recruitment process. This job advert will detail exactly what will be assessed during the recruitment process.

Person specification

To be successful in this role you will need to have the following experience:

Technical Skill

• Extensive experience with Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365, including enterprise‑scale implementation and operation.
• Strong understanding of Dataverse, integrations, and end‑to‑end software and platform lifecycle management, including design, build, release and live service.
• Good working knowledge of C# and .NET based development, with demonstrable experience providing technical leadership, governance and design assurance for bespoke or supplier built digital systems, including APIs, services and Dynamics 365 plugins, through the review of solutions, design documentation, standards compliance and readiness for live service.
• Strong Agile delivery skills, including coaching, technical leadership and assurance across multidisciplinary teams and mixed delivery models (internal and supplier‑led).
• Ability to define and enforce development standards, architectural patterns and technical guardrails across multiple teams and third-party suppliers.
• Appreciation of AI/ML systems, generative AI, and/or agentic AI frameworks and tooling.

Leadership & Management Experience

• Proven experience leading technical teams or platform engineering functions, influencing senior stakeholders to drive organisational change while building sustainable internal capability and thriving communities of practice.

Governance & Quality

• Experience designing or running governance frameworks, quality assurance processes, or Centre of Excellence-based governance structures.
• Awareness of data, security and compliance standards relevant to enterprise platforms.

Desirable Certifications

You may hold or be willing to work towards the following (or equivalent) qualifications:

• MB-910 Dynamics 365 (CRM) Fundamentals
• MB-230 Dynamics 365 Customer Service
• PL-900 Power Platform Fundamentals
• PL-200 Power Platform Functional Consultant
• AZ-900 / AZ-200 Azure Fundamentals
• AZ-204 Developing Solutions for Microsoft Azure (or equivalent experience of governing C# / .NET-based solutions)