Scala Developer - Home Office - SEO

Location

Croydon CR0 2WF

About the job

Job summary

We are looking for people who are passionate about Engineering to join our community led team in Shared Applications Service (SAS). You will work in agile multidisciplinary teams with over 200 engineers in a modern cloud environment using the latest technologies. Our purpose as a team is to bring technical understanding in-house for over 600 Home Office applications. 

You could be creating and maintaining some of the most critical public services in the United Kingdom and transforming how we use data and technology to improve these. We are responsible for designing, building and supporting solutions for citizens and Home Office teams. You could also be working on critical IT systems that support policing and counter terrorism, which helps protect UK borders. 

Where business needs allow some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and home-based working. Where this is the case, employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in the office. 

Watch this short video to hear from members of Home Office Digital talking about the projects they work on and their experience of working here: Working for Home Office Digital. 

Job description

The Developer works on software components that form part of a product. You will be involved in designing, running and improving software that meets user needs. 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.

Tools and Technologies we use: 

We are keen for Engineers to continue learning new technologies, we have a large range in the Home Office including: 

• Backend: Java, Node.js, C#, Python, PHP, Scala, Power platform 
• Frontend: React, JavaScript, Typescript, Angular  
• Data: PostgreSQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Mongodb, Apache Cassandra  
• DevOps: AWS, Kubernetes, Azure, Jenkins, Docker, Ansible, Terraform
• AI: Azure ML Studio, Python, Github Copilot, OpenAI

Person specification

Main responsibilities 

• Delivering secure, reliable and scalable software in your team; undertaking a breadth of development tasks.
• Designing new software using appropriate tools and in line with standards, proving designs through prototyping.
• Reporting on system performance and supporting test activities; keeping documentation up to date.
• Supporting services you have delivered through regular maintenance activities, balancing your work with your leadership.
• Working with other engineers to deliver new capability, for instance improved CI/CD pipelines or test approaches.

Essential skills 

• Ability to design modular, secure, and maintainable Scala components using recognised design principles and tools, validating designs through prototyping and ensuring compatibility with Play Framework architecture. (SWDN) (Lead essential criteria) 
• Experience developing reliable Scala and Play Framework applications, writing clean, idiomatic code, and following best practices for collaborative development and CI/CD workflows. (PROG)
• Skilled in creating and executing automated tests for applications (unit, integration, end-to-end) using ScalaTest and Mockito to ensure code quality and correctness. (TEST) 
• Capable of integrating Play Framework services with external systems via REST APIs, managing HTTP clients and JSON serialization/deserialization securely and efficiently, and contributing to build and deployment automation through CI/CD pipelines. (SINT) 
• Knowledge of managing and validating data in applications, including working with relational and NoSQL databases, implementing data access layers, and ensuring data integrity. (DATM) 
• Able to support and maintain applications post-deployment, including troubleshooting, performance monitoring, optimizing application responsiveness, and applying regular updates to keep services reliable. (ASUP) 

SFIA capability framework 

Skills for the Information Age (SFIA) is the technical framework that sets the standard capability and development of all levels in the Home Office. This is a link to the capability framework:  All skills A - Z English (sfia-online.org). 

We use set SFIA technical skills to form our interview questions and we will assess you against these technical skills during the selection process. 

The essential skills listed above are reflective of the Home Office Government Digital and Data Profession Career Framework (based on the industry standard SFIA framework).  Use the SFIA levels of responsibility to understand what would be expected for each technical skills listed below.