Defence Business Services Senior Software Developer - MoD - SEO

Are you a dedicated person who is passionate about making a difference?

Would you like to work for the Ministry of Defence? 

Defence Business Services (DBS) is one of the largest shared service organisations in Europe that provides a wide range of corporate services, to over 1.2 million end users, including serving and past military and families, as well as MoD civil servants and industry. DBS delivers large scale administration and smaller specialist services to enable the wider MOD to focus on its core aims, maintaining the UK’s Defence and Security. Services include Human Resources, Pay, Veterans, Finance and Procurement.

• Our vision - To support UK defence customers with outstanding service every time.
• Our Mission - Together we will proudly support Defence, continuously improving and delivering flexible, timely, sustainable and value for money services that underpin the whole force and enhance operational capability. 

DBS is committed to creating a great place to work for all our colleagues. We are building an inclusive culture and respectful environment that reflects the diversity of the society. 

We want to maximise the potential of everyone who chooses to work for us through opportunities to develop your skills and experience. We also offer a range of flexible working patterns and support to make a fulfilling career accessible to you and offer a Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%. Where your role permits, we support a blended working approach alternatively known as hybrid working.

DBS has recently undertaken a review of its operational locations in the North West, and have consolidated all activities in Norcross, Blackpool. A further move, to the new Government Hub at Talbot Gateway in Blackpool, is scheduled to take place in 2026. 

Come and join the DBS community today!

Job description

In this role, you will be responsible for writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach. You will create code that is open by default and easy for others to reuse. You will be able to integrate APIs such as gov.uk/pay and gov.uk/notify and develop services in line with the Government Digital Service Standard. You will test and document code releases and support the team at GDS Service Assessments. 

• Learn on the job while delivering software components.
• Collaborate with others (service manager, technical architects, design team) to understand and review software requirements.
• You can design, code, test, correct and document user interfaces using the right standards and tools.
• Work with JavaScript, TypeScript, Express, TypeORM, Postgres, Nunjucks, Jinja2.
• Keep the service and project managers informed of the status of development / service support. Find ways to improve system robustness, resilience and stability.
• Maintain and support open Gitlab repositories.
• Deploy and Manage code changes, as well as other DevOps tasks.
• Manage Amazon Web Service storage,  domain naming services and DynamoDB.   

Person specification

Essential skills and experience:

• User focus Level: practitioner

You can:

•    collaborate with user researchers and can represent users internally
• explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user
• champion user research to focus on all users
• prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others in doing so
•    offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use

• Systems design. Level Practitioner

You can: 

•    design systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact, and business or technical complexity
• select appropriate design standards, methods and tools, and ensure they are applied effectively
•    review the systems designs of others to ensure the selection of appropriate technology, efficient use of resources and integration of multiple systems and technology

Programming and Build (Software Engineering) Level Practitioner

You can:

•    collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications
•    use the agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium-to-high complexity, using the right standards and tools

Information Security – Level: Practitioner

You can:

•    design solutions and services with security controls included, specifically engineered to mitigate security threats

Behaviours

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

• Leadership
• Communicating and Influencing

Technical skills

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

• DDAT Software Developer: User Focus
• DDAT Software Developer: Programming and Build (Software Engineering)
• DDAT Software developer: Systems Design
• DDAT Software Developer: Information Security

To find out more about the role, requirements and to apply, please click apply to submit your application through Civil Service Jobs.