Details

Reference number

485208

Salary

£63,558 A Recruitment and Retention Allowance (RRA) of up to £10,000 per annum is applicable to this role. It is it is awarded according to a framework of specialist skills, knowledge and experience. Further information can be found in the attached Document Additional Pay Information. A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97% GBP

Job grade

Grade 7 C2

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

UKHO - Technology

Type of role

Information Technology

Knowledge and Information Management

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

Number of jobs available

Location
About the job
Benefits
Things you need to know
Apply and further information

Location

Taunton

About the job

Job summary

As one of our Lead Software Engineers, you will be leading a delivery team of between 6-8 Software and Test Engineers. You will have responsibility for leading the team supporting Critical Business Systems keeping the mariner safe at sea. This role, alongside the delivery manager and product owner, is key to the success of ensuring the systems are maintained, stable and secure.

The work we do really matters to the safety of lives at sea, climate change, environmental management and the ecology of the sea.

As a lead you will be involved in technically leading an Application Support team that owns a number of business critical systems , the work will include dealing with any live incidents, dealing with any security issues, continuous improvement work, and working with other teams/applications that interact with the teams services.

As one of the Lead Engineers, you will also be part of the Technical Leadership group of Engineering, working with the Head of Engineering, helping shape policies and standards and driving the Engineering profession forward.

We encourage and facilitate involvement in wider government, looking at how other Software Engineering depts work and what we can learn from them.

On a personal development level, we have a well-developed framework, access to a whole range of certifications (e.g. we offer all the Microsoft certifications), as well as wider range of other technical and leadership development.

Hybrid working

This job role can be worked on a hybrid basis, which is an informal, non-contractual and voluntary arrangement, working between the office in Taunton and remotely within the UK.

The contractual location for the roles will be our office in Taunton, those individuals who live beyond a reasonable travelling distance from Taunton will be able to work from home unless required to attend the office for in-person events.

For those individuals who live within a reasonable commuting distance of the office, how often individuals attend the office will be agreed on a case by case basis.

Please note there may be occasions when staff are required to travel into the office in Taunton for meetings, however this will be agreed on an individual basis. On these rare occasions the travel and any accommodation would need to be at their own expense.

Part-time hours of 30 hours might be considered for this role.

Job description

Provide technical leadership to an agile team designing and crafting software solutions, utilising methodologies such as unit testing and pair programming. The team will be focussed on developing and enhancing a set of core services, as well as building in resiliency and maintainability.
Coaching and mentoring the delivery team.
Ensure effective use of automated testing and deployment tools to build and support a continuous delivery environment .
Collaborate with others in the development community, identifying good practices we can adopt and sharing our experiences.
Share knowledge of tools and techniques with the wider team.
Continually develop your own skills as part of a programme of continuous professional development.

Person specification

A broad range of software engineering experience, including developing high-quality .NET applications.
Experience with supporting, mentoring and developing software and test engineers, fostering an inclusive and collaborative team environment.
Broad knowledge of design principles and patterns, able to lead the design of systems or components.
A good knowledge of DevOps principles, for example Continuous Integration or Continuous Delivery.

Behaviours

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

Communicating and Influencing
Leadership
Developing Self and Others

Technical skills

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

A broad range of software engineering experience, including developing high-quality .NET applications

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £63,558, UK Hydrographic Office contributes £18,412 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides . At the UK Hydrographic Office, it's very important to us that our people feel valued.

We offer a huge range of benefits such as training and development, well-being support, flexible/ homeworking, a fantastic state of the art building, high spec equipment, and so much more.

See our attached Candidate Information Pack for more details.

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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles , and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to Apply:

When you click "Apply Now" at the bottom of this page, you will be required to attach your anonymised CV, together with a 500 word supporting statement on the experience criteria below.

Timeline:

Advert Closes for applications: 22nd October 2026
Shortlisting: w/c 2nd November 2026
Interviews: w/c 9th November 2026

We will try to meet the dates set out in the advert. There may be occasions when these dates change. You will be provided with sufficient notice of the confirmed dates.

Lead Criteria:

We have identified a lead criterion for this role, which we may use to differentiate between applications in the following scenarios:

To conduct an initial-sift in a high volume of applicants (over 20 applications).
To establish a merit-order in the event of a tie

The lead criteria for this role are identified below.

Sift/Shortlist Criteria:

All applications are processed anonymously. You will be short-listed against the following criteria:

A broad range of software engineering experience, including developing high-quality .NET applications
Experience in providing technical leadership, coaching and supporting engineering teams (lead criteria).

Please ensure that you cover all the above criteria in your CV and 500 word supporting statement.

Interview Criteria:

Experience:

Experience in providing technical leadership, coaching and supporting engineering teams

Technical:

A broad range of software engineering experience, including developing high-quality .NET applications

Civil Service Behaviours (Grade 7):

Communication and Influencing
Leadership
Developing Self and Others

See here for further information: Success Profiles - Civil Service Behaviours (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Process:

Single Stage Interview via TEAMS. You will be contacted to book a suitable slot if you are shortlisted (see our Candidate Pack for further information)
Interview will be with a panel of no more than 3 people and will last approximately 60 minutes.
During the interview, a scenario based question will be asked. More details will be given in the invitation to interview.

Onboarding Checks:

In the event you are offered a role with us, you will be required to go through Basic Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) checks which will include Employment and Right to Work Checks. You will also need to apply for SC (Security Clearance), but you may be able to start your role before gaining this. Please see our attached Candidate Pack for further details and Terms.

Please note, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship.

Residency Requirements:

SC non reserved

This is a Ministry of Defence non-reserved post and although open to UK, British Commonwealth and European Economic Area nationals, successful applicants will require a security clearance (SC) and therefore need to have resided in the UK for a minimum of 12 consecutive months within the last 5 years.

Eligibility

Due to the secure nature of our work, there may be eligibility restrictions if you hold dual nationality or are not a British Citizen. We will consider each application on a case-by-case basis. We will ask you in our application form to confirm your place of birth and details of any dual or previous nationalities.

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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check .

See our vetting charter . People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles . The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

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 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy .

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

Name : recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk
Email : recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk

Further information

Further Information

The Departments recruitment processes are underpinned by the requirement of selection for appointment based on merit, open and fair competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners Recruitment Principles, details of which can be found at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact recruitment.queries@ukho.gov.uk If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can further contact the Civil Service Commission at: civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk or view more details at http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk

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