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Senior Software Developer - Python

Hybrid in London·Added today (last checked 23 Oct)

Department for Business and Trade (DBT)

17 open roles

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Our summary

Salary: £72,732 - £88,423 a year
About £4,400 - £5,150 a month after tax.
Work mode: Hybrid, London
Experience: Senior level
Pension: 28.97% employer pension
Commute: Cycle to work scheme

Skills

The role

Apply before Midday on Monday 9th November 2026

Details

Reference number

487458

Salary

£68,732 - £88,423

London: £72,732 to £88,423 / National: £68,732 - £84,423 (including allowance). Your salary will be determined by your skills and capability as assessed at interview.

A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

GBP

Job grade

Grade 7

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

DBT - CS - Digital, Data and Technology

Type of role

Administration / Corporate Support
Architecture and Data
Digital
Information Technology
Project Delivery

Working pattern

Flexible working, Full-time, Part-time

Number of jobs available

Location

Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Darlington, Edinburgh, London, Manchester

About the job

Job summary

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (BIST) helps businesses invest, innovate, export and grow across the UK. The Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) directorate helps to deliver this by designing, building and running the services, platforms and technology that businesses and colleagues rely on every day.

Our teams work on a wide range of services and technologies, including:

digital services that help businesses access government support, guidance and opportunities
data and AI products that support decision making and enable innovation
internal tools and services that help colleagues work more effectively
secure technology and platforms that support critical government services
cyber security services that protect systems, data and users

By joining DDaT, you'll work on services used by businesses, colleagues and citizens across the UK. You'll be part of multidisciplinary teams focused on improving services, solving complex problems and delivering better outcomes for users.

We are committed to creating an inclusive and supportive workplace. In recognition of this, we were named Best Public Sector Employer at the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2025!

Job description

As a Senior Software Developer, you will play a key role in designing, building and running robust, maintainable software that meets the needs of our users. You will work across the full software development lifecycle, from understanding requirements and shaping technical solutions through to development, deployment and supporting services in production.

Working as part of a multidisciplinary agile team, you will develop a strong understanding of the wider service and use this to solve complex technical problems, improve system reliability and make informed technical decisions. You will work closely with developers, technical architects, designers, user researchers and analysts to turn user needs into practical, high-quality digital solutions.

You will also contribute to our wider engineering culture by reviewing code, sharing knowledge and supporting colleagues. You will help us continually improve how we build and operate software, championing maintainable code, modern development practices and resilient services.

Main responsibilities

You will:

Design, build, test and maintain high-quality software, delivering new functionality and improving existing services in line with agreed architecture and coding standards
Work across the full software development lifecycle, including development, testing, deployment, monitoring and production support
Collaborate with multidisciplinary colleagues to translate user needs and designs into working software, iterating services based on evidence and feedback
Work closely with Technical Architects and other developers to make informed technical decisions and identify appropriate solutions to complex problems
Develop and maintain REST APIs, web applications, microservices and containerised applications
Build a strong understanding of the wider service, including dependencies, data and system interactions, to improve reliability and resolve underlying technical issues
Investigate and resolve live service incidents, identifying root causes and implementing sustainable improvements
Build and maintain continuous integration and deployment pipelines that support reliable software delivery
Review code, share technical knowledge and support colleagues to improve quality and consistency across the team
Contribute to continuous improvement of engineering practices, including exploring and prototyping potential solutions where appropriate

Person specification

It is essential that you have:

Strong experience developing REST APIs and/or web applications using Python and Django, with experience working with SQL (Lead Criteria)
Experience designing, building and supporting microservices and containerised applications using technologies such as Docker
Experience developing web applications using technologies such as JSON, HTML, SCSS and JavaScript, and deploying or supporting services in AWS
Experience working within an agile multidisciplinary team to design, build and iteratively improve digital services based on user needs
Experience building and maintaining continuous integration and deployment pipelines to support reliable software delivery
Experience supporting live services, including identifying, investigating and resolving incidents and implementing improvements to reliability

It is desirable that you have:

Experience of using AI-assisted development tools as part of modern software development practices
Experience using monitoring and observability tools such as Datadog, ELK, Grafana or Splunk

Behaviours

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

Developing Self and Others
Working Together

Technical skills

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

Modern development standards
Programming and build (software engineering)
Service support
Systems design
User focus

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £68,732, Department for Business and Trade contributes £19,911 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

If you join us, you will get:

Learning and development tailored to your role
A flexible, hybrid working environment with options like condensed hours
A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 28.97%
Annual leave starting at 25 days rising to 30 days with service
Three paid volunteering days a year
An employee benefits programme including cycle to work

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 (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

How to apply

As part of the application process you will be asked to upload a two-page CV and complete a 750-word personal statement outlining how you meet the essential skills and experience listed above. You can use bullet points and subheadings if you prefer.

Sift will be from week commencing 9th November 2026

Interviews will be from week commencing 30th November 2026

Please note these dates are indicative and may be subject to change.

If there is a high volume of applications, we will sift looking at the lead criteria 'Strong experience developing REST APIs and/or web applications using Python and Django, with experience working with SQL' only. You may then be progressed to full sift or straight to interview.

How we interview

At the interview stage for this role, you will be asked to demonstrate relevant Technical Skills and Behaviours from the Success Profiles framework. These are role specific and in line with the DDaT Capability Framework

You will also be asked to undergo a technical assessment and will be informed on the topic on the day.

How we offer

Offers will be made in merit order based on location preferences. If you pass the bar at interview but are not the highest scoring you will be held on a 12-month reserve list in case a role becomes available. If you are judged a near miss at interview, you may be offered a post

This role requires SC clearance. BIST's requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years. Failure to meet this requirement will result in your application being rejected and your offer will be withdrawn.

Checks will also be made against:

departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
security services record
location details

More about us

This role can only be worked from within the UK, not overseas. If you are based in London, you will receive London weighting. BIST employees work in a hybrid pattern, spending 2-3 days a week (pro rata) in the office on average. Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by BIST, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.

You can find out more about our office locations, how we calculate salaries, our diversity statement and reasonable adjustments, the Recruitment Principles, the Civil Service code and our complaints procedure in the candidate pack attached to this advert.

Find out more about life at BIST, our benefits and meet the team by watching our video or reading our blog!

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 (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).

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) (opens in a new window)
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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) 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 (opens in a new window).

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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.

The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).

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 : DDaT Recruitment
Email : Ddat.recruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Recruitment team

Email : Ddat.recruitment@businessandtrade.gov.uk

Further information

Our recruitment process is underpinned by the principle of appointment on the basis of fair and open competition and appointment on merit, as outlined in the Civil Service Commissioners' Recruitment Principles. If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with these principles and you wish to make a complaint, you should in the first instance contact DBT by email at Resourcing@trade.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive, you can contact the Civil Service Commission, which regulates all Civil Service recruitment. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: Civil Service Commission Complaints

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About Department for Business and Trade (DBT)

Industry: Government Administration
Website: gov.uk

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