Senior Front-End Developer

This role may be located in one of the following locations; Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Sheffield. Please find further information on the Corporate hub locations here. Please note that for candidates requesting to work in Newcastle, the role will initially be based at Benton Park View. It will then move to 1 Pilgrim Place in Newcastle city centre by the end of 2027 Job Summary Are you an advocate and an expert Front-End Developer? Capable of leading the development of products that help other teams design and deliver services? We’re recruiting senior Front-End Developers to be part of both our amazing team(s) and community. The 2022-25 DWP Digital Strategy "Our Digital Future" identified the Design System as a key product in delivering our goals. The DWP Design System helps to deliver consistent customer and colleague experiences faster and with less rework, by codifying design standards into reusable interface patterns. We are looking for passionate experts in Front-End development to support and lead the build across many of our Front- End systems. The role extends beyond expert technical knowledge to encompass effective communication and advocacy, driving adoption of best practice design. As a Senior Front-End Developer, you will share your expert knowledge and experience with the team to lead delivery and provide frontend leadership. Job Description Our Senior Front-End Developers are experts in Front-End development, with proven experience in the design and build of software products at scale. You will:  Lead and promote the technical direction and development of reusable patterns and components. Release, maintain and support the deployment of products and code packages. Ensure we developer accessible user interfaces for DWP services which work effectively across multiple devices and browsers. Input into, promote and ensure design standardisation processes. Coach and mentor colleagues. Engage with teams across different levels and capabilities. Be an enabler for multiple teams, driving consistency, standards, pace and quality, resolving technical blockers, and promoting re-use and collaboration through the wider communities. Engage with and contribute to the engineering and user-centred design communities. Have an excellent ability to self-organise and define priorities. Use modern tooling and development techniques to write and share test-driven code iteratively delivering. Work with cross-functional teams to integrate into the back-end services to ensure that they are built to the same high standards. Have strong knowledge of modern web development stacks, web standards, user experience, progressive enhancement, performance, accessibility, browser compatibility, tooling and pipelines. Responsible for ensuring the design system team are adhering to WCAG 2.2 AA standards. Responsible for driving the building, maintaining and sharing of reusable libraries of Front-end code. Responsible for taking a leading role contributing to cross-government code libraries. Accountable for Identifying and understanding technical and business constraints, and ensuring that Front-end Developers works within them whilst contributing back to and driving change within existing government frameworks. As part of the role, you may be required to travel regularly to the other digital hubs. The frequency of this will be discussed further should you be successful.  Our Senior Front-End Developers are experts in Front-End development, with proven experience in the design and build of software products at scale. You will:  Lead and promote the technical direction and development of reusable patterns and components. Release, maintain and support the deployment of products and code packages. Ensure we developer accessible user interfaces for DWP services which work effectively across multiple devices and browsers. Input into, promote and ensure design standardisation processes. Coach and mentor colleagues. Engage with teams across different levels and capabilities. Be an enabler for multiple teams, driving consistency, standards, pace and quality, resolving technical blockers, and promoting re-use and collaboration through the wider communities. Engage with and contribute to the engineering and user-centred design communities. Have an excellent ability to self-organise and define priorities. Use modern tooling and development techniques to write and share test-driven code iteratively delivering. Work with cross-functional teams to integrate into the back-end services to ensure that they are built to the same high standards. Have strong knowledge of modern web development stacks, web standards, user experience, progressive enhancement, performance, accessibility, browser compatibility, tooling and pipelines. Responsible for ensuring the design system team are adhering to WCAG 2.2 AA standards. Responsible for driving the building, maintaining and sharing of reusable libraries of Front-end code. Responsible for taking a leading role contributing to cross-government code libraries. Accountable for Identifying and understanding technical and business constraints, and ensuring that Front-end Developers works within them whilst contributing back to and driving change within existing government frameworks. As part of the role, you may be required to travel regularly to the other digital hubs. The frequency of this will be discussed further should you be successful.  Person specification See selection process for further details. If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact aisha.gultasab@dwp.gov.uk Technical skills We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process: Technical Breadth Alongside your salary of £57,946, Department for Work and Pensions contributes £16,786 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). We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes: Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.Generous annual leave – at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (pro–rata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 year’s continuous service.Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Women’s Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more. Hybrid Working This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert. Salary Information Pay for this role is from £57,946 to £80,664. The maximum salary for the grade is £68,205, however a Digital Allowance of up to £12,459 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed. Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview. Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary. 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 Experience and Technical skills. Stage 1: Application Your Application Will Consist Of Four Parts A Personal Details application form. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed. Personal statement - up to 1000 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria below:Expert knowledge and extensive experience of open-source technologies including HTML, CSS, client and server-side JavaScript, TypeScript, Node. Experience in building accessible compliant user interfaces, WCAG 2.2 compliance and of delivering highly tested, accessible, robust and predictable code.Experience integrating with a wide range of technical systems including back-end systems and able to identify appropriate technology and approaches. Experience of leading the technical direction ensuring quality and consistency whilst promoting standards and best practice. Strong experience leading a multi-disciplinary agile team ensuring quality and consistency whilst promoting standards and best practice as well as creating a coaching and mentor culture. Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of Technical Breadth. This statement should be used to provide example(s) of how you meet the criterion below:Expert in Front-End development of enterprise level, large scale systems and a strong leadership experience. Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide. The sift panel will use the information in your employment history, personal statement, and technical statement to assess your experience, skills and knowledge. An initial sift will be conducted using the technical statement. Candidates who pass the initial sift will be progressed to a full sift. If you do progress to a full sift, you will be provided with one combined overall assessment score for both your employment history and Personal Statement. For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital. Important Information You will be asked to complete your employment history. Any information that you would customarily share on a CV should therefore be entered onto the application form.Personal details that could be used to identify you including your name, contact details and address must be removed for your application to be considered.If your employment history, personal statement or technical statement contain any personal details your application will be withdrawn. Stage 2: Coding Test Candidates who are successful at the sift stage will be sent a coding test to complete remotely. The exercise will focus on the technical elements listed in the Essential Criteria in this advert. Full details will be sent to candidates when the exercise is issued. Candidates will have 7 days to complete the test from the date of receipt. Candidates that are not successful in the technical exercise will not progress to the interview stage. Please add Digital.EngineeringRecruitment@dwp.gov.uk to your safe senders list or monitor your spam folder to ensure safe receipt of the code test via email. The code test must be completed by the candidate using their skillset without using any AI or generative tools. Stage 3: Interview If you’re successful at the coding test, you’ll be invited to a video interview via Microsoft Teams. During the interview, you’ll be assessed against the experience criteria listed under both the essential criteria and technical skill. You will also be asked to review and extend upon your offline coding test. Interviews will take place from mid September 2026. Interview dates to be confirmed. Other Information If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards. All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location. For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed. Further Information At the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce. Find out more about working for DWP on the DWP Careers Hub. Reserve List A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made. If you are placed on a reserve list but we cannot immediately offer you a post, please note: If you are later offered the role you applied for, in a location you have expressed a preference for, and you decline the offer or are unable to take up the post within a reasonable timeframe you will be withdrawn from the campaign and removed from the reserve list, other than in exceptional circumstances (e.g. a contractual Part Time Working Pattern cannot be accommodated in the initial role offered or in cases of serious ill health). If DWP makes an offer of an alternative role or location to that which you originally applied for, and you decline that offer, you will be able to remain on the reserve list. Reasonable Adjustments We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should contact the Government Recruitment Service via DWPRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs. Complete the “Reasonable Adjustments” section in the “Additional requirements” page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional. If you are experiencing accessibility problems with any attachments on this advert, please contact the email address in the 'Contact point for applicants' section. Integrity, plagiarism and Civil Service Principles The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Examples Of Plagiarism Can Include Presenting the work, ideas and experience of others as your own Copying content or answers from an online or published source that is not your own Disclosure and Barring Service and Internal Fraud Database Checks To process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf. However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading. Applicants who are successful at interview will be, as part of pre-employment screening, subject to a check on the Internal Fraud Database (IFD). This check will provide information about employees who have been dismissed for fraud or dishonesty offences. This check also applies to employees who resign or otherwise leave before being dismissed for fraud or dishonesty had their employment continued. Any applicant’s details held on the IFD will be refused employment. A candidate is not eligible to apply for a role within the Civil Service if the application is made within a 5 year period following a dismissal for carrying out internal fraud against government. If successful and transferring from another Government Department, a criminal record check will be carried out. Important New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band. Before applying for this vacancy, current employees of DWP should check whether a successful application would result in changes to their terms & conditions of employment, e.g. mobility, pay, allowances. If you are a current employee and are successful you must be able to be released from your current post within four weeks. Those on protected TUPE/ COSoP terms and conditions applying on promotion or voluntary permanent level move will adopt DWP’s Terms and Conditions and this may have a different impact on pay and allowances. Please review this prior to acceptance of a role. Civil Servants that would transfer into DWP from other government organisations, following successful application, will assume DWP's terms & conditions of employment current on the day they are posted, unless DWP has stated otherwise in writing. Accepting a post will be taken to mean acceptance of revised terms & conditions. Civil Servants applying on promotion will usually be appointed to the salary minimum or within 10% of existing salary. Any move to DWP from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may, however, be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at the Childcare Choices Website. For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page. Feedback Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment. This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills. Security Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks. Successful candidates must undergo a basic (or equivalent) criminal record check. 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 nationalsnationals of the Republic of Irelandnationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UKnationals 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 2020Turkish 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. 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). 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 : Aisha GultasabEmail : aisha.gultasab@dwp.gov.uk Recruitment team Email : dwprecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk Further information Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s 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 DWP by email: HR.BUSINESSASSURANCE@DWP.GOV.UK. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission. Click here to visit the Civil Service Commission.