Vacancy -- Lead Developer (Drupal)
Working for the Civil Service
The Welsh Government's recruitment processes are underpinned by the principle of selection for appointment on merit on the basis of fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles.
The Civil Service Code sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
Vacancy Details
Purpose of Post:
Background:
The Welsh Government is the devolved government for Wales with an annual budget of around £15 billion. It is responsible for key aspects of public life in Wales including health, education, the economy, transport, agriculture and the environment.
Welsh Ministers are supported by a workforce of more than 5,000 civil servants with offices in Wales, London, Brussels and overseas.
The Welsh Government is looking to attract people who can provide excellent support and advice, can focus resources and have energy and expertise.
Digital transformation of public services is vital to delivering the services the people of Wales expect and need. Welsh Government currently delivers a number of digital services to people and business across Wales. We also provide information on our websites.
Led by our Chief Digital Officer, the Welsh Government is increasingly delivering more services online.
This role is based in the communications division which is responsible for delivery and oversight of corporate communication platforms which provide information on policies and strategies to citizens and stakeholders.
The Role:
As the Lead Developer you will be responsible for managing the developments for a range of related projects. You will guide the way in which the team works and be proficient in a wide range of technical systems and be able to identify appropriate technology and approaches, deciding when software should be written.
Key tasks:
- Work with colleagues to plan features, upgrades and integrations to deliver user focused customer experiences. Lead development for high profile critical bilingual sites and microsites across multiple domains.
- Translate business problems into technical designs; visualise the ideal user service and explore different approaches to develop solutions to issues and potential design ideas that are fit for purpose.
- Use of modern/industry standards for programming tools and techniques throughout the development and testing lifecycle. Coach and guide others to improve their understanding and knowledge of the standards and maintain technical responsibility for all stages and iterations of a software development project.
- Apply expert technical knowledge and experience to review specifications, and when necessary, collaborate with others such as project team, to design, create, test and document developments.
- Identify, locate and competently fix complex or service affecting faults.
- Establish and coordinate a continuous delivery and continuous integration system to ensure efficient working practices while working in an agile environment so that projects and briefs can be delivered without disruption to live product environments and so maintain an uninterrupted user experience.
- Keep up to date with Drupal security practices and maintain CMS code bases with up to date and relevant patches and updates to ensure the security of codebases.
- Design, implement and manage controls to maintain the security, confidentiality and integrity of information systems through the compliance with relevant regulations, policies and standards.
Development opportunities:
Your role will form part of Welsh Government’s Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) profession. This is a growing profession and you will have the opportunity to be part of shaping and growing it.
We are committed to developing the skills and capability of our staff and encouraging them to use five days of learning a year.
To support this we offer a range of opportunities which could include:
Conferences / Shadowing / Mentoring / Work based learning / qualifications / coaching.
Proactively making links and working with a wide range of Welsh Government teams and external partners including other Governments in the UK.
Closing Date:
Eligibility
Posts recruited to as part of this recruitment campaign are broadly open to UK nationals, those with right to remain and work in the UK and those that meet the Civil Service Nationality Rules only. Check your eligibility here:
Prior to appointment, all successful applicants will be required to produce original, acceptable documents as part of the pre-employment checks. If it becomes apparent at a later stage in the process that you aren’t eligible to apply, your application will be withdrawn, or offer retracted.
Equality and Diversity
The Welsh Government is committed to providing services which embrace diversity and which promote equality of opportunity. This is underpinned by the Equality Act 2010 and will be adhered to at each stage of the recruitment process. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments are also embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners.
We are committed to being an anti-racist organisation and increasing diversity in the Welsh Government by removing barriers and supporting all our staff to reach their potential. We are committed to recruiting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic people and disabled people who are currently under-represented in Welsh Government.
We welcome applications from everyone regardless of age, marriage and civil partnership (both same sex and opposite sex), impairment or health condition, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, gender identity or gender expression.
We are a Stonewall Diversity Champion and a Disability Confident Level 3 (Leader) organisation. Key to supporting this work and providing peer support are five Board sponsored Staff Networks (Disability Awareness and Support (DAAS); Minority Ethnic Support Network (MESN); Mind Matters (Mental health and well-being); PRISM (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex +) and Women Together.
Disability Confident
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Welsh Language Requirements
The Welsh Government is a bilingual organisation and Welsh language skills are considered an asset to the organisation. We encourage and support staff to learn, develop and use their Welsh language skills in the workplace.
The following list of language requirements represents an objective assessment by the line manager on behalf of the Welsh Government of the Welsh language skills required to undertake the duties of this particular post.
Social Partnership
In Welsh Government, the relationship between the employer and trade unions is based on social partnership. We believe our goals can best be achieved by management and trade unions working together.
Our 3 recognised trade unions are:
• PCS
• Prospect
• FDA
This relationship is underpinned by a partnership agreement. This sets out how our unions work with Welsh Government on issues such as:
• pay
• terms and conditions
• policies and procedures
• organisational change.
Our Welsh Government trade union colleagues work together to give their members a real say in the workplace. They make sure that the interests of their members are promoted and protected. They also help reduce inequalities and improve terms and conditions.
The Welsh Government has an excellent track record of working in partnership with its trade unions. We encourage staff to get involved. We support you to join a recognised trade union, to ensure your voice is heard in the workplace. and to learn more about trade unions and partnership working.
Competencies / Job Specific Criteria
The following job specifics skills are ESSENTIAL for this role. Please ensure you attach a CV which demonstrates your ability in relation to these skills.
- Degree qualified in a relevant area of technology such as Computer Science, Software engineering or have equivalent experience.
- Significant commercial experience in web development, with speciality in PHP.
- Demonstrable experience of using JavaScript / JQuery.
- Experience structuring / designing large scale decoupled Drupal (GraphQL/JSON API / REST API).
- Experience in HTML5, SCSS (Sass), CSS3 and Twig.
- Expertise in Symfony PHP framework.
- Experience of writing SQL queries.
- Experience in Full Stack Drupal 9 + development and configuration for multilingual and multi-domain in AWS and in the use of the Drush command-line tool.
- Experience in the design, build and maintenance of reliable custom Drupal Modules and custom themes.
- Experience with complex API integrations.
- Experience of code versioning tools (e.g. Git), working in an agile environment.
- Experience using TDD/BDD automated testing platforms and unit tests (PHPUnit / Behat / Nightwatch).
Assessment Process
To apply for this role you will be asked to attach the following:
- An up to date CV, no more than two sides of A4 including evidence of the essential job specific skills.
If you are successful at the sifting stage, you will be invited to interview. The interview will focus on your skills and experience in relation to the essential requirements of the role. We may also include a test or assessment if appropriate.
Your application will be assessed in three stages:
- An initial sift will be carried out against your CV and the essential job specific skills. As part of your application you will be asked to upload a copy of your CV. This should be no more than 2 sides of A4. Anything above 2 sides of A4 will be discounted and will not be considered as part of the sift. Please remove from your CV your name and address to support us in undertaking a “name free” sift.
- Candidates who have passed the initial sift will be invited to participate in a Technical Exercise.
- Candidates who have passed the Technical Exercise will be invited to participate in an Interview.
Further information about these stages will be provided following the sift stage.
Throughout the entire assessment process, candidates will be assessed against Behaviours from the Civil Service Success Profile and the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) Profession Capability framework: Managing a Quality Service, Leadership, Programming and Build (software engineering), Modern Standards Approach and Service Support. Please disregard any references you see within our system that refer to competencies.
Following the interview, if successful, we may keep your details for up to 12 months on a reserve list should other similar posts become available.
Interviews are expected to take place in February.
Other Information
- Unless stated otherwise in ‘actual starting salary’, all candidates will start at the minimum of the pay scale being appointed to (this includes existing civil servants).This is not negotiable.
- Unless stated otherwise in ‘type of opportunity’, this recruitment advert is not open on a Loan or Secondment basis.
- For more information on the eligibility criteria and terms and conditions for Loan and Secondment positions in Welsh Government, please see external recruitment candidate guidance.
- Unless stated otherwise in ‘Location of Post’ the role/s recruited to via this campaign can only be worked in the UK, not overseas.
The Welsh Government offers a variety of benefits, including:
- Frequent development discussions and the training you need for your role and to grow
- 31 days annual leave, plus a day for Christmas and the Queen’s Birthday
- Generous parental leave, including 26 weeks at full pay for qualifying employees
- Generous pension scheme with employer contributions
- Cycle to Work Scheme: choose a brand new bike up to £1000, saving at least 32%
- Advances of Salary: request advances for Christmas, computer equipment or Tenancy Deposits
- Season Ticket Loans
- Flexitime policy
Our Commitment to Equality:
Due to current under-representation in the organisation, candidates who declare that they are disabled or from a black or minority ethnic (BAME) background will automatically be put forward to the Assessment Gateway if their application meets the minimum criteria. We can only do this if candidates provide this information in their application. Information on BAME candidates will be taken from the equality monitoring form and it is important that you complete this as part of your application.
Reserve List:
Successful candidates who have achieved the minimum score across all required competencies will have the opportunity to be held on a WG ‘reserve’ list for 12 months from the date of the outcomes being issued. If additional roles become available or existing roles become vacant during this time, WG may offer the role to the highest scoring candidate on the reserve list. If they decline, WG may offer the role to the next highest scoring candidate and so on.
How to apply
All applications for this vacancy should be made online via the Welsh Government's online application system. If you have an impairment which would prevent you from applying on-line, please e-mail SharedServiceHelpdesk@gov.wales to request an application pack in an alternative format, or to request a reasonable adjustment related to an impairment in order to submit your application.
To apply, you'll need to have an account on our online application system. Click the 'Apply' button below, and you'll be asked to 'Log in' if you already have an account, or 'Register' if you don't yet have an account. Registration takes just a few minutes to complete. You'll need an e-mail address to be able to register. Once you've registered for an account and logged in, you'll be taken to the online application form, which you'll need to fully complete and submit before the deadline on the closing date.
If you’d like to apply for this vacancy in Welsh, please use the ‘Newid Iaith / Change Language’ link at the top of this page, to take you to the Welsh version of this advert, from which you can apply in Welsh.
For further information regarding the Welsh Government recruitment process, please see the Recruitment Guidance for External Candidates (link).
When evidencing your suitability for the post, it is recommended that you refer to the Civil Service Competency Framework (link)
Grievance and Complaints
This vacancy is closed to applications.