Job Description

Details

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Reference number

433793

Salary

69,246 - 86,100
This job qualifies for Digital, Data and Technology Annual Pay Supplement 20% is included in the salary band above.
A Civil Service Pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
GBP

Job grade

Other
C1

Contract type

Permanent

Business area

RoS - Corporate - Digital

Type of role

Digital

Working pattern

Full-time

Number of jobs available

3

Contents

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

Location

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Edinburgh, Glasgow

About the job

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Job summary

As a Technical Lead you will lead and support one or more development teams, guiding the delivery of software solutions aligned with business, architectural and technical strategies. You will foster technical excellence, coach engineers, promote best practices, and build capability across the software development profession at Registers of Scotland (RoS).

Job description

Provide technical leadership and formal line management for software developers, including conducting performance reviews, supporting career development, and managing wellbeing. Ensure regular one-to-one discussions, setting clear objectives and providing constructive feedback to support individual growth and performance. Ensure team alignment to architectural strategy Encourage and support individuals to set their own development objectives and regularly reflect on their progress Support and enable the design, development and delivery of secure, accessible, performant, and scalable services Embed best practice software engineering techniques including TDD, BDD, pair/mob programming, CI/CD and DevSecOps Foster and support Communities of Practice, cross-team initiatives, and shared learning opportunities Lead by example in coding, peer reviews, architecture discussions and issue resolution Facilitate team retrospectives, planning sessions and technical roadmap development Coach engineers across all grades, particularly supporting new entrants and junior developers Support recruitment, onboarding and professional development activities Encourage and support individuals to set their own development objectives and regularly reflect on their progress Ensure services are operable, resilient, and meet DR targets (e.g. 2hr RTO, zero RPO) Adhere to RoS engineering standards including continuous delivery, trunk-based development, infrastructure as code, and DevSecOps Follow agile principles and practices aligned to the Agile Manifesto Coordinate system integration and support integration testing activities Lead or participate in design and architecture reviews to ensure scalable, maintainable and efficient systems Champion secure development practices including CVE handling, threat modelling, and adherence to secure coding standards Monitor and manage service availability and capacity to meet business KPIs Identify and manage technical debt and delivery risks, ensuring long-term maintainability of systems Collaborate with product managers, delivery leads, architects and other stakeholders to align technical direction with business goals Promote inclusive design and accessibility best practices throughout the development lifecycle Design and deliver workshops to support engineering capability uplift and team learning Contribute to emerging ML/AI-enabled development tooling initiatives, promoting awareness and effective adoption within teams

Person specification

Technical Experience:

We will assess you against the following Technical Experience during the application and the assessment process:



Proven leadership of cross-functional software delivery teams, guiding design and delivery of secure, accessible, performant and scalable services in the cloud. Hands-on engineering background with modern languages and frameworks, for example Java 11+, Python, TypeScript/JavaScript with Spring Boot, Flask, React or Next.js. Strong DevOps experience, including CI/CD (e.g. Jenkins or GitLab CI), containerisation (Docker), infrastructure as code (CDK, CloudFormation or Ansible) and DevSecOps practices. Practical use of AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, S3, Aurora and IAM, with awareness of Azure; comfortable operating on Kubernetes/OpenShift. Test automation at multiple levels, for example Cypress, Jest, React Testing Library and consumer-driven contract testing; quality tooling such as SonarQube. Monitoring and operability experience using tools such as Grafana, Kibana, CloudWatch and X-Ray; proven ability to meet resilience and DR objectives. Sound architectural grounding in microservices, serverless and event-driven patterns, including DDD, integration design and performance considerations. Demonstrable commitment to secure development, including CVE handling, threat modelling and secure coding standards. Experience coaching others in engineering excellence (TDD/BDD, pair or mob programming, trunk-based development) and growing profession capability. Ability to balance near-term delivery with long-term sustainability, actively managing technical debt and risks in partnership with product and delivery leads. Proven experience in leading software delivery teams in agile environments Strong coaching and mentoring skills with a track record of capability-building Excellent understanding of modern software development, architecture and infrastructure Comfortable navigating ambiguity, prioritising delivery and enabling long-term technical sustainability Strong communication skills and the ability to influence both technical and non-technical stakeholders

Behaviours

At application stage, you will be scored against the

bolded

Behaviours OR Competencies and against the remaining OR all Behaviours/Competencies for the assessment:



Changing and improving


+ Creates a safe environment for challenge and new ideas, recognising and rewarding innovation that adds value.
+ Simplifies and improves engineering processes using automation, CI/CD and DevSecOps to boost efficiency and quality.
+ Anticipates the impact of change on people, culture and users, and plans accessible, inclusive roll-outs.
+ Spots early warning signs when things are going off track and acts quickly to course-correct.
+ Promotes the smart use of technology and data to modernise public services and reduce waste.

Leadership and making effective decisions

+ Sets a clear technical vision aligned to RoS strategy, standing by decisions and explaining the trade-offs and risks.
+ Ensures decisions are taken at the right level, inviting constructive challenge and removing unnecessary bureaucracy.
+ Uses balanced evidence from delivery metrics, risk, cost and user impact to recommend options under uncertainty.
+ Inspires and motivates multi-disciplinary teams, modelling inclusive behaviours and addressing misconduct or non-inclusive behaviour promptly.
+ Takes confident decisions on architecture, operability and resilience, even when details are incomplete or positions are unpopular.

Communicating and influencing


+ Explains complex technical topics in plain language, tailoring message and channel to diverse audiences.
+ Delivers difficult messages with clarity and sensitivity; builds trust through honesty and consistency.
+ Uses data, prototypes and demos to influence senior stakeholders and secure pragmatic outcomes.
+ Encourages varied communication methods across teams, including effective use of digital tools, and checks understanding.
+ Monitors the impact of communications and adapts approach to improve alignment and engagement.

Developing self and others

+ Prioritises continuous learning, sets clear development objectives and leads by example.
+ Coaches engineers across grades, providing stretch opportunities and constructive feedback that builds capability.
+ Ensures fair access to learning and progression, valuing different backgrounds and needs.
+ Builds active Communities of Practice and promotes knowledge sharing within and across teams.
+ Reflects on outcomes and uses lessons learned to refine team practices, standards and roadmaps.

Benefits

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Alongside your salary of 69,246, Registers of Scotland contributes 20,060 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.Learning and development tailored to your role An environment with flexible working options A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%

Things you need to know

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Selection process details

Stage one - Application Process

To apply, click on 'Apply now' and complete the online application form.


You will need to submit:

A CV outlining your career history and how you meet the technical experience criteria (max 4 pages). Responses explaining how you meet the required behaviours aspects of the role (maximum 300 words per answer in the spaces provided). As part of the application process you will receive an online assessment invitation via Hackerrank and you will have 3 days to complete it.


Please note:

If we receive a high volume of applications, we may complete an initial sift on

Leadership and making effective decisions

and

Developing self and others.

We reserve the right to invite candidates to participate in a telephone interview prior to being further assessed. Applications that are not accompanied by CVs will not be scored or statements over 300 words will not be considered. We would strongly recommend that your statement is written in the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action & Result) and suggest preparing your answers using software such as MS Word or Google Docs, and then uploading the file. We strongly advise you review our policy on responsible use of AI in the application process. RoS may check answers with an AI detection tool and will contact you for a pre-screening call to verify your responses. Applications and appointments are subject to a strict merit-based assessment process, in line with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles

Stage two - assessment

If successful at application stage, you will be invited to an in-person interview which will include the following:

Behavioural interview based on the advertised behaviours Technical interview based on the technical experience is required for the role

Information on Success Profiles

For further information on success profiles, visit our Success Profiles.



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

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a 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 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.

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

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Contact point for applicants

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Job contact :

Name : talent@ros.gov.uk Email : talent@ros.gov.uk
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Recruitment team

Email : talent@ros.gov.uk

Further information

talent@ros.gov.uk