Lead Developer

Job Overview

Salary: ££66,110 (plus £5600 market supplement) per annum
Contract type: Permanent
Band: G / Grade 7
Closing date: Tuesday 8th July 2025 at midnight

Join Our Team as a Lead Developer at The National Archives!
Are you passionate about digital innovation and making a difference in the public sector? The National Archives is looking for a talented Lead Developer to join our Access to Digital Records team within the Digital Archiving department.

About Us
At The National Archives, we provide essential services that enable access to Government and Court records, helping people find the evidence they need. Our work increases transparency and helps the public understand how decisions are made by the government and courts. We are setting new directions and developing best practices in providing access to digital records.

About the Role
As a Lead Developer, you will lead the development of digital products that support our mission. You will be responsible for resolving problems, writing and reviewing code, collaborating with other leads, understanding dependencies, and contributing to our technology best practices. Your role will be pivotal in shaping the future of digital archiving and access to public records.
Key Responsibilities
• Lead the development of digital products in the Access to Digital Records team.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and implement strategies.
• Write and review code, ensuring quality and efficiency.
• Mentor other developers and promote best practices.
• Contribute to the development and enhancement of services that facilitate access to digital public records.

Current Projects
• Access Your Records Service: Provides secure, self-service access for government departments and other public bodies to born-digital records. Currently in its private Beta phase.
• Find Case Law Service: Offers public access to court judgments and tribunal decisions, providing case law as data via an API under an innovative licensing regime. This service is a significant step towards open justice and transparency in the justice system.

About You
• Proven experience in software development and leading development teams.
• Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to work collaboratively.
• Excellent communication and mentoring abilities.
• A passion for increasing access to public digital records and advocating best practices.

Why Join Us?
• Be part of a team committed to transparency and public service.
• Work on innovative projects that shape the future of digital archiving.
• Enjoy a collaborative and inclusive work environment.
• Opportunities for professional growth and development.
If you are motivated to make a significant impact and lead the development of cutting-edge digital products, we want to hear from you! Apply now and join us at The National Archives to help shape the future of access to digital records.

Application Process
• Interview: Interviews will be held on-site and will include a technical test.
• Personal Statement: We ask all applicants to submit CV details and a 750-word personal statement

Selection for interview will be based on the ‘essential’ requirements in the job description so please ensure that you demonstrate how you meet these requirements within your statement.

We understand that you might use artificial intelligence (AI) and other resources to assist with your application; however, please ensure all information you provide is factually accurate, truthful, and original and doesn’t include ideas or work that isn’t your own. We encourage you to showcase your unique knowledge and skills using your own voice.

SC clearance/willingness to obtain SC clearance will be required for this role. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected.

Job Description

Role and Responsibilities

• Lead the development and maintenance of our digital services, applying your skills and judgement to refine backlogs, write tickets, help prioritise and set technical direction, create and review code and maintain the highest standards.
• Work across multidisciplinary product teams alongside product and delivery managers, user researchers, content and interaction designers, data engineers, front and back-end developers.
• Work with the service owner to shape the the team to make sure we have the right technical resource at the right time, reviewing performance, onboarding new staff and contractors and ensuring knowledge sharing and documentation is in place before off boarding.
• Engage actively with Agile working practices and maintain high levels of motivation and performance and delivery across the teams.
• Mentor developers and other members of the team, sharing your knowledge and expertise, improve ways of working and agree goals for continuous professional development.
• Take responsibility for identifying, evaluating and proposing relevant technologies and approaches to ensure that The National Archives gains optimum strategic benefit from technological advances while maintaining commitments to best practice and the government service standard.
• Work alongside other lead developers and technical architects to provide technical leadership and advice to other specialists and product owners, including the review and development of shared development standards.
• Analyse, understand and communicate complex technical problems. Investigate issues and research solutions, collaborate with external specialists, consider technical and strategic factors in your decision making to resolve problems.
• Lead Show and Tells / demos of both services for internal and external audiences. Tailoring communication to suit different levels of technical expertise and understanding how to pitch talks depending on the interests and motivations of stakeholders and user groups.

• Take ownership of issues through to successful resolution so that the operation and availability of our systems is maintained effectively.
• Liaise with key stakeholders, building relationships, acting as a strong advocate for TNA’s digital services and ensuring that the needs of the users and the business are met effectively.
• Play an active role in the developer community, within government and further afield. Identifying good practices or innovative approaches we can adopt, share our experiences with others and act as a credible ambassador for TNA’s brand and services

Working Conditions

• Normal office environment
• Display Screen Equipment user
• TNA operates a hybrid working arrangement. You are expected to work on site at least 60% of your time. This may be more when you are new to the role.
• Applications for flexible working will be considered where these fit with the demands of this role.
• May encounter distressing records.

Person Specification

Essential Criteria:

• A strong track record of technical leadership, setting technical standards and direction and delivering high quality, user-focused software applications at pace.
• Demonstrated ability to lead, motivate and inspire a team, acting as a role model and mentor that leads by example and shares knowledge to build a positive, inclusive team culture.
• Excellent experience of developing production software in Python.
• Demonstrable experience of using modern development approaches including Agile and Test-Driven development, and source control tools such as Git.
• Knowledge and experience of cloud computing principles, services and design patterns and the use of infrastructure-as-code. 
• Experience of good practice in cybersecurity, with knowledge of common vulnerabilities and how to prevent them. Experience of designing security improvements and embedding security controls as a core part of chosen solutions. 
• Knowledge and experience of working with data technologies and standards such as JSON, SQL, XSLT, XML Schema with a strong understanding of data structures including document, graph and relational models.
• Excellent ability to analyse and problem solve, understand new concepts and quickly assimilate the details of complex systems.
• Excellent communication skills with experience of presenting work to senior stakeholders and explaining technical ideas to diverse audiences. You will have the confidence and presence to represent TNA externally, making connections with external specialists, and presenting and discussing your work.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience of working to the Government Digital service standard.
• Strong skills in the fundamental frontend technologies - HTML, CSS (including pre-processors such as SASS) and JavaScript to create clean code that is open by default and easy for others to reuse.
• Experience of coding clear, usable, accessible digital interfaces that work across a range of devices and browsers, which meet WCAG 2.2 at level AA, following the principle of progressive enhancement.

Other Requirements

• You must be resident in the UK and be eligible to work in the UK Civil Service.
• SC-level Security Clearance or willingness to obtain SC clearance is mandatory: as a condition of this, you must have lived in the UK for at least the last 3 years.

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
D&I Strategy.

Benefits 

 

Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development.  Annual leave entitlement of 25 days per calendar year (rising to 26 days after 2 year’s service, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.

 

Any move to The National Archives 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 https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk; (opens in new window)