Department for Education
C# .NET Software Developer (up to £55,806)
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Coventry, West Midlands (England), CV1 2WT
Job Summary
These are exciting times at the Department for Education. In 2026 we'll continue to build more user-centred digital services for all our users, children, adults, and those in social care.
As a software developer, you’ll be part of a team responsible for developing and supporting scalable, secure, and high-quality user-centric digital services. You will assist senior team members in the design of the services. And you will work closely with colleagues within multidisciplinary agile teams, that focus on delivering work iteratively and at pace.
You will innovate to radically transform how public services are delivered and improved.
If You Are Successful, You Will Be Working In
- Submit Learner Data: This service supports the collection of learner, staff and funding data from FE and Skills providers, calculates funding and provides data downstream for the funding, payments and MI purposes.
- The Learning Records Service: this service supports enrolment and funding eligibility checks in the further education sector by providing the Unique Learner Number and the Personal Learning Record (PLR). It collects data from Awarding Organisations to support the PLR and provides data for publications such as the school performance tables.
IMPORTANT - This vacancy is using the Civil Service Numerical and Verbal tests. The deadline for completing the tests is the same as the vacancy closing date. Please ensure you complete the tests with sufficient time to complete the written application.
Job Description
As a Software Developer, you will:
- Work within a multi-disciplinary team to deliver user-focused services in an agile environment.
- Develop in the C#.NET technology stack to agreed standards.
- Build automated tests to support our continuous deployment processes.
- Work to modern development standards, practices and techniques.
- Work with the development community to ensure we build sustainable digital products.
- Advocate user-centric, agile approaches which focus on rapid, effective delivery of high-quality digital services.
- Transform government into a modern, agile development centre by embedding practices such as test-driven development, continuous integration & delivery.
- Provide support for services where software development involvement is required.
- Support sharing of methods and technologies across teams, government, and the industry by helping to organise events.
- Help build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community.
As a Software Developer, You Will
- Work within a multi-disciplinary team to deliver user-focused services in an agile environment.
- Develop in the C#.NET technology stack to agreed standards.
- Build automated tests to support our continuous deployment processes.
- Work to modern development standards, practices and techniques.
- Work with the development community to ensure we build sustainable digital products.
- Advocate user-centric, agile approaches which focus on rapid, effective delivery of high-quality digital services.
- Transform government into a modern, agile development centre by embedding practices such as test-driven development, continuous integration & delivery.
- Provide support for services where software development involvement is required.
- Support sharing of methods and technologies across teams, government, and the industry by helping to organise events.
- Help build and maintain a diverse, inclusive culture across the development community.
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Person specification
Essential Criteria
- Demonstrable experience of software development using C# .NET along with SQL, HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
- Experience working with technical teams to deliver user-focused services in an agile environment.
- Experience of good practices such as Test-Driven Development, CI/CD, and DevOps as well as modern development workflows, ideally using GitHub.
- Experience of good software design concepts such as OOD, SOLID and design patterns.
- Experience of RESTful API design and loosely coupled architectures.
- Experience of web application security.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Working Together
Alongside your salary of £42,806, Department for Education contributes £12,400 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).
Applicants currently holding a permanent post in the Civil Service should note that, if successful, their salary on appointment would be determined by the Department’s transfer / promotion policies.
As a member of the DfE, you will be entitled to join the highly competitive Civil Service Pension Scheme, which many experts agree is one of the most generous in the UK.
You will have 25 days leave, increasing by 1 day every year to a maximum of 30 days after five years’ service. In addition, all staff receive the King’s Birthday privilege holiday and 8 days’ bank and public holidays.
We offer flexible working arrangements, such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
Most DfE employees will be working a hybrid pattern, spending at least 60% of their time in an office or work setting. Changes to these working arrangements are available in exceptional circumstances but must be agreed with the line manager and in line with the requirements of the role.
Travel to your primary office location will not be paid for by DfE, but costs for travel to an office which is not your main location will be covered.
As an organisation, which exists to support education and lifelong learning, we offer our staff excellent professional development opportunities.
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 and Experience.
Stage 1: Civil Service Numerical Test (CSNT)
When you have completed your personal information, you will be asked to complete the CSNT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.
Stage 2: Civil Service Verbal Test (CSVT)
When you have completed the CSNT, you will be asked to complete the CSVT. You must achieve the minimum pass mark to progress to the next stage.
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Stage 3 - Written Application
To apply for this role, you will be required to provide a CV and Statement of Suitability.
Your CV should include details of your employment history, and the skills and experience gained in those roles. Your Statement of Suitability (max 1250 words) should demonstrate how your experience meets the essential criteria listed above.
You will also be required to provide a 250-word example demonstrating how you meet the behaviour listed above.
Stage 4 - Sift
We reserve the right to increase the minimum pass mark for the CSNT and CSVT where there is a high volume of applications or a particularly strong field of candidates. Where this occurs, candidates who do not meet the revised pass mark will not progress further, and their written application will not be assessed.
We will sift on experience, using your CV and statement to assess your suitability for the role against the essential criteria listed in the person specification section above. To confirm, the maximum word count for the statement of suitability is 1250. Please adhere to this limit as anything over 1250 words will not be taken into account.
We will also sift using your behaviour example.
Stage 5 – Interview
At interview you will be asked questions to assess your experience in line with the essential criteria listed above. We will also ask questions around the behaviours listed in the advert.
Interviews will be on MS teams, which may be remote or from a DfE office - we will confirm which when you are invited to an interview.
Feedback
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview.
Timing
We expect to sift in week commencing 27 July 2026.
Interviews will likely take place in the week commencing 10 August 2026.
Once a provisional offer has been made, you will be invited to participate in a capability assessment to determine the value of the CBP allowance we can offer you. The assessment compares your skills against the advertised role described in DfE’s local Software Development Capability Framework, which is based on the Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework.
Subject to your availability, we will aim to conduct the capability assessment and confirm the allowance offer to you within a week of the provisional offer being made.
This is a discretionary non-consolidated, non-pensionable allowance which, if awarded, is attached to the post. The value of the allowance is based on the outcome of a capability assessment and is reviewed annually. Allowance values range up to £13,000, with the highest values reserved for candidates whose capability is above the expected level for all of the skills.
If applicants are not appointable at this grade, they may be considered for positions at the grade below.
Important Information
If you fail to complete the tests before the deadline, your application will be withdrawn. Guidance will be available when you are invited to take the test. The tests are untimed, administered via Civil Service Jobs, and applicant guidance is available during the test and online on GOV.UK Online Tests guidance.
Applicants must complete the test on their own, without help, and Departments reserve the right to retest applicants under supervised conditions at later stages of the selection process. Doing this can provide reassurance to recruiters who
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