Office for National Statistics
Software Engineer
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Blaise Software Engineer
Locations
The locations for this role are Newport and Titchfield (Fareham).
Working Principles
This role is aligned to ONS hybrid working principles, which are based on attending the office with purpose. The postholder will be expected to contribute to the organisation’s overall 40% office attendance, in line with business and role requirements.
Induction
The induction process for the role will be conducted in person.
Location Eligibility
Due to workforce controls you can only select Manchester / London / Darlington / Edinburgh / Belfast if you are an existing ONS employee contracted to that location. If you are not contracted at one of these sites, these options are not available to you.
Only existing ONS contractual homeworkers can select Homeworking.
Applicants who select a location they are not eligible for will be removed from the recruitment process and will not be considered for alternative locations.
Please refer to attachments for further terms and flexibilities.
Job Summary
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is the UK’s largest producer of official statistics, covering a range of key economic, social and demographic topics. These include measuring changes in the value of the UK economy, estimating the size, geographic distribution and characteristics of the population, and providing indicators of price inflation, employment, earnings, crime and migration.
This role sits within Social Surveys Central Division (SSCD) which provide strategic direction and plans, leadership and coordination of cross-cutting strategic priorities, directorate-wide governance and assurance, programme & change management, and business support.
This central area ensures alignment, coordination, and the effective execution of these critical functions across the Social Surveys Directorate.
Job Description
We are looking for a Blaise Software Engineer to join our active community of technical professionals.
Social Surveys Research and Production (SSRP) produces a series of high-profile research and statistical outputs for customers across the public and private sector. SSRP is a team of over 120 people organised into a series of areas. Each of these has responsibility for the delivery, and transformation, of social surveys or/and specialist functions (such as Survey Computing) that support survey delivery. This post sits within the Blaise Development, Standards and Support team. We develop questionnaires for Social Surveys and support transformation activities as well as providing support and training for Social Survey research teams. This is an exciting time to join the Blaise team with development work on-going to support the transformation journey that Social Survey Divisions have embarked upon.
You will be responsible for developing social surveys and supporting Survey teams across the division using programming and scripting skills to resolve issues or provide solutions. There are also potential opportunities to lead on small projects across the division to meet user needs.
General Responsibilities
- Designing software products to serve a variety of user needs and enhancing existing software products to meet evolving user needs.
- Ensuring a quality software product is delivered and maintained.
- Being a practitioner in the use of technologies and tools, evaluating and adopting those appropriate for the environment.
- Supporting an environment where continuous or “on demand” delivery can be enabled if needed by the business, using effective delivery and deployment techniques.
- Maintaining and supporting services, identifying, locating and competently fixing faults, and taking proactive actions to avoid service disruption.
- Sharing knowledge of tools and techniques; identifying and sharing good practices and collaborating to improve the capability of the team.
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Key Responsibilities
- Develop and enhance software solutions to meet user story needs.
- Follow best practice guidelines and help to improve those guidelines.
- Write clean, secure, and well-tested code.
- Coach and mentor colleagues.
- Support a continuous delivery environment, using effective delivery and deployment techniques.
- Operate the services they build and identify issues in production.
- Design and execute a range of test techniques.
Person Specification
Essential Skills Criteria
Programming and Build (Software Engineering) (Practitioner)
Collaborates with others when necessary to review specifications. Uses these agreed specifications to design, code, test and document programs or scripts of medium to high complexity, using the right standards and tools. Contributes to code reviews and gives constructive feedback to others.
Test Engineering (Working)
Able to design, build, maintain and execute tests that align to user needs and requirements. Able to select appropriate test types and techniques with some support. Follows good engineering practices and standards (including source control and CI/CD pipelines) and integrates tests early to enable continuous feedback. Able to create and maintain automated tests, with some support.
Service support (Working)
Able to help fix service faults following agreed procedures. Able to carry out maintenance tasks on service support infrastructure.
Communicating between technical and non-technical (Working)
Able to communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Able to support and host discussions within a multidisciplinary team. Be an advocate for the team externally. Able to manage differing stakeholder perspectives.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Communicating and Influencing
- Working Together
- Delivering at Pace
Technical Skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Programming and Build (Practitioner)
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £34,587, Office for National Statistics contributes £10,019 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).
The Office for National Statistics is part of the Civil Service, and as such we share a number of key benefits with other departments, whilst also having our own unique offerings to support our valued colleagues across the organisation.
Inclusion & Accessibility
At ONS we are always looking to attract the very best people from the widest possible talent pool, and we are proud to be an inclusive, equal opportunities employer. As a Disability Confident Leader we’re committed to ensuring that all candidates are treated fairly throughout the recruitment process.
As part of our application process, you will be prompted to provide details of any reasonable adjustments to our recruitment process that you need. If you would like to discuss any reasonable adjustments before applying, please contact the recruitment team in the first instance.
If you would like an accessible version of any of the attachments or recruitment documents below or linked to in this advert, please contact the recruitment team who will be happy to assist.
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.
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Selection Process Details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Security Clearance
For ONS the requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for 3 consecutive years immediately prior to applying and the department will consider eligibility by exception on a case-by-case basis. You will be asked to provide information regarding your UK residency during your application, and failure to provide this will result in your application being rejected.
If you are unsure that you meet the eligibility above, please read the information available on Gov.uk on this link, or contact the recruitment email on the advert before applying to discuss, as failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected and any offer of employment being withdrawn.
At the point of SC application, you will need to provide or give access to the following evidence:
- Departmental or company records (personnel files, staff reports, sick leave reports and security records)
- UK criminal records covering both spent and unspent criminal records
- Your credit and financial history with a credit reference agency
- Security Services records
Visa Sponsorship
ONS is unable to offer visa sponsorship for this role. Applicants must have a valid right to work in the UK when employment commences. If you are currently in the UK on a time-limited visa, it must have at least 18 months remaining at the point of application.
Right To Work And Nationality Requirements
To work at ONS, applicants must meet the Civil Service nationality requirements, satisfy UK right to work requirements and, where applicable, meet the relevant security clearance requirements.
If you are unsure whether you meet the appropriate right to work or security clearance eligibility criteria, please refer to the guidance on Gov.uk or contact the recruitment email provided in the advert before applying. Failure to meet these requirements will result in your application being rejected and employment offers being withdrawn.
For full guidance in relation to the use of AI through the recruitment process, please read A candidate’s guide to artificial intelligence (AI) in recruitment
Please note that all campaigns may be subject to withdrawal at any stage if the internal resource position changes.
Application Process
Number of Stages: 2 stage process
Stage 1: Application
Stage 2: Interview
Stage 1 – Application
The assessment process at the application stage will be based on your work history, skills, experience, CV, and personal statement. It is important that your application is tailored to highlight the skills, knowledge, and experience relevant to the role.
A personal statement is required at application stage, the maximum word count allowed is 1250 words, which should not be exceeded. You should provide evidence for each essential skill criterion listed in the person specification. As these criteria are scored, it is advisable to give clear examples for each one, including the impact of your actions,
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