Head of Software Engineering

Crown Commercial Service (CCS) will become Government Commercial Agency (GCA) on 1 April 2026. Please visit our website for further details. Job Title Head of Software Engineering Band Band 6 Salary £72,771 - £80,776 Location Liverpool, Newport, Birmingham Contract Type Permanent Hours Full Time Closing Date 09/03/2026 Interview Date(s) W/C 23rd March; psychometric testing to be completed 16-20th March Job Summary We are seeking a highly experienced and inspiring Head of Software Engineering to lead our technical capability and drive the design, development, and operation of modern digital services. This role is central to the department's mission, requiring a leader who can blend exceptional technical expertise with a commitment to service‑led model and public value. The Head of Software Engineering will provide strategic leadership and professional direction to our engineering community. You will be responsible for defining the technical standards, architectural principles, and engineering culture required to deliver world‑class digital services. You will move the department away from legacy "point solutions" toward a unified, API‑first, and cloud‑native digital estate, ensuring our services are secure, scalable, and meet the GDS Service Standard. Key Accountabilities Technical Leadership & Strategy (Driving Excellence) Engineering Strategy and Standards: Co‑define with Strategy and Architecture team and champion the long‑term technical vision and technology strategy for the department's services and platforms, ensuring alignment with central government technology policies (e.g., cloud‑first, open standards). Work with Heads of Architecture, Delivery, Testing, Product to implement the digital strategy using best practices. Establish and enforce best practices in CI/CD, SRE, TDD, and secure coding (OWASP). Modernisation: Drive the roadmap for retiring legacy systems (e.g., migration of legacy portals to an Integrated Procurement Platform) while managing technical debt. Open Standards: Ensure all software is "Open by Default," promoting re‑use across the Civil Service and alignment with the Technology Code of Practice. Be the ultimate owner of engineering quality, setting robust standards for clean code, test‑driven development (TDD), CI/CD, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) practices across all engineering teams. Lead the development and modernisation of complex, large‑scale systems, including integrating with legacy government systems. Ensure all software development meets the high standards of the Government Service Manual and passes all relevant Digital Service Assessments (Alpha, Beta, Live). People & Capability Leadership (Growing Talent) Build the Community: Act as the "Head of Profession" for software engineering, fostering a culture of continuous learning, psychological safety, and radical collaboration. Capability Building: Lead recruitment, retention, and career development strategies. Define the "Definition of Done" and engineering excellence standards across all multidisciplinary teams. Establish and evolve the department's DDaT (Digital, Data and Technology) Engineering Capability, defining clear career pathways, skills matrices, and professional development plans (including coaching and recruitment). Mentorship: Coach Lead Developers and Senior Engineers, helping them grow into strategic technical leaders. Line management and Activity management: Manage the development team of permanent staff and manage a balanced mix of civil service and third‑party resources, ensuring knowledge transfer, transition planning is built in technical delivery plans and building a sustainable in‑house technical team. Delivery, Governance & Stakeholder Management (Delivering Public Value) Agile at Scale: Partner with Delivery Managers and Product Managers to ensure engineering capacity is aligned with the departmental roadmap (Now‑Next‑Later). Assurance: Lead technical assessments and peer reviews to ensure services meet WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards and high‑performance benchmarks. SRE & Operations: Oversee the transition from "Build" to "Run," championing Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) and DevOps mindsets to ensure 24/7 service availability. Represent the engineering function to senior internal and cross‑government stakeholders, clearly articulating technical debt, risk, investment cases, and strategic decisions in non‑technical terms. Promote a culture of working in the open and sharing reusable components and best practices with the wider Civil Service DDaT community. Essential Criteria Technical Depth: Proven experience in a senior engineering role (e.g., Head of Engineering, Lead Developer or Architect) building large‑scale, distributed systems using modern languages (e.g., Java, Python, Node.js) and cloud infrastructure (AWS/Azure/Google) in UK Civil Service or similar public sector environment. Leadership: Experience managing "managers of managers" and leading large (20+ person) multidisciplinary engineering functions. Strategic Vision: Ability to translate complex policy requirements into sustainable technical roadmaps. Stakeholder Influence: Experience in communicating technical risks and trade‑offs to non‑technical senior leaders (Directors and Ministers). Modern Practices: Deep expertise in DevOps, Infrastructure as Code (IaC), and building "Security‑In" rather than "Security‑On". Success Profiles Behaviours Leadership Changing and Improving Communicating and Influencing Delivering at Pace Technical Modern development standards Development process optimisation User Focus Benefits Competitive salary Generous pension scheme A discretionary non‑contractual performance‑related bonus Working remotely in addition to working in advertised office location Flexi time scheme (available for B1‑B6) Minimum 25 days annual leave to a maximum of 30 days excluding bank holidays Working Flexibly CCS operates a smarter working model that balances flexibility with collaboration. Successful candidates are expected to spend at least 26 days per quarter (approximately 2 days per week, pro‑rata) at their contracted office, another CCS site, or off‑site for meetings. For the remainder of the time, you may work from home or another suitable location that meets business needs. #J-18808-Ljbffr