Software Engineer
| Posting date: | 06 March 2026 |
|---|---|
| Salary: | £44,447 to £59,813 per year |
| Additional salary information: | plus 28.97% employer pension contributions |
| Hours: | Full time |
| Closing date: | 20 March 2026 |
| Location: | Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 7UE |
| Remote working: | Hybrid - work remotely up to 3 days per week |
| Company: | DWP Digital |
| Job type: | Permanent |
| Job reference: | 451133_1772789458 |
Summary
Pay up to £59,813, plus 28.97% employer pension contributions, hybrid working, flexible hours, and great work‑life balance.
DWP Digital - Build services that matter
We're hiring software engineers with skills in both Java and JavaScript.
You'll join one of our agile product teams working in areas such as Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Authentication, Identity & Fraud, or Accessibility. These teams build, run and continually improve large‑scale, mission‑critical services that millions of citizens rely on every day.
Whether it's strengthening how people securely prove who they are, improving the reliability of payments, or making our services more inclusive, you'll be delivering meaningful change at national scale.
You'll design, build and support modern microservices and user-facing applications using Java, JavaScript and cloud‑first technologies. Working alongside engineers, product managers, architects and analysts, you'll tackle complex technical problems, shape how our platforms evolve and contribute directly to the stability and performance of our services.
If you enjoy solving real engineering problems and want your work to make a genuine impact, this could be the perfect next step.
What skills, knowledge and experience will you need?
- Experience building software using Java (Java 8 or above), including evidence of working on large‑scale, distributed systems where performance and resilience matter.
- Understanding of RESTful APIs and microservice design including how to build and consume them effectively.
- Experience with cloud environments such as AWS or Azure and familiarity with cloud‑native principles.
- Ability to work with JavaScript and build accessible user interfaces that are reliable and easy to maintain.
- Experience using TDD/BDD to write clean, well‑tested code that catches issues early.
- Knowledge of working with SQL or NoSQL databases such as Postgres, MySQL or MongoDB.
- Experience creating and maintaining automated test suites that support continuous integration and deployment.
You and your role
Our Senior Java Engineers to work with freedom and autonomy. We write code and make decisions which shape the future engineering landscape of DWP.
We develop, build and support products and applications as part of multi-functional agile delivery teams, alongside researchers, analysts, designers, architects, testers and more.
You'll work across the full software lifecycle - from designing APIs to building user interfaces, to deploying and monitoring services in cloud environments. These aren't small systems: you'll be working with high‑volume, mission‑critical applications where performance, latency and security really matter.
You'll join teams working in areas that play a critical role in supporting citizens securely and reliably. You can expect to be designing and building Spring Boot microservices, contributing to well-structured front‑end applications and helping to shape patterns and reusable components that make our services consistent and robust.
This is a place where engineers own their services end‑to‑end and understand the real impact their work has. You'll help maintain the operational stability pf the products you build, including working an in‑hours support rota for troubleshooting issues or bug fixes.
You'll succeed in this role if you enjoy solving complex technical problems, care about building great products and want to combine modern engineering practices with meaningful public‑sector impact.
This role is more than "just writing code". If you're curious about how services behave in production, how to make them better, and how your decisions shape outcomes for millions of users then apply now and join our community.
Details. Wages. Perks.
Location: You'll join us in one of our brilliant digital hubs in Birmingham, Blackpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle or Sheffield, whichever is most convenient for you.
Hybrid Working: We work a hybrid model - you'll spend some time working at home and some time collaborating face to face in a hub.
Pay: We offer pay up to £59,813. That's £46,547 salary plus a Digital Allowance of up to £13,266 subject to our assessment of your capability at interview
Pension: You'll get a brilliant civil service pension with employer contributions worth 28.97%, worth up to £13,485 per year.
Holidays: A generous leave package starting at 24 days and rising to 26 days after one year.
You can also take up to 3 extra days off a month on flexi-time. You'll also get all the usual public holidays.
We have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
- Flexible working including flexible hours and flex-friendly policies
- Time off volunteering and charitable giving
- Bring your authentic self to work with 'I Can Be Me in DWP'
- Discounts and savings on shopping, fun days out and more
- Interest-free loans to buy a bike or a season ticket, so it's even easier for you to get to work and start making a difference
- Sports and social activities
- Professional development, coaching, mentoring and career progression opportunities.
And we have an award-winning environment and culture:
- DWP have been recognised as 2024 Diversity Employer of the Year at the Computing Women in Tech Excellence awards
- Diverse and Inclusive Leadership at Digital Leaders Awards 2024
- Commended as Best Place to Work in Digital category in the Computing Digital Technology Leaders awards 2025
- Recognised as one of the Best Public Sector Employers at 2025 Women In Tech Employer Awards
Process
We know your time is valuable so our application and selection process is just two stages:
Apply: complete your application on Civil Service Jobs. There'll be full instructions when you click through.
Coding test: sent and completed remotely
Interview: a single stage interview online.
Click APPLY for more information and to start your application.
Proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme