Lead Software Engineer (ServiceNow)

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP); Lichfield; Hybrid; GBP 75,000 - 93,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous annual leave

Health and wellbeing support

Learning and development programmes

Pension and financial benefits

Job summary

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to lead and mentor engineering teams on a major ServiceNow implementation. You will guide technical standards, resolve blockers, and drive reuse across the Federation Team while ensuring best practices in ITSM, ITOM, HRSD and related modules.

You will influence the technical roadmap, collaborate with the Leadership Team, and own delivery direction for multiple engineering squads with a strong focus on security and

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering teams and delivering complex software solutions.
• Proven ServiceNow platform development including ITSM/ITOM/HRSD, security, and integrations.
• Ability to influence technical direction and drive standards across multiple teams.
• Strong problem-solving and architectural thinking with a security-first mindset.

Responsibilities

• Define standards for the Engineering community and lead adoption across teams.
• Enable multiple teams by driving consistency, standards, pace and quality.
• Influence future delivery vision and lead the engineering community to realise it.
• Self-organise and set priorities; lead multiple teams effectively.
• Demonstrate experience across ServiceNow modules (ITSM, ITOM, SPM, Security, HRSD, Portals, Workspaces, CMDB, Integrations).
• Design security and IT operations solutions with defence in depth and automation.

Skills

Leadership

ServiceNow expertise

Team mentoring

ITSM/ITOM knowledge

Security operations

Tools

ServiceNow

Job description

Are you capable of leading & mentoring engineering teams while helping to shape and deliver services? Are you an experienced ServiceNow Software Engineer looking to take the next step in your career? You will lead a team within Department for Work and pensions (DWP) working on one of the largest government installations of ServiceNow within Europe. You will be responsible for ensuring that application development meets standards and requirements within ServiceNow across multiple modules, acting as an initial point of contact for technical guidance within the Corporate Centre Services Federated Team. The platform currently supports circa 120,000 colleagues across the multiple ServiceNow modules and applications, exposing us regularly to a wide range of different challenges and opportunities within the ServiceNow ecosphere. The successful candidate will join DWP Digital and be an integral part in directing and determining how we build the technology solutions of the future that will enable us to realise our key mission and passion. What really excites the successful candidate is problem-solving and the opportunity to deliver innovative technology that carries real value for users., Our Lead Software Engineers are experts in their field, role models in software craftsmanship and have proven experience in the design, development and support of software products. You will:

• Define standards for the Engineering community and lead their adoption across teams to deliver quality software products.
• Be an enabler for multiple teams, driving consistency, standards, pace and quality, resolving technical blockers and promoting re-use and collaboration through the wider community.
• Influence our future vision for delivery as part of the Leadership Team and then take ownership for bringing the engineering community on that journey.
• Have an excellent ability to self-organise and define priorities.
• Be capable of diving in where necessary, but the focus of this role will be to lead and set direction for multiple engineering teams effectively and successfully. Demonstrable commercial experience of various modules and applications within ServiceNow (eg ITSM, ITOM, SPM, Security, HRSD, Service Portals, Workspaces, CMDB, Integrations)
• Strong working knowledge with a deep understanding of each layer of an organisations cyber security controls, designing solutions that enable defence in depth and services with security controls embedded, and/or strong working knowledge with a deep understanding of each layer of an organisations IT operations controls, designing solutions that enable automation of IT and through AI operations.
• Significant demonstrable experience of implementing ServiceNow Security Operations or IT operations modules.
• Influential and able to lead investigative work into problems and opportunities in existing processes, driving the collection of information and creation of recommendations for improvements. Can absorb large amounts of conflicting information and use it to determine solutions.
• Extensive experience and proven track record in designing, implementing, administering and supporting Security products and services, ensuring adherence to Digital Security Standards and Architectural Principles both on premise and in Cloud.

4. Technical statement (up to 250 words). The following statement is aligned to the required technical skill of: Programming and Build. This statement should be used to provide example(s) of how you meet the criterion below:

• Demonstrable expertise in developing, maintaining and enhancing the ServiceNow platform, including application development, workflow automation, system integration and platform upgrades.

Ensure that all examples provided in your statements are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statements, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.

Hybrid Working

This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work. If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office. If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.

• Working patterns to support work/life balance such as job sharing, term-time working, flexi-time and compressed hours.
• Generous annual leave at least 25 days on entry, increasing up to 30 days over time (prorata for part time employees), plus 9 days public and privilege leave.
• Support for financial wellbeing, including interest-free season ticket loans for travel, a cycle to work scheme and an employee discount scheme.
• Health and wellbeing support including our Employee Assistance Programme for specialist advice and counselling and the opportunity to join HASSRA a first-class programme of competitions, activities and benefits for its members (subscription payable monthly).
• Family friendly policies including enhanced maternity and shared parental leave pay after 1 years continuous service.
• Funded learning and development to support progress in your role and career. This includes industry recognised qualifications and accreditations, coaching, mentoring and talent development programmes.
• An inclusive and diverse environment with opportunities to join professional and interpersonal networks including Womens Network, National Race Network, National Disability Network (THRIVE) and many more.

Salary Information

Alongside your salary of 75,026, Department for Work and Pensions contributes 21,735 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). Pay for this role is from 75,026 to 92,522. The maximum salary for the grade is 80,267, however a Digital Allowance of up to 12,255 per annum is available for exceptional candidates. Digital Allowance is non-salary, and non-pensionable, and is classed as a temporary allowance. It is reviewed annually where it could be retained, amended, or removed. Our offer to successful candidates will be based on an assessment of your skills and experience as demonstrated at interview. Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary. Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase applied to their current substantive salary, whichever is greater. Any temporary allowances that you are currently in receipt of will not form part of the calculation to determine your pay. Any allowances that are in payment will cease when you move into your new role.

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. If 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 for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.