The standard selection process for roles at GDS consists of:
-
A simple application screening process. We ask for a CV and one role specific question and one security question.
-
a 20 minute phone screen where you will be asked a few role-related questions to enable us to get to know you better (may not be required depending on the volume of applications)
-
a 2 hour face-to-face interview including a presentation/interactive white board exercise (conducted over video conferencing)
Depending on how many applications we get, there might also be an extra stage before the video interview, for example a phone interview or a technical exercise.
While we value the use of AI technology to enhance our daily work, we also value the personal touch and urge applicants to write cover letters without the use of AI to emphasise their own unique experiences.
In the event we receive a high volume of applications, we will conduct the initial sift against the lead criteria which is:
-
leadership experience in designing, building and operating scalable cloud-native distributed systems in production environments.
In the Civil Service, we use Success Profiles to evaluate your skills and ability. This gives us the best possible chance of finding the right person for the job, increases performance and improves diversity and inclusivity. Well be assessing your technical abilities, skills, experience and behaviours that are relevant to this role.
For this role well be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:
- communicating and influencing
-
managing a quality service
-
making effective decisions
-
leadership
-
developing self and others
-
seeing the bigger picture
Well also be assessing your experience and specialist technical skills against the following skills defined in the Government Digital and Data Capability Framework for the Lead Developer role:
-
Availability and capacity management
-
Development process optimisation
-
Information security
-
Modern development standards
-
Programming and build (software engineering)
-
Prototyping
-
Service support
-
Systems design
-
Systems integration
-
User focus
Want to know more about who Government Digital and Data are? Click Here
Recruitment Timeline
Sift completion: 10/07/2026
Tech and Panel interviews: W/C 20/07/2026
Candidates that do not pass the interview but have demonstrated an acceptable standard may be considered for similar roles at a lower grade.
A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months, from which further appointments can be made.
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service D&I Strategy.
Please note that this role requires SC clearance, which would normally need 5 years UK residency in the past 5 years. This is not an absolute requirement, but supplementary checks may be needed where individuals have not lived in the UK for that period. This may mean your security clearance (and therefore your appointment) will take longer or, in some cases, not be possible.
For meaningful checks to be carried out, you will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time, to enable appropriate checks to be carried out and produce a result which provides the required level of assurance. Whilst a lack of UK residency in itself is not necessarily a bar to a security clearance, and expectation of UK residency may range from 3 to 5 years. Failure to meet the residency requirements needed for the role may result in the withdrawal of provisional jobs offers.
Sponsorship
DSIT cannot offer Visa sponsorship to candidates through this campaign. DSIT holds a Visa sponsorship licence but this can only be used for certain roles and this campaign does not qualify.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
