Programmers and software development professionals
Occupation Code Skill LevelHigher Skilled
Sponsorship Salary Threshold
£54,700
(£28.05 per hour)
Occupation rate applies
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Description
Bristol, London, Warrington
For roles based in London, your contractual place of work will be Stratford. While the Stratford site is expected to become operational from November 2025 – March 2026, you will be required to carry out your contractual duties from Vauxhall or another reasonable location on a temporary basis during the interim period. Please note that, as Stratford will be your contractual place of work, any subsequent move from a temporary location will not entitle you to payments for travel time or costs under the Relocation and Excess Travel Policy.
Job Summary
Join the expanding National Data Exploitation Capability (NDEC), part of the National Crime Agency’s Data and Analysis Hub,and help place data at the centre of the fight against serious and organised crime (SOC). NDEC delivers advanced analytical and exploitation capabilities that generate operational insight, inform strategic decision‑making, and provide a critical edge against increasingly technology‑driven threats.
As a Lead Software Developer, you will play a key role in shaping and delivering high‑quality software solutions that unlock the value of complex and rapidly growing datasets. We are looking for proactive, inquisitive problem‑solvers who thrive in a dynamic environment, enjoy variety, and work effectively as part of a collaborative, multi‑disciplinary team.
Job Description
As the Lead Software Developer, you will provide technical leadership across NDEC and the wider NCA, driving the design, development and delivery of high‑quality software solutions that directly support mission‑critical operational and analytical needs. Working within a multi‑disciplinary technical team, you will contribute to the creation of next‑generation tools and platforms that enhance the Agency’s ability to detect, disrupt and prevent SOC. This role places you at the cutting edge of law enforcement technology, helping to shape capabilities that address some of the most complex and high‑impact threats facing the UK.
You will set engineering standards, define best practice and ensure the team consistently delivers secure, scalable and maintainable software. A key part of your role will be leading, coaching and mentoring a team of developers, supporting their technical growth, fostering a positive and collaborative culture, and ensuring their work aligns with NCA priorities. You will champion modern development approaches and agile delivery methods, promoting DevOps practices, automation and continuous integration/continuous deployment to ensure rapid and reliable delivery.
Your responsibilities will include guiding technical decision‑making, selecting appropriate technologies and architectural approaches, and making informed judgments about when to build bespoke solutions or adopt existing tools. You will work closely with data scientists, analysts, product
managers and operational teams to ensure that complex mission requirements are translated into robust, user‑centred technical solutions. In doing so, you will ensure that software developed within NDEC integrates effectively with operational workflows and delivers real‑world impact.
You will also play a key role in strengthening the developer community across NDEC and the wider Agency, promoting knowledge sharing, encouraging experimentation and driving the adoption of good practice in security, testing, automation and documentation. Through strong technical leadership and a commitment to continuous improvement, you will help build a high‑performing software engineering capability that delivers meaningful outcomes in a fast‑moving and demanding environment.
Duties And Responsibilities
Team Leadership - Lead, manage and inspire a software development team to design, build and deliver high‑quality data services that address complex operational challenges. Provide clear direction, set standards and foster a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
Relationship Building - Develop strong, collaborative relationships across the NCA technical community. Promote shared learning, knowledge exchange and cross‑functional working to build collective capability and support the effective delivery of Agency priorities.
User Engagement -
Champion user‑centred design by defining effective approaches for understanding user needs and guiding others in eliciting and interpreting user stories. Distinguish clearly between genuine user needs and stakeholder wants, ensuring research is applied appropriately and recommending the most suitable tools and methods.
Modern Development Standards - Apply and promote modern engineering standards and practices across complex projects and programmes, ensuring solutions are robust, secure, maintainable and aligned with organisational best practice.
Programme and Build (Software Engineering) - Maintain technical oversight across all stages and iterations of the software development lifecycle. Provide expert advice to stakeholders, set team‑wide standards for programming tools and techniques, and ensure appropriate application of methods, frameworks and compliance requirements.
Information Security - Design solutions with embedded security controls, ensuring they are purposefully engineered to mitigate relevant security threats and meet NCA and national security requirements.
Systems Design - Develop systems that balance risk, impact and technical complexity, selecting suitable design patterns and standards. Review and assure the designs of others, ensuring appropriate technology choices, efficient resource use and effective integration across multiple systems.
Systems Integration -
Coordinate integration activities across systems, defining integration approaches and supporting teams in undertaking integration testing. Ensure components interact reliably and support the delivery of end‑to‑end operational capability.
As the Lead Software Developer, you will provide technical leadership across NDEC and the wider NCA, driving the design, development and delivery of high‑quality software solutions that directly support mission‑critical operational and analytical needs. Working within a multi‑disciplinary technical team, you will contribute to the creation of next‑generation tools and platforms that enhance the Agency’s ability to detect, disrupt and prevent SOC. This role places you at the cutting edge of law enforcement technology, helping to shape capabilities that address some of the most complex and high‑impact threats facing the UK.
You will set engineering standards, define best practice and ensure the team consistently delivers secure, scalable and maintainable software. A key part of your role will be leading, coaching and mentoring a team of developers, supporting their technical growth, fostering a positive and collaborative culture, and ensuring their work aligns with NCA priorities. You will champion modern development approaches and agile delivery methods, promoting DevOps practices, automation and continuous integration/continuous deployment to ensure rapid and reliable delivery.
Your responsibilities will include guiding t
echnical decision‑making, selecting appropriate technologies and architectural approaches, and making informed judgments about when to build bespoke solutions or adopt existing tools. You will work closely with data scientists, analysts, product managers and operational teams to ensure that complex mission requirements are translated into robust, user‑centred technical solutions. In doing so, you will ensure that software developed within NDEC integrates effectively with operational workflows and delivers real‑world impact.
You will also play a key role in strengthening the developer community across NDEC and the wider Agency, promoting knowledge sharing, encouraging experimentation and driving the adoption of good practice in security, testing, automation and documentation. Through strong technical leadership and a commitment to continuous improvement, you will help build a high‑performing software engineering capability that delivers meaningful outcomes in a fast‑moving and demanding environment.
Duties And Responsibilities
Team Leadership - Lead, manage and inspire a software development team to design, build and deliver high‑quality data services that address complex operational challenges. Provide clear direction, set standards and foster a culture of technical excellence and continuous improvement.
Relationship Building -
Develop strong, collaborative relationships across the NCA technical community. Promote shared learning, knowledge exchange and cross‑functional working to build collective capability and support the effective delivery of Agency priorities.
User Engagement - Champion user‑centred design by defining effective approaches for understanding user needs and guiding others in eliciting and interpreting user stories. Distinguish clearly between genuine user needs and stakeholder wants, ensuring research is applied appropriately and recommending the most suitable tools and methods.
Modern Development Standards - Apply and promote modern engineering standards and practices across complex projects and programmes, ensuring solutions are robust, secure, maintainable and aligned with organisational best practice.
Programme and Build (Software Engineering) - Maintain technical oversight across all stages and iterations of the software development lifecycle. Provide expert advice to stakeholders, set team‑wide standards for programming tools and techniques, and ensure appropriate application of methods, frameworks and compliance requirements.
Information Security -
Design solutions with embedded security controls, ensuring they are purposefully engineered to mitigate relevant security threats and meet NCA and national security requirements.
Systems Design - Develop systems that balance risk, impact and technical complexity, selecting suitable design patterns and standards. Review and assure the designs of others, ensuring appropriate technology choices, efficient resource use and effective integration across multiple systems.
Systems Integration - Coordinate integration activities across systems, defining integration approaches and supporting teams in undertaking integration testing. Ensure components interact reliably and support the delivery of end‑to‑end operational capability.
Person specification
Software Engineering - Demonstrable industrial experience designing, developing and testing complex object‑oriented software applications. Strong proficiency in object‑oriented programming languages, with experience applying robust engineering principles in production environments. Deep understanding of the full software development lifecycle, including discovery, design, build, testing, deployment and maintenance.
Development Practices & Delivery -
Hands‑on experience working within agile delivery environments, applying iterative development, continuous feedback and prioritisation techniques. Practical experience with modern DevOps practices, automation and CI/CD pipelines to ensure consistent, reliable and secure deployment. Ability to translate user and business requirements into technical solutions, managing expectations and making informed, collaborative trade‑offs.
Cloud, Infrastructure & Environments - Knowledge of designing, deploying and maintaining software across cloud and on‑premise environments. Understanding of how to build scalable, secure and resilient systems that integrate effectively within complex technical landscapes.
Technical Design & Architecture - Experience contributing to technical design decisions, architectural patterns and standards. Ability to assess technology options, ensure alignment with best practice, and contribute to long‑term technical strategy.
Technical Leadership - Experience operating in a technical leadership role, providing direction, coaching and assurance to software developers. Ability to build a positive engineering culture, promote knowledge sharing, and drive continuous improvement across a multi‑disciplinary team.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Delivering at Pace
Leadership
Managing a Quality Service
Alongside your salary of £67,609, National Crime Agency contributes £19,586 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
New entrants to the NCA receive 26 days annual leave, rising to 31 on completion of 5 years continuous service, plus 8 bank holidays.
If qualifying criteria is met new joiners from UK Police Forces or the UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) will have service with those employers taken into account for continuous service purposes for annual leave entitlement only, this will be up to a maximum of 31 days leave (including 1 privilege day).
Other Benefits Include:
Flexible working, including flexi-time, compressed hours and job sharing (in line with business requirements)
Family friendly policies, notably above the statutory minimum
Learning and Development opportunities
Interest free loans and advances, including season tickets, childcare and rental deposits
Housing schemes - Key Worker status
Discounts and Savings with a wide variety of services including Cycle to Work, Smart Tech schemes, dental insurance, gym discounts and savings on everyday spending, available through the Reward Gateway , Edenred and Blue Light Card schemes.
Staff support groups/networks
Sports and social activities, including membership to the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC)
Further information is available on the NCA Website.
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.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Your Application Will Be Assessed Against The Following:
Experience - This will be assessed:
CV
Please include your full career history, training, qualifications, key responsibilities, and achievements. Explain any employment gaps in the last two years. Ensure all accreditation dates are accurate.
Details of what is expected within you CV are as follows: Please provide a concise overview of your relevant career history, highlighting the roles, environments and levels of responsibility that demonstrate your ability to meet the criteria listed within the Person Specification.
Experience Criteria
- will be assessed by 500 word examples on:
Proven experience of leading complex software development activities, ensuring solutions are designed and delivered effectively in response to evolving business needs.
Strong understanding of modern software development practices and deployment approaches, including how to deliver and operate solutions across multiple environments.
Strong ability to understand customer and user requirements, translate them into effective solution designs, and manage expectations and trade‑offs to ensure the delivery of appropriate, achievable and value‑for‑money outcomes.
A panel will assess how well your application demonstrates the requirements outlined above.
Longlist
In the event of a high number of applications, we may operate a longlist. Applicants will need to meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria.
Proven experience of leading complex software development activities, ensuring solutions are designed and delivered effectively in response to evolving business needs. .
Candidates who do not meet the minimum pass mark for the lead criteria will not progress to having their other criteria assessed. Applications must meet the minimum criteria to be progressed to the assessment stage.
You will receive an acknowledgement once your application is submitted.
We aim to have sift completed and scores released within 10 working days of the closing date of the advert. For high volume campaigns this timeframe may be extended.
Scores will be provided but further feedback will not be available at this stage.
For Guidance On The Application Process, Visit:
NCA Applying and Onboarding
Assessment 1
The format of this assessment will be Interview which will be tested on the criteria listed in the Success Profiles at Assessment section.
Success Profiles at Assessment
Behaviours
Delivering at Pace
Leadership
Managing a Quality Service
Experience
Proven experience of leading complex software development activities, ensuring solutions are designed and delivered effectively in response to evolving business needs.
Strong understanding of modern software development practices and deployment approaches, including how to deliver and operate solutions across multiple environments.
Strong ability to understand customer and user requirements, translate them into effective solution designs, and manage expectations and trade‑offs to ensure the delivery of appropriate, achievable and value‑for‑money outcomes.
Assessment Outcome
Outcomes will be communicated via the NCA recruitment portal.
If successful but no role is immediately available, you may be placed on a reserve list for 12 months.
Reserve lists can be used to fill similar role types across the Agency where the assessment criteria is considered a match by the recruitment team and the business area.
In The Event Of a Tie At The Assessment Stage, Available Roles Will Be Offered In Merit Order Using The Following Order:
Lead criteria (behaviours/technical/experience)
If still tied, desirable criteria will be assessed (if advertised)
If still tied, application sift scores will be used
Feedback is provided only to those who attend an assessment.
You will be subject to vetting and pre-employment checks before appointment.
Once the vacancy closes, the advert will no longer be accessible. Please save a copy for your records.
We encourage all candidates to visit the NCA Careers Page for more information.
Full advert details for this vacancy can found on the advert on the NCA Recruitment Portal. Please follow the link to apply at advertisers' site.
Vetting Requirements - SC Enhanced
Prior to commencing the role, you will need to successfully complete SC Enhanced clearance and then achieve both DV Enhanced and DV STRAP clearance within the first 12 months in post.
The requirement for SC clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 3 of the last 5 years.
The requirement for DV Enhanced clearance is to have been present in the UK for at least 7 of the last 10 years.
To obtain DV STRAP you must be willing to undergo STRAP induction and must hold full UK nationality or dual nationality, where one component is British. Applications will be considered on a case by case basis.
Failure to meet the residency requirements will result in your security clearance application being rejected.
I
f the increased clearance cannot be obtained you will be moved to a role appropriate to your clearance level achieved on entry.
For further information on National Security Vetting checks please visit the following page Demystifying Vetting
Individuals will be required to undertake and pass a substance misuse test as part of pre-employment checks.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Experience.
Security
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Medical
Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.
Nationality requirements
Open to UK nationals only.
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) se
ts out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
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 (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job Contact :
Name : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk
Email : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk
Telephone : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Email : central.recruitment@nca.gov.uk
Further information
If you believe your application has not been treated fairly, email: Central.Recruitment@nca.gov.uk (quoting the vacancy reference). If unresolved, you may escalate your complaint to the Civil Service Commission.
Lead Software Developer | National Crime Agency (NCA) | Hunt UK Visa Sponsors