Forward Deployed Software Engineer IIMinistry of Justice

HM Courts and Tribunals Service

Job Title: Forward Deployed Software Engineer II

Grade: G7

Directorate: CEO Office

Location:   London / National

Contract Type: Permanent

Working Pattern: Full-time/ Flexible Working

This is a full-time position only due to the nature of the role.

Successful applicants will be expected to be office based 3 days per week in any HMCTS Office (subject to business availability).

Level of Clearance: To apply for this role, you will be required to successfully complete Counter Terrorism Check (CTC level as a condition of appointment. For further guidance click here

Introduction

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) is responsible for the administration of criminal, civil and family courts and tribunals in England and Wales. Our roles support our service users and colleagues, where people and businesses access potentially life-changing justice.  We’re looking for individuals who are committed to public service and want to make a difference in people’s lives in delivering justice. If you’re interested in developing a career with a real purpose, please apply.

Job Description

Courts AI is a small, hands-on engineering team inside HMCTS. We build and ship software that makes the courts work better: for the judiciary, for court staff, and for the people who come before them. We are an engineering team with exceptional direct links to users and real problems, and a mandate to do something about them. We value engineering excellence, high agency and empathy.

We work closely with court staff, digital teams and the judiciary to develop practical solutions that improve how courts operate.

Your role as Forward Deployed Software Engineer II will encompass several key responsibilities listed below (but not limited to):

Key Responsibilities

You will work as an engineer on projects under the direction of a technical lead, helping ship new capability to users.

You will contribute across the stack, from infrastructure and backend services to data, integrations and user-facing interfaces, with guidance from the G6 and wider team. The role is hands on, with room to take ownership of defined pieces of work, learn quickly, and help discover the next set of problems to pursue. Concretely this means:

Build and improve products used across the HMCTS estate — web services, integrations, data tooling, and where it genuinely helps, models and agents.

Work in the field. You'll spend real time in courts and with operational teams, watching how work actually happens, and co-designing with the people doing it.

Support across delivery — from ideation of the problem, through building and deploying it, to supporting adoption and keeping it alive. You will take ownership of outcomes.

Make the case with evidence. Measuring whether a thing worked, and being honest when it didn't, is part of the job.

Public service motivated. The work is genuinely consequential, with opportunities to make a tangible difference to how justice is delivered. You'll be motivated by solving difficult problems and delivering better outcomes for the people who rely on our courts.

Technically strong. We are building parts of the future government software stack. This is in flux, and needs solid technical skills, curiosity, and a willingness to learn how we can move rapidly and safely.

Pragmatists. You are able to identify viable paths forward that enable us to ship today.

High agency and comfort in ambiguity. The problem space can be open ended, and needs exploration. You're comfortable asking good questions, trying things out, and making progress with support from others.

Bridge-builders. You will work with a wide variety of stakeholders, with different needs and levels of technical confidence. You can take part in a technical design conversation and a conversation with a court clerk on the same afternoon, and take both seriously.

You do not need to meet every point below. If you're strong across most of it and can learn quickly, we'd like to hear from you.

Essential skills:

Experience building software in production.

Willingness to work across different parts of the stack, from infrastructure-as-code to user-facing interfaces, with support where needed.

Some experience, or clear interest, in integrating with systems you do not control, including older ones.

Ability to work constructively in a complex organisation — collaborating, building relationships, and helping move work forward.

Developing judgement about where AI genuinely helps, and where it may add risk without adding value.

The below criteria are desirable only. These will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates.

Desirable Criteria

Cloud and infrastructure experience — Azure, Kubernetes/AKS, Terraform.

Exposure to LLM-based systems, including evaluation, observability or production deployment.

Data engineering, or making messy operational data useful.

Startup, scale-up, product engineering, or other delivery-focused environments.

Prior public sector delivery — helpful but not required.  We’ll help you navigate the system

Application process:

This role will be recruited using a combination of  Government Digital and Data (GDD) Profession Capability Framework and Success Profiles Frameworks during the sift and interview process. Using GDD we will then determine if you will be paid an additional allowance, on top of your basic salary. This role is within the Technical job family and is a Software Developer role at Lead Developer level but carries the title, Forward Deployed Software Engineer in the CEO office.

Stage 1 - Sift:

To apply for this position, you must submit the following as part of your application:

An anonymised CV, setting out your career history, key responsibilities and achievements. Your CV will be assessed against the essential criteria outlined within the Essential Skills section of this advert.

A Statement of Suitability which should give us real life examples of how your skills and experience match those needed for this role. We recommend following the STAR format.

Should we receive a high volume of applications, a pre-sift may be conducted on the CV. Candidates who pass the pre-sift will be fully assessed on all the sift criteria.

Please access the following link for guidance on how to apply - Application Guidance

Successful candidates who passed the sift will be invited to a first stage interview via Microsoft Teams.

Stage 2 - First Stage Interview:

First stage interview will be held via MS Team. At the first interview stage you will be assessed against a Technical Assessment.

For further guidance on the interview process please click here

Successful candidate who meet the required standard will be invited to a second interview assessment in line with the Civil Service Success Profile Framework and the Government Communications Service (GCS) competencies. Interviews will take place over two stages.

Stage 2 – Second Stage Interview:

Second stage interview will be held via MS Team. At interview stage, you will be assessed against Technical, Strengths and Behaviours.

Making Effective Decisions

Communicating and Influencing

Working Together

Delivering at Pace

Level of Clearance

To apply for this role, you will be required to successfully complete Counter Terrorism Check (CTC level as a condition of appointment. To meet these requirements, you will normally need to have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years. For further information please click here

Salary details

New recruits to the Civil Service joining MoJ are expected to join at the band minimum.

Existing Civil Servants applying on promotion, will usually be appointed on the salary minimum of the new pay band, or receive an increase of 10 percent on the current base salary, whichever is higher (This is restricted to the pay maximum of the new band).

Travel requirements

There will be a requirement to travel frequently to any HMCTS site in line with business needs.

Proud to Serve. Proud to keep justice going.