Join us and become a leader of a fast-paced team fighting serious and organised crime across the UK. If you like a challenge and enjoy a varied workday, you’ll feel at home here.

At the NCA we put our people first, providing opportunities for you to grow and succeed as individuals and working together as part of a team. We’ll look to you to be actively involved in our professional communities and champion learning.

We are looking for experienced leaders who inspire and encourage others and are ready to make their mark on achieving our ambition of putting data exploitation at the heart of our fight against serious and organised crime.

Job description

As a Senior Software Engineer in NDEC you are responsible for leading a multi-functional team to design, develop and support the running of NDEC systems, ensuring secure, stable, and reliable data systems.

You will also support the Data Lab Lead in shaping and setting the strategic and technical direction for the NDEC technical team and regularly identify and gather insights into new tools, data technologies and methodologies that could be obtained and utilised to expand and develop NDEC capabilities.

You’ll be working at the cutting edge of law enforcement on next-generation projects to help catch the criminals that pose the biggest threat to the UK.

This role is vital in ensuring our operational staff have the right tools, software and systems to exploit the latest serious and organised crime threats. NDEC is a fast-paced environment and our teams work collaboratively and creatively to build and manage software that solves exciting, unique and challenging operational problems.

To be considered, you will need to successfully complete an SC Enhanced clearance before commencing the role with the ability to obtain a DV clearance within the first 12 months in post.

***All NCA officers must hold SC Enhanced upon entry as a minimum. To meet the National Security Vetting requirements for this role you will need to have resided in the UK for a minimum of 3 out of the past 5 years. For more information please see the Candidate information Pack***
 

Responsibilities

What will I be doing?
• Technical Leadership: Lead a multi-functional team to design, develop and run NDEC systems, providing support to intelligence-led enforcement activity through new tools and ways of working with data. Provide technical knowledge and expertise to inform the development of custom applications and NDEC software management / maintenance activities.
• Programming and Build: Lead on the development of data management systems and custom applications: designing, coding testing and documenting programs or scripts, using the right standards and tools to ensure quality team delivery. Oversee the configuration, integration, stabilisation and productionisation of custom applications.
• Data Service Delivery: Lead the delivery of data services that are automated, reliable, and secure; designing automation in data including writing infrastructure as code.
• Service Support: Oversee maintenance and support of NDEC services, providing first and second-line support to NDEC customers for any incidents or issues.
• Service Optimisation: Analyse existing processes to identify and implement opportunities to optimise process and deliver service improvements.
• Quality Assurance and testing: Oversee quality assurance for the team, ensuring methods are documented and work is reviewed so that coding practices and standards are consistently maintained. Manage the implementation of effective testing.
• Strategic Thinking: Hold a strategic view of DevOps strategies, software products and components to inform departmental decision-making.
• Coaching: Provide guidance and support to the technical team members, helping them scope solutions and pursue new ways of working with data and tools.
• Communication: Build working relationships with colleagues across the technical community to develop skills and cross-functional working.
• Collaboration: Share and disseminate knowledge and findings across the broader technical and NCA community as appropriate.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Making Effective Decisions
• Developing Self and Others
• Changing and Improving
• Delivering at Pace
• Seeing the Big Picture
• Leadership

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Provide strategic direction to enable the design, build, integration, test and maintenance of data management systems.
• Excellent software development skills and knowledge of at least one of the following object-oriented programming languages: C++, C#, Python, Java.
• Experience in quality assuring the technical work of the team or colleagues, challenging assumptions and providing support and coordination across systems.

Security

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is Security Check (SC)

Medical

Successful candidates will be expected to have a medical.