Digital, Data and Technology Person Specification – Band B & C

Job Title Software Developer

Contract Type This is a permanent and pensionable appointment

Business Area Directorate for Organisational Readiness

Main Location St. Andrew’s House, , EH1 3DG

Salary £30,652- £35,110

Profession / Specialism Digital, Data and Technology

This post is part of the DDaT profession.

It attracts a £4000 DDaT Pay Supplement after a 9 month DDaT Profession competency qualifying period. Pay supplements are temporary Pay Supplement and payments designed to address recruitment and retention issues Professional caused by market pressures and are subject to regular review. Development

As a member of the profession you will join the Professional Development Scheme, currently BCS RoleModelplus. You can apply for any job in the Scottish Government as long as you are a UK national or have dual nationality with one part being British. Nationality In addition, Scottish Government posts are open to Commonwealth Requirements citizens and nationals of any of the member states of the European Economic Area (EEA). Further information about civil service nationality requirements is available on the Civil Service Website. This is a full time vacancy, however applications from people wishing Working Pattern to work an alternative working pattern will be considered.

Applicants claiming a guaranteed interview will be invited for further Guaranteed Interview assessment should they meet the minimum essential criteria listed in Scheme this document.

In the event that further posts are required, a reserve list of successful Reserve List candidates will be kept for up to 6 months.

Scottish Government Recruitment Team, F Spur | Saughton House | Edinburgh | EH11 3XD, Digital, Data and Technology Person Specification – Band B & C

Further information on the post is available from Iona who can be contacted at [email protected]

Further Information If you have any queries relating to your eligibility on the grounds of Nationality or Qualifications, or if you have any difficulty applying for this role, please contact [email protected].

Information about the Business Area This post sits in the Directorate Operational Readiness in the Covid Analysis Division, working on the Covid Response. The role will carry out important work to support our Covid response by providing Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP) support to analysts across government and, particularly, to the Covid19 modelling team. Outwith this Covid work, this post is an important part of the transformation we are driving around data science and analytical practice across government to improve the way in which are used to inform policy and practice.

Information about the Role In this role you will work with team members and other stakeholders to develop and embed Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAPs) to help with the COVID response.

RAPs are about automating the production of statistical outputs using DevOps to improve the efficiency, robustness and sustainability of the process. This will free up time for more in-depth data analysis to generate new insights and benefit people in . For example, a recent successful RAP project involved the automation of generation of tables in a regular statistical publication; another successful RAP project involved the automation of the quality assurance of an annual data collection from all 32 of Scotland’s local authorities by building a R Shiny app that local authorities can interface with directly.

You will support a portfolio of RAP projects through different stages of their lifecycle. You will act as a developer and consultant to analysts involved in the COVID response. You will work with analysts (mainly statisticians) as well as IT and policy colleagues.

Scottish Government Recruitment Team, F Spur | Saughton House | Edinburgh | EH11 3XD, Digital, Data and Technology Person Specification – Band B & C

Specific Duties Carry out a variety of tasks depending on the project, so: • Analyse business/policy needs to design an appropriate analytical pipeline • Assess legacy analytical pipeline (which typically involves SAS, Excel, and manual operations) • Advise on methodological and technical solutions appropriate for this business area • Develop prototype (typically using R, SQL databases and Git, potentially Python and other tools depending on the business area) and evaluate • Scale up and move to production environment • Ensure the project stays on track usually following Agile-lite principles. • Throughout the project, transfer your skills before handing over, in order to build a sustainable RAP capability in that business area

Carry out broader activities supporting the Scottish Government’s data innovation agenda such as: • Develop shared resources such as R packages to support RAPs and provide guidance on their use to Analytical Services Divisions within the Scottish Government and other public bodies • Champion RAPs in the organisation, and participate in internal and external outreach events • Build a profile as a RAP expert in the organisation, advising and mentoring other analysts • Input to the development of an analytical workbench for analytical staff that offers a range of software tools and data repository producing documentation to help users. • Contribute to the work of the UK cross-government RAP champions network and represent the Scottish Government in Government Statistical Service RAP Champions meetings.

Essential Criteria 1. Experience of delivering high quality code using best practice methodologies and tools (version control, test-driven development, DevOps more generally). 2. Experience working with SQL databases and R programming and ability to quickly learn other programming languages and tools. 3. Ability to work in a multidisciplinary, blended project team; to communicate with an audience who may not share your technical background; and to build effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders. 4. Take responsibility for planning your work; making decisions, solving problems and dealing with challenges to deliver multiple high-quality pieces of work to deadlines.

Scottish Government Recruitment Team, F Spur | Saughton House | Edinburgh | EH11 3XD, Digital, Data and Technology Person Specification – Band B & C

Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) in Scottish Government

This is a crucial time for digital, data and technology specialists as government harnesses digital technologies, skills and tools to transform public services. The DDaT Function comprises around 18,000 digital, data and technology colleagues across UK and devolved governments, and it is rapidly scaling up nationwide in the face of a rapidly changing society and circumstances.

Find out more about Digital, Data and Technology Profession in Scottish Government on gov.scot

Find out more about the UK wide Digital, Data and Technology Profession on GOV.UK

Scottish Government Recruitment Team, F Spur | Saughton House | Edinburgh | EH11 3XD, Digital, Data and Technology Person Specification – Band B & C

Application Process To apply for this post, you will need to provide the information requested below via the online application process. These must be combined into one document as the system can only accept a single document upload per application.

 You should submit a CV (no more than 2 sides of A4) and a personal statement (no more than 750 words).

 Your CV and personal statement should include your career history and other relevant self-taught/non-work-related experiences that are relevant to the essential criteria for the role. Please also include detail of your responsibilities and achievements.

You should tailor your CV and personal statement to reflect the role you are applying for and clearly outline that you have the essential skills and criteria needed for the job.

Failure to submit a single combined document (CV and personal statement) will mean the panel only have limited information on which to assess your application against the essential criteria.

When reviewing your application we will be assessing your career history and achievements against the essential criteria for the role. We’re looking for examples of things you have previously achieved or your knowledge in a particular field which are relevant to the role.

Where the criteria states that you must hold a qualification, you need only state that you do or do not hold the qualification and provide any other information you feel relevant.

We would recommend that you prepare your answers before you begin the online application process.

Scottish Government Recruitment Team, F Spur | Saughton House | Edinburgh | EH11 3XD, Digital, Data and Technology Person Specification – Band B & C

Competencies Required

All roles in the Digital, Data and Technology profession are aligned to the DDaT Competency Framework. This role is aligned to DDaT Job Role in the Technical job family.

If you are selected to attend an assessment, we will ask you to complete a technical assessment and an interview as part of the processes. You will be tested against the technical competencies appropriate for the role as detailed on the framework.

The Skills for Success Competencies required for this role are shown below. You will be tested against these competencies at interview.

 Analysis and use of evidence  Communications and engagement  Improving performance  Self-awareness

Scottish Government Competencies (PDF) Competencies for Band B Roles (PDF)

Scottish Government Recruitment Team, F Spur | Saughton House | Edinburgh | EH11 3XD,