The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office pursues our national interests and projects the UK’s role in the world. We promote the interests of British citizens, safeguard the UK’s security, defend our values, reduce poverty and tackle global challenges with our international partners. We employ more than 17,000 staff in 179 countries and territories, across our diplomatic and development offices worldwide, which consists of 282 officially designated Posts. Our UK-based staff work in King Charles Street, London, Abercrombie House in East Kilbride and Hanslope Park in Milton Keynes.

Digital, Technology and Security Directorate (DTaS) is responsible for delivering the Foreign Secretary’s ambition to make the FCDO the most technologically integrated and innovative foreign ministry globally. This means harnessing digital, data, technology, IT security and information management to support the FCDO and UK Government partners on our platform to deliver our diplomatic, development and consular aims. All while keeping our people and information safe, especially from hostile actors.

The work we do is varied – from historical analysis and library services to cyber protection, from information rights to global network management, from supporting staff in using the latest Microsoft toolsets, to creating corporate applications, harnessing AI and much more in line with the FCDO Digital, Data and Technology (DDaT) Strategy.

The Directorate is made up of a wide range of talented staff and experts including specialist, contractors, home civil servants and diplomats who have served overseas.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Digital Products and Services Department. We design, build and continuously improve digital products and services that enable the FCDO to operate effectively. Our work spans corporate functions and global platforms that support foreign policy, diplomacy and development aid.

As a relatively new team, we are building core capabilities to help FCDO become more digitally enabled. As we transition our internal systems, land new digital products and expand the scope of some of our existing digital platforms, we are building an expanded product function to design and integrate our products, spot efficiencies in existing processes and continuously improve our digital services to provide the best user experience.

As Lead Developer Technical you will be responsible for designing, running, and improving software that meets user needs. This involves writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach and creating code that is open by default and easy for others to reuse. You will be expected to guide and mentor other developers, ensuring that best practices are followed and that the team continuously improves. You will also play a crucial role in setting the technical direction, making important decisions on software architecture, and ensuring that the software solutions are scalable, maintainable and aligned with the overall goals of the organisation. By leveraging their expertise, the successful candidate will help deliver high-quality digital services that provide value to users and support the mission of the government.

You will be part of an integrated delivery environment and ingrained joint working with policy and operations. You will have access to a tailored Learning and Development offer, combining both Government Digital and Data Profession and FCDO subject matter opportunities.

Roles and Responsibilities

The successful candidate will:

• Provide technical guidance and direction to the development team. Helping identify appropriate technology and approaches and decide when software should be written.
• Mentor and support other developers, ensuring best practices are followed. Set technical direction and make the “build vs buy” calls.
• Ensure the quality of the codebase by conducting code reviews, maintaining comprehensive documentation and promoting best practices.
• Collaborate with product and delivery managers to define project scope, timelines, and deliverables.
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders to understand their requirements and provide updates on progress.
• Identify, Investigate and resolve technical issues that arise during the development process.
• Promote continuous improvement within the team by adopting new technologies and methodologies.

The FCDO also operates an agile workforce. To facilitate this, you may be required to undertake other duties from time to time as we may reasonably require.

Candidates who secure a role that is considered specialist/technical, may be required to affiliate to the relevant specialist network, if not already a member.

You may be required to travel in the UK with possible travel abroad, this will likely be monthly travel with any overseas trips agreed some time in advance.

You must be a British Citizen at the time of application and, if invited to interview, you will need to bring proof of identity (British Passport/Driving Licence etc.) with you.

This role requires you to attain Developed Vetting (DV) security clearance.

For more information about this process, click here. Attaining DV will require you to have been resident in the UK for five of the last ten years. At least one year of this must have been a consecutive twelve-month period. Serving overseas with HM Forces, in some other official capacity as a representative of His Majesty’s Government or having lived overseas as a result of your parents’ or partner’s Government employment counts as UK residency for the purposes of security clearances.

It is essential in your application that you provide evidence and proven examples in each of the following Minimum Criteria, the Behaviours and the Technical question as far as you are able to do so. These responses will be further developed and discussed with those candidates invited for interview.

Essential Criteria

• Demonstratable strong technical leadership with hands-on expertise across modern programming languages, frameworks, and tools, delivering high‑quality front‑end and back‑end software that meets organisational and user needs.
• Proven experience delivering and maintaining software using modern engineering practices, including continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, automated testing, and deployment, to enable reliable and frequent releases.
• Ability to lead, mentor, and support developers by providing constructive feedback, fostering collaboration, and building a high‑performing, inclusive engineering culture.
• Strong analytical and problem‑solving skills to identify complex technical and delivery issues and develop effective, pragmatic solutions.
• Ability to communicate complex technical concepts clearly and effectively to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, building strong relationships and managing expectations.
• Ability to manage competing priorities and deadlines while working in agile environments, adapting quickly to new technologies and continuously improving team performance to deliver value to users.

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

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service
• Making Effective Decisions

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Working Together
• Managing a Quality Service

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

• Developing Process Optimisation (Working Level)
• Modern Development Standards (Practitioner Level)
• Programming and Build (Practitioner Level)
• Systems Design (Practitioner Level)

We only ask for evidence of these technical skills on your application form:

• Developing Process Optimisation (Working Level)
• Modern Development Standards (Practitioner Level)

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• 25 days Annual Leave per annum.
• 9 days Public and Privilege holidays per annum.

See the attached candidate pack.

Job contact :

• Name : FCDO Recruitment Team
• Email : fcdorecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : fcdorecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk