Are you starting your career in software engineering and want to work on automation solutions that improve lives?
If so, The Garage has an exciting opportunity for you to work on automation solutions that directly improve services used by millions of citizens.
The Garage, DWP's strategic automation team, has built over 75 solutions that have processed over 50 million transactions in the last 8 years. Recognised as a government leader in intelligent automation, The Garage is also acknowledged as leading the way across industry.
As a Junior Software Engineer, you will work closely with experienced software engineers to build your technical skills. Your focus will be on learning modern development practices, delivering high-quality code, and contributing to automation solutions that make a real
difference.
As a Junior Software Engineer in The Garage reporting to a Software Engineer, you will develop features and components for automation solutions within a single scrum team. You will be assigned a specific mentor who will guide your development, while also working with multiple technical colleagues across different levels to broaden your skills.
The Garage team is primarily co-located, creating a strong collaborative environment that supports effective hybrid working and regular in-person interactions.
You'll be joining at an exciting time as we scale our technical capabilities to support rapid growth in automation solutions across DWP. We focus on modern automation approaches using cloud-native APIs and emerging Agentic AI technologies, using RPA where required for legacy applications. Your focus will be predominantly on building new solutions and features from the ground up, with minimal time spent on existing system enhancements. You'll be building strong coding fundamentals, learning AWS and automation technologies, and delivering quality features under guidance. Recent projects include agent-facing web applications, robotic process automation for case processing, and AI-based communication triage.
You will learn by doing, working on real automation solutions and receiving support from senior engineers through pairing, code reviews, and regular mentoring sessions.
To ensure products meet the highest quality standards, you will work with modern cloud architectures and, where applicable, robotic process automation and AI/ML technologies.
You'll have access to modern tools and equipment: We plan and track work in Jira, we document in Confluence, we communicate using Teams and Slack, we commit, build and deploy code with GitLab, we use Amazon Web Services (AWS) as our cloud platform, and we do it all on MacBook Pro devices.
To support you in your role, you'll have access to some fantastic learning and development resources; conferences with industry expert speakers, comprehensive instructor-led training, and subscriptions to digital training solutions such as Cloud Academy. You'll also have access to support through direct Slack channels with our partners such as AWS, UiPath and MongoDB for day-to-day learning and problem-solving. The Garage has a strong track record of recognising and developing talent, with engineers progressing based on merit and demonstrated performance.
Responsibilities include:
When giving details in your employment history and personal statement you should highlight your experience in line with essential criteria below:
If you would like to learn more about the role, please contact aisha.gultasab@dwp.gov.uk
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
We also have a broad benefits package built around your work-life balance which includes:
Hybrid Working
This role may be suitable for hybrid working, which is where an employee works part of the week in their DWP office and part of the week from home. This is a voluntary, non-contractual arrangement and your office will be your contractual place of work.
If a hybrid working arrangement is suitable for the role and for you, you will normally be required to spend a minimum of 60% of your contracted working hours from your DWP office.
If you have a disability, caring responsibilities, or other circumstances that may affect your ability to meet the minimum office attendance requirement, please discuss this with us using the contact details in this advert.
Salary Information
New entrants to the Civil Service will join on band minimum.
Existing Civil Servants who secure a new role on lateral transfer will maintain their current substantive salary.
Existing Civil Servants who gain promotion will move to the bottom of the grade pay scale or receive a 10% increase applied to their current substantive salary, whichever is greater.
Any temporary allowances that you are currently in receipt of will not form part of the calculation to determine your pay. Any allowances that are in payment will cease when you move into your new role.
Stage 1: Application
Your application will consist of four parts:
1. A Personal Details application form.
2. Employment history - this should contain your work experience and any skills, qualifications and accomplishments relevant to the jobs you have completed based on the essential criteria.
3. Personal statement - up to 750 words. This statement should be used to provide examples of how you meet the essential criteria listed in the Person specification.
4.Behaviour statement (up to 250 words each). These include:
Ensure that all examples provided in your statement are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. If you choose to use gen-AI to support your statement, you must follow the guidelines outlined in the Artificial intelligence and recruitment guide.
The sift panel will use the information in your employment history personal statement and behaviour statements to assess your experience, skills and knowledge against the essential criteria.
For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.
Important Information
Stage 2: Interview
If youre successful at sift stage you will be invited to a face to face interview at:
DWP Digital, Benton Park View, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE98 1YX
There, you will be assessed against the experiences listed in the essential criteria.
You will be assessed against the following Behaviours:
Interviews will take place from the end of July 2026 / early August 2026. Interview dates to be confirmed.
Other information:
If high application volumes are received, the benchmark for candidates to proceed to the next stage may be raised. In line with our commitment to the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), we aim to advance all candidates applying under the DCS who meet the minimum standard. However, we may only progress those candidates who best meet the required standards.
All successful candidates and those placed on reserve will be posted in merit list order by location.
For these vacancies, we strongly recommend that applicants consult with an immigration specialist or qualified advisor to assess their eligibility for Visa Sponsorship before deciding to apply. Please note that while we consider sponsorship requests in accordance with current DWP guidance and Home Office policy, sponsorship cannot be guaranteed.
Further Information
Find out more about Working for DWP
For Hints and Tips on completing your application visit Applying for jobs at DWP Digital.
A reserve list may be held for a period of 6 months from which further appointments can be made.
Reserve list candidates will be posted in merit order by location.
Reasonable Adjustment
At DWP we value diversity and inclusion and actively encourage and welcome applications from everyone, including those that are underrepresented in our workforce.
We consider visible and non-visible disabilities, neurodiversity or learning differences, chronic medical conditions, or mental ill health. Examples include dyslexia, epilepsy, autism, chronic fatigue, or schizophrenia.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact Government Recruitment Service via DigitalRecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the Reasonable Adjustments section in the Additional requirements page of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if youre deaf, a Language Service Professional.
For further information on reasonable adjustments, terms and conditions and how we recruit visit the How we recruit page.
The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. Please ensure that all examples provided in your application are taken directly from your own experience and that you describe the examples in your own words. Applications will be screened and if evidence of plagiarism or copying examples/answers from other sources is found, your application will be withdrawn. Internal DWP candidates may also face disciplinary action.
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