Who we are

Do you want to help create digital public services that improve lives?

We’re an employee-owned agency of technology, design and delivery experts who work exclusively with public and third sector organisations to build usable and accessible digital services that fit seamlessly into user’s lives.

We help organisations like the NHS, the Department for Education, and Citizens Advice spend less money on technology, so that they can spend more on helping the most vulnerable. We aim not only to produce better services, but to radically and permanently improve people’s interactions with government to make it a better instrument of good.

Recent projects include getting teacher training materials online during COVID, supporting rehabilitation of people leaving prison and many more. We’re also proud to have supported critical national infrastructure, keeping the NHS England website online during the pandemic.

One of the things that makes us different is that we recently became employee-owned, so we are not beholden to external shareholders, and are protected against being taken over by private equity. It also means we can prioritise being an inclusive employer, reducing our impact on the planet, and working in the open.

About the development team

Our development team is currently 18 people from a wide range of backgrounds.

Our Playbook setting out our approach to development is open source, so take a look at:

• Our development team principles

• How we do development

• Being a tech lead at dxw

As our work is for the public good, we like to publish all of the code that we write. We also try to use the right technology for the problem at hand, for example: here is our Ruby on Rails code for the department of Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, we used Python for The National Archives, and we publish our Typescript and Kotlin code for the Ministry of Justice.

What you'll be doing

This is a hands-on software development role. You'll build web applications and services in multidisciplinary project teams with a range of clients in various stages of digital transformation.

You’ll be the tech lead on small projects, with two or three developers in total, proactively sharing your knowledge and expertise with others. You’ll ensure the work of your team is driven by user needs, and will support your team to carry out high quality work. 

As well as delivering software, you’ll participate in user research sessions, design workshops, and other activities to help identify problems and then create and implement the right solutions.

When you have downtime during and between projects, you’ll work with others on the team to build and maintain our internal software and tools. You’ll also be involved in team and whole company away days, regular team forums and discussions, incident reviews, and other team activities.

We publish our progression framework openly so you can see what your career path could be. We’ll always encourage and support your growth, but we won’t push you towards advancement you don’t want.

About you

You want to deliver public digital services that improve the lives of the people who need them.

You’ve worked on at least one software project that has had contact with the public and understand some of the challenges involved in the development of live services.

You have a good understanding of how to write production software, a working knowledge of Git or similar version control software, and know or are willing to learn some of the technologies we use as you come across them on the job.

You write tests as a normal part of your software development work and document and share the things you learn with others.

You enjoy variety in your work, like the idea of working on a series of different projects in different domains, and are comfortable working through fuzzy problems.

Working with us

We have people based all around the UK. Some of us work almost entirely remotely, whilst others get together in person in our Leeds HQ and our London office in King’s Cross. We provide Macbooks and use Slack and Google apps to work together.

We’re committed to making our teams as diverse as we can and to creating an environment where everyone feels included and can be themselves. We welcome non-traditional paths into technology and aim to hire the right person for the role, not some combination of keywords. We especially encourage candidates historically excluded from technology to apply.

How to apply

We use a system called Applied for hiring to try and remove as much bias from selecting someone as we can.

You don’t need a CV or cover letter. Instead, we’ll ask you to provide written answers to a few short questions related to the work you’d do on the job.

Our tech team will review them without knowing who you are, and if you score well we’ll invite you to a structured interview, and then a work simulation (no whiteboard exercises!).