Head of Software Development - HM Land Registry - G6

Location

Plymouth, South West England, PL6 5WS

About the job

Job summary

We are seeking a strategic and experienced Head of Software Development to lead and shape the software development practice at HM Land Registry. This is a senior leadership role accountable for ensuring the delivery of high-quality, secure and maintainable software that supports critical services underpinning the property market in England and Wales.

You will lead a large, complex engineering community, driving excellence in delivery, strengthening capability, and ensuring the right tools, standards and approaches are in place to enable teams to succeed. This role also plays a vital part in supporting systems that form part of the UK’s critical national infrastructure.

Job description

As Head of Software Development, you will provide clear, inclusive and visible leadership across the engineering community, setting the direction for how software is designed, built and delivered at HM Land Registry. You will be responsible for the effectiveness of the software development practice, including managing risk, dependencies and capacity, while ensuring alignment with organisational priorities and government standards.

Working collaboratively across disciplines, you will help create an environment where teams can thrive, innovate and continuously improve. You will champion modern engineering practices, support career development and internal mobility, and represent HM Land Registry within the wider Government Digital and Data profession.

Main Duties

• Lead the Software Development practice, setting standards, principles and ways of working that support the delivery of high-quality, secure and maintainable software.
• Define and maintain guidance on team structures, tools, technologies and engineering practices, ensuring alignment with organisational strategy and policy.
• Act as a visible and credible leader, building a cohesive, inclusive and high-performing engineering culture across the organisation.
• Work collaboratively with other disciplines to enable effective cross-functional delivery and maintain alignment across professional practices.
• Build and maintain relationships with the Government Digital and Data profession, promoting HM Land Registry and sharing best practice.
• Improve the effectiveness of the software development practice through the use of performance metrics, continuous improvement and the management of reusable engineering assets such as components, libraries and services.
• Take ownership of high-level risks, dependencies and capability gaps, using your technical expertise to guide complex delivery and support modern engineering practices.
• Lead workforce planning, recruitment and capability development, ensuring the organisation has the skills and capacity required now and in the future.
• Shape career pathways, support professional development and enable internal mobility across the engineering community.
• Ensure effective use of permanent and contingent resource, including contractors where appropriate.
• Identify, test and champion emerging technologies to support innovation and continuous improvement across the organisation.

Key Role Benefits

HM Land Registry offers a supportive and inclusive working environment, with a strong focus on wellbeing, development and flexible working.

You will benefit from:

• A competitive Civil Service salary and pension scheme
• Generous annual leave allowance and public holidays
• Flexible and hybrid working options to support work-life balance
• Access to learning and development opportunities, including professional accreditation and leadership development
• The opportunity to work on systems and services that support the UK’s critical national infrastructure
• A collaborative and values-driven culture where your contribution makes a meaningful impact

Additional Requirements

• Occasional travel to other HM Land Registry offices, wider government locations or external partners, including overnight stays where necessary.
• Occasional planned out-of-hours working to support IT changes and maintenance activities.
• This role does not currently involve a permanent on-call rota; however, there may be short periods of on-call working linked to specific operational requirements.

Person specification

To be successful in this role, you will be required to demonstrate the following criteria throughout the recruitment process.

Essential Experience:

• Significant experience leading software development at scale, including full lifecycle delivery across complex systems and services.
• Strong technical expertise in modern software engineering practice, including programming, systems design, development standards and continuous integration.
• Experience of senior development or engineering management and leadership at departmental or organisational level.
• Demonstrable ability to manage risk, dependencies, capacity and capability within a complex delivery environment.
• Proven ability to build high-performing teams, shape career development and foster a collaborative engineering culture.
• Ability to influence at senior level, work effectively across organisational boundaries and align software delivery with strategic goals and policy.
• Good understanding of information security, service support, systems integration and development process optimisation.

For further information please see the attached job description.