JOB SUMMARY

The Senior Software Developer / Ruby Specialist role is pivotal to the future success of Gov Wi-Fi, the UK’s government-wide Wi-Fi authentication service.
As a highly skilled Ruby developer and technical lead, you will drive continuous improvement of Gov Wi-fi’s platform, ensuring a secure, scalable, and reliable service that meets SLA targets for millions of authentications monthly.
You will collaborate closely with SREs to maintain 100% uptime and operational resilience, lead automation efforts in certificate management, and innovate solutions for large-scale onboarding challenges, including major public sector organisations like the NHS.
In this role, you will mentor junior developers and foster a culture of agile delivery, quality code, and user-centric design. Ideal candidates have deep Ruby and Rails expertise, experience with AWS cloud deployment, CI/CD, and a proven track record in digital service resilience and security.
If you’re passionate about improving public services through technology and thrive in collaborative, fast-paced environments, this role offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of secure government Wi-Fi.

JOB DESCRIPTION

As the Senior Software Developer and Ruby Specialist on the Gov Wi-Fi team, you will take technical ownership of the mission-critical Ruby-based platform that enables secure Wi-Fi access across the UK public sector. Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:

• Leading the development and delivery of scalable, robust Ruby on Rails applications to support service growth and operational resilience.
• Collaborating closely with Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) and product leadership to maintain 100% service uptime and meet SLAs through proactive incident management and response.
• Designing, implementing, and automating key operational processes such as certificate rotation, deployment pipelines, and system monitoring.
• Serving as the technical escalation point for complex incidents, working to diagnose and resolve issues swiftly to minimise service disruption.
• Architecting and delivering solutions that support onboarding of large and complex clients, including pilot projects to enhance seamless WiFi experiences.
• Driving improvements to disaster recovery capabilities, security remediations, and platform monitoring, ensuring high resilience and compliance with IT health check standards.
• Mentoring and providing hands-on guidance to junior developers and cross-functional colleagues, fostering a culture of collaboration, code quality, and continuous improvement.
• Translating the product vision and strategic goals into clear, actionable technical tasks and sprint deliverables in partnership with the Product Manager.
• Staying abreast of emerging trends and innovations, including AI-based enhancements, to continuously evolve the platform and user experience.
• Supporting broader service modernisation initiatives and transitions involving technology migrations and integrations with key external tools.
• Preparing reports and briefings on technical progress, risks, and incidents for product leadership and central government stakeholders.

This role offers a unique opportunity to combine expert Ruby development skills with leadership responsibilities, influencing the future of a vital digital public service while working in a supportive, agile, and innovative environment.

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

• Expert in Ruby development and Rails framework.
• Proficiency in AWS and modern CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience configuring automation for security (certificates, updates).
• Knowledge of infrastructure-as-code and cloud monitoring.
• Familiarity with incident response and resilience strategies.

QUALIFICATIONS

Ruby and Ruby on Rails

TECHNICAL SKILLS

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

• Expertise in Ruby and Ruby on Rails
• Certificate Management
• Integration with Third-Party APIs and Tools
• Emerging Technologies & AI Proof-of-Concepts
• AWS Cloud: (Deployment using IaC with Terraform.

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

• Expertise in Ruby and Ruby on Rails

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements

As the Senior Software Developer and Ruby Specialist on the Gov Wi-Fi team, you will take technical ownership of the mission-critical Ruby-based platform that enables secure Wi-Fi access across the UK public sector. Your day-to-day responsibilities will include:

• Leading the development and delivery of scalable, robust Ruby on Rails applications to support service growth and operational resilience.
• Collaborating closely with Site Reliability Engineers (SREs) and product leadership to maintain 100% service uptime and meet SLAs through proactive incident management and response.
• Designing, implementing, and automating key operational processes such as certificate rotation, deployment pipelines, and system monitoring.
• Serving as the technical escalation point for complex incidents, working to diagnose and resolve issues swiftly to minimise service disruption.
• Architecting and delivering solutions that support onboarding of large and complex clients, including pilot projects to enhance seamless WiFi experiences.
• Driving improvements to disaster recovery capabilities, security remediations, and platform monitoring, ensuring high resilience and compliance with IT health check standards.
• Mentoring and providing hands-on guidance to junior developers and cross-functional colleagues, fostering a culture of collaboration, code quality, and continuous improvement.
• Translating the product vision and strategic goals into clear, actionable technical tasks and sprint deliverables in partnership with the Product Manager.
• Staying abreast of emerging trends and innovations, including AI-based enhancements, to continuously evolve the platform and user experience.
• Supporting broader service modernisation initiatives and transitions involving technology migrations and integrations with key external tools.
• Preparing reports and briefings on technical progress, risks, and incidents for product leadership and central government stakeholders