Software developers

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Head of profession

Setting the vision and strategy for the profession across the department
Collaborate with the wider department to ensure that the vision for the profession aligns to the wider needs of the department
Creating a plan and roadmap to build and strengthen the professional capability and excellence
Working across government and the sector to ensure a cohesive approach for the profession, creating opportunities for collaboration through existing networks or setting up new networks where they don’t exist
Hold authority to ensure that specialists are able to contribute towards building the profession and participate in communities, backed by DDT Committee
Raising the profile of the profession across the department
Develop an attraction and retention strategy, to grow professional capability in the department

Is the expert practitioner in their field, with a high level of knowledge and experience of current and new methodologies/strategies/technologies/techniques and a track record of delivery
Retains an element of practice of their profession to keep their skills sharp and to work towards strategic departmental objectives
For example, unblocking delivery, product strategies, content strategies, architectural designs and patterns, etc.

Developing professional communities to support our people to grow, establish professional standards and consistency, support rapid delivery through sharing and learning from one another
Working cross-government and externally to build connections into professional communities
Working with other Heads of Profession on cross-cutting objectives, and in related professions within their job family

Creating accessible knowledge, standards and practice, to set good conditions for people in their professions to work effectively, and ensuring they are well enforced through service assessments
Being the guardian of quality and standards of the practitioners within the profession, owning and setting the principles and policies of the profession
Lead by example in the application of standards
Grow the assessor pool in the profession, to assure service delivery and build profession sustainability

Building and growing a forward-thinking and diverse team within the profession
Building the professional capability across the department
Define the competency, professional practice, skills profile and expertise expectations at different grades across the profession
Setting the approach for recruitment, onboarding, retention, graduate pipelines, diversification
Developing the capability framework for professional development of people in their specialism, and tracking capability

Establishing close relationships with all delivery teams to understand their needs and challenges, and to be able to identify areas of profession-related join-up*
Advising and consulting for the senior leadership team on questions relating to the profession
Providing consulting support for programmes with performance issues or where a particular specialism is lacking or causing delivery issues
Feed up-to-date capability information into the workforce plan
Making evidenced based decisions on the tools, platforms, services and content that best supports professions across the department

* Responsibility for delivery or a role in making business decisions is not explicitly included. This may differ by profession.