Website Developer (Drupal)

At Forestry England we care for more land and trees than any other organisation in England. From small woodlands on the fringes of towns and cities, to vast areas like the ancient New Forest, for over 100 years we have been growing, shaping and caring for the nation’s forests.
The scale of what we do puts us in a unique position to tackle some of today’s big issues. We are at the forefront of the climate crisis, using the latest scientific research to plan and plant forests which will survive in a changing climate.
We are the largest provider of outdoor recreation in the country with over 363 million visits last year – providing spaces for people to boost their health/wellbeing.
We supply England’s largest amount of sustainably-sourced timber, and we conserve thousands of plant and animal species, increasing the biodiversity of our landscapes.
The role
Forestry England’s website is at the heart of our business - providing a quality user journey for all of our audiences, from mountain bikers and runners, to families, volunteers and timber buyers. As part of the web team, you will be at the core of shaping the website and influencing its development to drive more people to the nation’s forests.
As part of this role you will responsible for ongoing technical enhancement and maintenance of the website and supporting services, designing and developing responsive, high-quality digital solutions to drive positive and effective engagement with all our products and services., + Engage in project assessment and scoping to help ensure that appropriate technical possibilities are explored.
+ Take an active role in the design process from understanding requirements to reviewing and challenging wireframes, prototypes and final designs.
+ Create high-quality, accessible and responsive functionality by working to industry standards and through team participation and code reviews.
+ Ensure Forestry England’s website, and associated technology are always fully operational.
+ Identify further opportunities for developing the website in-line with strategic objectives.
+ Keep abreast of new web and mobile technologies, recommending best practice, suggesting areas for improvement and advising the organisation accordingly.
+ Support internal teams to manage the website using the content management system.
+ Manage external development from a technical and administrative point of view, provided by a digital agency., This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Stage 1 – Application sift
As part of the application process you will be asked to complete a CV and a personal statement (up to 750 words). Further details around what this will entail are listed on the application form.
At sift stage, you will be assessed on your experience in line with the essential skills listed in the person specification section of the job advert.
+ A CV setting out your career history, highlighting specific responsibilities and achievements that are relevant for this role. Please relate your experience to this specific role.
+ A Personal Statement (no more than 750 words) explaining how your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the essential criteria in the experience.
The CV and Personal Statement will be assessed against the essential skills and experience outlined in the person specification section. Desirable Experience will only be assessed in the event of a tie to make an informed decision.
If you are successful at application sift stage, your application will be progressed onto Stage 2 part of the Selection process.
Stage 2 - The Interview
The interview will be a 2 part process:
1. Completion of a practical technical assessment
2. During the second part of the interview, you will be asked questions to demonstrate, how you meet each of the skills and person specification in the advert. Candidates will also be invited to share a portfolio of their work if selected for interview.
Sift and Interview dates to be confirmed.
Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift may be conducted using the CV. Candidates who pass the initial sift may be progressed to a full sift, or progressed straight to assessment/interview.
Further Information
A reserve list may be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.
Any move to Forestry from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments. You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk
If successful and transferring from another Government Department a criminal record check may be carried out.
In order to process applications without delay, we will be sending a Criminal Record Check to Disclosure and Barring Service on your behalf.
However, we recognise in exceptional circumstances some candidates will want to send their completed forms direct. If you will be doing this, please advise Government Recruitment Service of your intention by emailing Pre-EmploymentChecks.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk stating the job reference number in the subject heading.
New entrants are expected to join on the minimum of the pay band.
This role is full time only. Applicants who wish to work an alternative pattern are welcome to apply however your preferred working pattern may not be available and you should discuss this with the vacancy holder before applying.
Reasonable Adjustment
If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes.
If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should:
Contact Government Recruitment Service via FCERecruitment.grs@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs.
Complete the ‘Assistance required’ 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 you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security
Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

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) (opens in a new window)
+ 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 (opens in a new window)

Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

+ Delivering large, professional websites and digital projects, using Drupal.
+ Commercial experience working with LAMP / LEMP technology stack.
+ Full-stack development experience (OO PHP, HTML, CSS, JS).
+ Experience using Git in a team environment.
+ Excellent communication skills. You must be comfortable communicating effectively with technical and non-technical team members, stakeholders and external partners.
+ Full lifecycle involvement. Scoping work through to testing, deployment and support. Happy working as a sole developer and also managing external development from a requirements and technical review point of view.
+ Working collaboratively with a digital agency to ensure accessibility and security is compliant at all times.
+ Knowledge of open data platforms or API integrations.
Desirable skills and experience
+ Commercial experience building Drupal 10 websites.
+ Experience with cross-browser and cross-platform testing, including some automated testing.
+ Working in a containerised development environment, ideally Docker based. We use Docksal.
+ Experience working with a CSS preprocessor such as SASS or LESS (In terms of front end, (WIG would also be useful).
+ Knowledge of web accessibility best-practice.
+ Experience working in an Agile environment, especially knowledge of Kanban or Scrum.
+ Managing a team’s development with a git and gitflow approach (ideally using Bitbucket).
+ An ability to mock-up screenshots for stakeholders to evaluate new front-end designs.
+ Experience with any PHP debugger (we use xdebug).
+ Experience of some kind of project management system, ideally JIRA., + Changing and Improving
+ Communicating and Influencing
+ Working Together
+ Delivering at Pace

Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
+ A practical technical assessment will be made available as part of the interview, to be completed on the day.

Alongside your salary of £47,252, Forestry Commission contributes £13,688 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.
Forestry England is a great place to work. We help all our employees to achieve their best – actively encouraging learning and development. We support everyone to achieve a healthy work-life balance, offering flexi-time and blended working where possible.
We offer 25 days annual leave (rising to 30 days after 5 years) and 10.5 days public/ additional holidays (pro rata). On top of this we offer a wealth of other benefits such as the cycle to work scheme, discounted health plans and a range of retail discounts as well as free entry/ parking to all our sites.
And because we are part of the Civil Service, you will benefit from the option to pay into the Civil Service pension scheme. You can also take advantage of other benefits such as the Civil Service Sports Council and the Civil Service Motoring Association Club.
Other benefits include:
+ Learning and development tailored to your role.
+ An environment with flexible working options.
+ A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
+ A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%.
Other
This is a full-time role for 37 hours per week, which will normally be worked from Monday to Friday each week. However, the nature of the work includes requirement for some rostered working to cover work on some weekends, public and privilege holidays and evenings (with the exception of Christmas Day).
Hybrid working will be considered for this role, with a minimum of 1 day per week in the national office in Bristol.
As the post involves dealing with contacts across England, some travel with occasional stays away from home is a requirement of this post.