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WE’RE RECRUITING

SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS

INFORMATION FOR APPLICANTS

The Assembly Commission is committed to equality of opportunity in employment and welcomes applications from all suitably qualified applicants irrespective of religious belief, political opinion, race, age, gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or people with dependants or without. All applications for employment will be considered on the basis of merit.

Background

The Northern Ireland Assembly Commission (Assembly Commission) is a corporate body established by section 40 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998.  It must provide the Assembly, or ensure that the Assembly is provided, with the property, staff and services required for the Assembly’s purposes. The Commission employs a Secretariat to serve the Assembly. The management structure of the Assembly Secretariat is illustrated on the Recruitment website.

The Information Systems Office (ISO) sits within the Parliamentary Services Directorate and provides the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems and services to support the business of the Assembly. There are at present fifteen staff in the ISO team supporting 650+ users including Assembly Members, their staff (including staff in Constituency Offices), Party support staff and Assembly Secretariat staff. Staff are predominantly Information Systems (IS) and Information Technology (IT) specialists and there are a small number of administrative staff.

The ISO supplies a full range of computing services to support the business and administration of the Assembly.   Bespoke software development is a key service, therefore, the ISO maintains a dedicated software development team with the primary focus of developing, maintaining and supporting Assembly systems. 

Most systems are deployed within the Assembly network, however, with the emergence of mobile and cloud technology, there has been a greater demand to develop bespoke systems that can be accessed from outside of Parliament Buildings. The ISO seeks to expand its software development team to help manage an increasing workload.

Location

The successful applicant will be based in Parliament Buildings, Belfast.

Completing the form

Only the information presented in the application form will be considered by the selection panel.  CVs or other supplementary material will not be accepted in place of, or in addition to, completed application forms. Completed online forms must be submitted by 12 noon on Friday 24 January 2020.

Application forms submitted after the closing time and date will not be accepted.

Stages of the Selection Process

The essential criteria reflect the experience and knowledge that an applicant must possess in order to be able to undertake the role. An eligibility sift will be carried out on the basis of the information contained in the essential criteria section of the application form. You must therefore demonstrate clearly in your form how, and to what extent, you meet with the essential criteria for the post. 

The selection panel reserve the right to use shortlisting as part of the selection process for this post. Should shortlisting be used, the shortlisting criterion listed in the Job Specification will be applied. The selection panel reserve the right to set a minimum standard for the shortlisting criterion which applicants must achieve in order to be invited to the interview stage of the selection process. If shortlisting is not necessary, all applicants who have demonstrated the essential criteria will proceed to the interview stage of the selection process.  

A selection panel will interview applicants who have met the required standard at the eligibility sift. The interview will address the essential criteria and the Assembly Skills and Behaviours listed in Job Specification.

Part of the interview process will be the delivery of a presentation. The subject of the presentation will be advised to the applicant on the day of the interview and the applicant will be expected to present information to the selection panel.

Interview dates are planned for week commencing 24 February 2020.

The selection panel reserves the right to hold a further interview stage if deemed necessary.

Guaranteed Interview Scheme

In line with the Equality Commission’s Positive Action for People who are Disabled guidance, the Assembly Secretariat operate a Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS). The GIS has been developed for applicants with disabilities or those with a long term impairment or health condition, that is expected to last for at least 12 months and which means that they cannot meet all of the shortlisting criteria. In instances where tests will be used as a shortlisting tool, provided that the applicant has demonstrated in their application that they meet the essential criteria for the post and reach the minimum standard set for the test, the applicant will be offered a guaranteed interview.

Applicants with disabilities or a long term impairment, or health condition, who require reasonable adjustments to enable them to participate in any part of the selection process, should indicate this on their application. A member of the Human Resources Office will then contact the applicant to discuss.

Terms and Conditions of Appointment

This is a permanent appointment. The successful candidate will be an employee of the Assembly Commission.  All appointments are subject to the satisfactory completion of a six-month probationary period.

The standard working week is 37 hours, excluding meal breaks (42 hours gross).  Working hours will be dictated by the mode of operation of the Assembly and may involve work into late evenings, at weekends and on public holidays. 

In addition to the usual public and privilege holidays, there is an annual leave allowance of 25 days, increasing incrementally by one day per year up to a maximum of 30 days. Please be aware that a major influence in determining when leave can be taken will be the parliamentary timetable.

As an equal opportunities employer, we are happy to talk about the possibility of flexible working in this role with the successful applicant.

The successful applicant will receive continuous formal training and have the support of the software development team, particularly the Senior Developers who will provide coaching and mentoring on the development technologies and processes.

Pensions

The Assembly Commission offers all new employees an attractive pension package. Further details can be found on the Principal Civil Service Pensions Scheme (Northern Ireland) website.

Equality Monitoring

Under Fair Employment legislation, we are required to monitor the community background and gender of those applying for jobs.  We therefore ask that you complete the equal opportunities monitoring section of the application form when applying for the post.

Merit List

The merit list will remain ‘live’ for 18 months from the date it is signed and may be used to fill any further permanent opportunities for the same post.

Communication During the Recruitment Process

The NI Assembly Recruitment Office will issue most communication electronically. You should therefore regularly check your email account to make sure you do not miss any important communication. Please note, sometimes Recruitment Office emails are automatically filtered as spam by email providers

Further Information

If you require more information on the recruitment process, please contact the Human Resources Office on 02890 520327.

Further information about the Assembly can be obtained on the Northern Ireland Assembly website.

The ‘Information for Applicants’ does not constitute any term or condition of employment.

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