Information for Software Developer 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 12 June 2020.

You can access the application form here.

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

Stages of the Selection Process

There are five elements within the Recruitment and Selection Framework:

Experience – the knowledge or mastery of an activity or subject gained through involvement in or exposure to it.

Ability – the aptitude or potential to perform to the required standard. 

Technical – the demonstration of specific professional skills, knowledge or qualifications.

Assembly Skills and Behaviours –the actions and activities that people do which result in effective performance in a job.

Strengths – the things we do regularly, do well and that motivate us.

The elements which will be assessed for the Software Developer role will be Experience, Technical and Assembly Skills and Behaviours and the selection method(s) that will be used are detailed below. Further information on the Recruitment and Selection Framework are included in the Guidance on Recruitment and Selection for Applicants.

Eligibility Sift

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. 

Shortlisting

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.  

Interview Stage

The interview will address the information contained in the Job Specification and will assess elements of the Recruitment and Selection Framework.

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.

Further Interview Stage

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

Further information on the Recruitment and Selection process is available in the Recruitment and Selection Framework and Guidance on the Recruitment and Selection for Applicants.

GUARANTEED INTERVIEW SCHEME

The Guaranteed Interview Scheme (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 these instances, provided that they have demonstrated in their application form that they meet the essential criteria for the role, the applicant will be invited to interview.

The application form will include a section on disability, and an applicant can indicate whether they wish to apply under the GIS for that particular role and the basis on which they qualify for the GIS.

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.

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 or fixed term 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 Internet at website: www.niassembly.gov.uk

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