Digital Apprentice

Job summary

We’re responsible for Land Transaction Tax and Landfill Disposals Tax. Our work raises revenue to support public services, like the NHS and schools, in communities across Wales. But that’s not all, we're also involved with and support future tax design for Wales.

Join a place with purpose
You’ll join a team of 100+ talented people from across 14 different professions. Our culture is best described as innovative, collaborative and kind. By working together, we’ll deliver a fair tax system for Wales.

Our people
You’ll be working with people from a wide range of backgrounds and experience. From Operations, Policy, Digital and Data, HR, Communications to Finance – there’s a place for you in our friendly team.

You’ll be our greatest asset

You’ll be joining an inclusive organisation and be part of a team where you can thrive, be rewarded and heard.

We’re recognised as one of the top organisations for people engagement in the Civil Service People Survey. Inclusion and fairness are one of our strongest areas, as well as pay and benefits – our People Survey results say it all!

We’re also recognised for being innovative and a digital, ‘cloud-based’ organisation that supports hybrid and flexible working enabling a great work-life balance.

More about working for us, our roles and our Corporate Plan 2025 - 2028 .

Job description

Digital Apprentice (TS)

This is an exciting opportunity that will provide you with valuable skills and experience whilst working towards a 4½ year Digital Degree Apprenticeship programme with the University of South Wales studying a BSc (Honours) in Digital & Technology Solutions (Software Engineering).

The role is part of the WRA digital development team, and the successful candidate will undertake a variety of digital tasks including business analysis, software development, testing, implementation and software design. You’ll design, code and correct simple programs or components to meet the needs of both internal and external users, under the direction of others.

You will use prototyping and learn how to work in an open and collaborative environment.

The WRA is a fully cloud based organisation, and we use leading software development practices. This is a unique opportunity to work in a cutting edge, challenging and rewarding software environment.

Junior developer (EO)

After 3 years in the post, there will be an opportunity to advance to a Junior Developer role. This will be dependent on your academic progress as well as an assessment of your progression within the role.

In this role, you will assist the team in the design of components of larger systems, and participate in tackling the challenges of designing, building, and testing interfaces between systems.

“We are one of the first fully cloud based organisations and this is an exciting time for us as we have the opportunity to design and develop services for devolved taxes.”

Alun Lee - Lead Developer

Person specification

• Help solve business problems and design systems under guidance. Understand the business problem which needs to be solved, and work with others across the organisation to implement an appropriate solution.
• Develop software to meet user needs, this may include designing new components or making an improvement to an existing application. Support and guidance will be provided by the Lead Developer.
• Follow best-practice guidelines, and write clean code.
• Build secure applications that are subject to regular IT security health checks, making improvements on recommendations and tracking changes.
• Identify issues in production and work with colleagues to resolve them.
• Control releases using CI/CD tools and provide support once these have gone live.
• Provide ongoing support for the applications and services you build.
• Escalate problems and issues as they arise to the Lead Developer.

Candidate Information Session

If this seems like a role you’d be interested in, join us for our virtual Candidate Information Sessions. You’ll meet the Line Manager, get an overview of the role as well a feeling for what it’s like to work at the WRA. We’ll also talk through our benefits and provide helpful tips for your application with us. Please register for one of the sessions below:

Register here for 19th May at 12.00pm: Business Wales Events Finder - Candidate Information Session - Digital Apprentice

Register here for 19th May at 15.30pm: Business Wales Events Finder - Candidate Information Session - Digital Apprentice

Qualifications

Evidence will be required that applicants are able to meet the demands of the course. https://www.southwales.ac.uk/study/apprenticeships/degree-apprenticeshi…

Typical A-Level Offer
BCC - CDD (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical Welsh BACC Offer
Pass the Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate Diploma with Grade C/D in the Skills Challenge Certificate and BC - CD at A Level (this is equivalent to 104-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical BTEC Offer
BTEC Extended Diploma Distinction Merit Merit - Merit Merit Pass (this is equivalent to 112-80 UCAS tariff points).

Typical IB Offer
Pass the International Baccalaureate Diploma with higher grades of between 655-445 (this is equivalent to 112-80 UCAS tariff points)

Additional Requirements
GCSEs: The University normally requires a minimum 5 GCSEs including Mathematics and English at Grade C or above, or their equivalent but consideration is given to individual circumstances

Equivalent international qualifications are acceptable. In general, international applicants will need to have achieved an overall IELTS grade of 6.0 with a minimum score of 5.5 in each component.

Languages

We’ve undertaken an objective assessment of the Welsh language skills needed to undertake the duties of this role. For this role:
Welsh language skills - Welsh skills are not essential. This means that you do not need Welsh language skills to undertake this role and these skills won’t be assessed during the recruitment process. However, we actively encourage all staff to learn, or improve their Welsh language skills and offer a range of opportunities to suit everyone.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £27,302, Welsh Revenue Authority contributes £7,909 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 31 days annual leave + Bank holidays, and 2 Privilege days
• Flexible and hybrid working
• Generous employer pension schemes with a contribution of upto 28.97%
• Tusker car scheme
• Vivup Cycle2Work and advances of salary for season Travel Tickets
• Lifestyle Benefits offering discounts on shopping, restaurants and entertainment
• Wellbeing hour each week
• Access to subsidised sports groups
• Generous family-friendly leave policies
• Free Welsh language courses and time off to learn
• Access to a range of staff diversity networks
• Free counselling and support service via our Vivup Employee Assistance Programme and Your Care Health platform
• A thriving culture that’s described as innovative, collaborative and kind.

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

We’ll always be clear about how we assess your application, at each stage of the process. This will usually include:

• Assessment of your Application Form and CV against the relevant Success Criteria
• A panel interview (if you’re successful at the initial sift stage) Interviews will take place in person.
• If any additional assessments are needed for this role, such as a test or presentation at interview, we’ll let you know in advance.
• Should a large number of applications be received, an initial sift will be conducted using the lead behaviour, Developing Self and Others.

We’re proud to be a Disability Confident Leader so we’ll ask you if you need any adjustments at each stage of the recruitment process. So that we can support you in a way that works for you, we’ll offer a pre-interview accessibility chat to anyone that declares a disability or needs any adjustments. This will take place with someone who is independent of the recruitment process and you won’t be placed at any disadvantage as a result of needing adjustments.

A reserve list may be held for this role for applicants that have scored above the appointable threshold at interview. This means that if a similar vacancy becomes available in the next 12 months we may contact you to offer you the role.

We recommend you review the job description (or candidate pack) under the 'attachments' section before completing your application

Success criteria

Behaviours

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Changing and Improving

Learn new procedures and help colleagues to do the same. Query any issues that arise from changes in a suitable way.

No

Yes

Managing a Quality Service

Gain a clear understanding of customers’ needs and expectations. Keep customers and all colleagues up to date with progress.

Yes

Yes

Developing Self and Others

Share knowledge and skills learnt with colleagues to contribute to the learning and development of the whole team

Yes

Yes

Strengths

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Improver

You look for better ways of doing things and enjoy coming up with new and original ideas.

No

Yes

Service Focussed

You look for ways to serve customers, putting their needs at the heart of everything you do.

No

No

Learner

You are inquisitive, you seek out new information and look for new ways to develop yourself.

No

Yes

Experience

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Experience of using Microsoft applications, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

Yes

No

Qualifications

Criteria

Assessed in personal statement and CV

Assessed during interview or assessment

Meet the course entry requirements –detailed on: BSc (Hons) Digital and Technology Solutions - University of South Wales

Yes

No

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).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 theCivil 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

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.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : WRA Recruitment Team
• Email : Recruitment@wra.gov.wales
• Telephone : 03000254000

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@wra.gov.wales

Further information

The law requires that selection for appointment to the Civil Service is on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. See the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles where this is set out.
If you feel your application has not been treated in line with the recruitment principles, and you wish to complain, you should contact the Head of HR.
Email: hr@wra.gov.wales
If you’re not satisfied with our response, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.

Attachments

Job description - Digital Apprentice - (FINAL) Opens in new window (pdf, 302kB)Disgrifiad swydd - Prentis Digidol (FINAL) Opens in new window (pdf, 302kB)