Forward Deployed Engineer I - Justice AI Unit (Ref: 18737)

Job summary

These positions are based Nationally.

Job description

Summary

Our justice system faces serious challenges, from rising demand and staff shortages to siloed systems and inconsistent access. AI presents an opportunity to address these problems at scale. But this opportunity must be seized with care.

The Justice AI Unit is a small, fast-moving and innovative team. We build and ship products quickly across the Ministry of Justice. By embedding AI that enhances, not replaces, human judgement, we aim to deliver better outcomes, faster services, and greater fairness for all.

Role

As Forward Deployed Engineer I in the Justice AI Unit, you will help build and deploy AI products that have real-world impact across courts, prisons, and probation services. You’ll work with frontline staff and multidisciplinary teams to understand user needs, develop practical solutions, test and improve products, and support deployment into live operational environments. This is a role designed for engineers early in their career who want to grow fast in a high-agency environment. You'll be paired with a senior engineer, given scoped ownership from day one, and expected to stretch — not to arrive fully formed.This is a hands-on, high-agency role for engineers who want to work at pace, across the full AI and software stack, and in service of one of the most complex and vital systems in the country. Join us to transform justice through practical, responsible AI.

We value curiosity, pragmatism, and the ability to work in ambiguity. If you don’t meet all of the experience below, don’t worry - we’re looking for people who can learn quickly on the job and adapt to a rapidly evolving landscape.

Responsibilities

• Develop practical AI products, tools, workflows and technical components for use across the Ministry of Justice.
• Work with users in operational settings such as courts, prisons and probation to understand needs, gather feedback and improve solutions.
• Contribute across the software and AI stack, including frontend, backend, databases, APIs, data pipelines, model integration, LLM workflows and deployment support.
• Support end-to-end delivery, from understanding the problem and building prototypes through to testing, documentation, deployment and iteration.
• Apply user feedback to improve products and ensure solutions are useful, accessible and aligned to operational needs.
• Identify and raise quality, usability, data, security, accessibility or operational risks early.

Essential Criteria

• Experience and/or working knowledge of building, testing and deploying software, data products or technical components in a real-world environment.
• Experience working across parts of the software or AI stack, such as frontend, backend, databases, APIs, data pipelines, model integration or cloud deployment.
• Experience supporting the development of solutions such as LLM workflows, predictive models, automation tools, scheduling tools, data pipelines or user-facing applications.
• Ability to work and adapt in complex or ambiguous organisational contexts.
• Strong collaboration skills, including the ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience with our stack- NextJS, FastAPI, Postgres
• Experience with LLM observability and evaluation tools like Langfuse
• Cloud and infrastructure experience - Terraform, Azure etc.
• Entrepreneurial or startup experience

Agreed Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to work from London as the home base of the Justice AI Unit. Candidates not currently based in London will be required to either relocate or undertake regular travel to London, with attendance expected at least once per week, in line with business needs.

How to apply

The selection process for this vacancy will utilise Civil Service Success Profiles and will assess your Experience, Technical skills and Behaviours.

Application

Applicants should provide a CV which demonstrates evidence of the essential criteria for this role.

Following sift, candidates who meet the required standard will be invited to take part in a two-stage assessment process:

Stage 1: Technical Assessment (Online)

Candidates will be asked to complete a technical assessment designed to evaluate their role-specific skills focussing on a realistic engineering scenario, allowing candidates to demonstrate their problem-solving approach and technical judgement. This will be followed by a 30-minute discussion, where we will explore your technical approach.

Only candidates who meet the required standard at this stage will progress to the Behavioural Interview.

Stage 2: Behavioural Interview (Face-to-Face)

Successful candidates from Stage 1 will be invited to attend a full interview. The following Civil Service behaviours will be assessed:

• Changing & Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Further details will be provided to candidates invited to each stage.

The Justice AI Unit has established a Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) career framework to provide a clear professional pathway for software and AI engineers to develop their skills, expertise and leadership capability. The framework comprises three levels: Forward Deployed Engineer I (SEO), Forward Deployed Engineer II (Grade 7) and Forward Deployed Engineer III (Grade 6), reflecting increasing levels of technical proficiency, responsibility, influence and organisational impact.

As a Forward Deployed Engineer I, you will develop your engineering expertise through hands-on delivery, contributing to the design, build, testing and deployment of AI-enabled products and services. Working as part of multidisciplinary teams, you will apply modern engineering practices, learn from experienced colleagues, and help solve user problems through technology. This role is suited to engineers with strong technical potential who are keen to develop their skills across the software and AI development lifecycle.

Forward Deployed Engineer II represents the next stage of progression, where engineers are expected to take ownership of significant products, services or technical workstreams. At this level, you will lead the delivery of complex solutions, make sound technical decisions, mentor and support the development of others, and work closely with stakeholders to ensure products meet user and organisational needs. FDE IIs combine strong technical expertise with increasing responsibility for delivery, service quality and technical leadership.

Forward Deployed Engineer III is aligned to principal-level engineering capability. FDE IIIs provide technical leadership across multiple products, teams or problem domains, setting technical direction and helping shape the strategic application of AI across the Ministry of Justice. They are responsible for tackling highly complex technical challenges, establishing engineering standards and best practice, developing organisational capability, and ensuring that solutions are scalable, sustainable and deliver measurable outcomes for users. Working across organisational boundaries, they influence senior stakeholders, support the development of the wider engineering community, and drive the adoption of AI-enabled services at scale.

This framework enables us to attract talented engineers at different stages of their careers, support their professional development, and build a sustainable pipeline of software and AI engineering capability. By aligning with the Government Digital and Data Profession's Software Developer framework, it provides a recognised route for progression while helping the Justice AI Unit deliver transformational change across courts, prisons and probation.

Person specification

Please refer to Job Description

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Changing and Improving
• Managing a Quality Service
• Delivering at Pace
• Working Together

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Experience and/or working knowledge of building solutions like predictive models, LLM workflows, scheduling algorithms, data pipelines etc.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £42,914, Ministry of Justice contributes £12,432 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Access to learning and development
• A working environment that supports a range of flexible working options to enhance your work life balance
• A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Annual Leave
• Public Holidays
• Season Ticket Advance

For more information about the recruitment process, benefits and allowances and answers to general queries, please click the below link which will direct you to our Candidate Information Page.

Link: https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.https://justicejobs.tal.net/vx/candidate/cms/About%20the%20MOJ

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 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

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.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 : SSCL Recruitment Enquiries Team
• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk
• Telephone : 0345 241 5359

Recruitment team

• Email : moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@resourcing.soprasteria.co.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. I you feel a department has breached the requirement of the Recruitment Principles and would like to raise this, please contact SSCL (Moj-recruitment-vetting-enquiries@gov.sscl.com) in the first instance. If the role has been advertised externally (outside of the Civil Service) and you are not satisfied with the response, you may bring your complaint to the Commission. For further information on bringing a complaint to the Civil Service Commission please visit their web pages: http://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/civil-service-recruitm…

https://jobs.justice.gov.uk/careers/JobDetail/18737?entityId=18737