Principal Developer (Salesforce)

Job summary

Across government, enterprise platforms such as Salesforce are central to delivering modern, user-focused and data-driven services. As platforms scale and become embedded in core business processes, strong technical leadership is essential to ensure stability, performance and continuous improvement. Ofgem plays a vital role in the UK’s energy system, protecting consumers and enabling a more secure, fair and sustainable energy future, and the effective operation of its core digital platforms is critical to delivering this mission.

Ofgem is on an ambitious transformation journey. Within the Digital, Data and Security Services (DDSS) directorate, we are expanding and maturing our Salesforce capability through the Salesforce Centre of Enablement (CoE). This includes delivering complex, enterprise-scale solutions while ensuring that the platform remains resilient, secure and aligned with our organisational priorities.

As a Principal Developer (Salesforce), you will lead the technical strategy and operational management of Ofgem’s Salesforce environment. You will oversee development and administration teams, ensure high-quality solution delivery and provide technical assurance across the platform. You will work closely with senior stakeholders, architects and suppliers to shape and optimise Salesforce services, ensuring they deliver consistent, reliable and high-performing outcomes.

This is a senior, high-impact leadership role requiring deep Salesforce expertise, strong operational oversight and the ability to influence across complex delivery environments.

Job description

You will be responsible for:

• Defining and leading the technical strategy for Salesforce application development and administration across the organisation.
• Overseeing the performance, stability and optimisation of Salesforce platforms, ensuring services meet enterprise standards for reliability, security and scalability.
• Leading development and administration teams, setting standards, building capability and driving continuous improvement.
• Providing technical assurance for configurations, integrations, release processes and automation pipelines.
• Managing supplier and systems integrator performance, ensuring delivery aligns with contractual, technical and quality expectations.
• Engaging with senior stakeholders to align Salesforce services with business needs and strategic priorities.
• Driving continuous improvement through optimisation of platform capabilities, processes and tooling.
• Leading on architectural decisions and long-term platform evolution, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture.
• Overseeing service management processes, including incident, problem and change management, ensuring effective operation of live services.
• Supporting governance and compliance activities, ensuring adherence to organisational and regulatory standards.

We are looking for:

A highly experienced and technically authoritative Salesforce professional who can lead both strategy and operations for a complex enterprise platform. You will bring deep expertise in Salesforce development and administration, alongside strong leadership and stakeholder engagement skills.

You may come from a Salesforce engineering, platform or applications leadership background, but you will demonstrate:

• Extensive experience managing and delivering complex Salesforce environments at enterprise scale
• Proven experience leading both Salesforce development and administration teams
• Strong knowledge of Salesforce architecture, integration, performance optimisation and governance
• Experience managing suppliers and systems integrators, ensuring quality and accountability
• The ability to engage and influence senior stakeholders across technical and business domains

Relevant certifications such as Salesforce Certified App Builder, Advanced Administrator and Platform Developer II (or willingness to obtain) are expected.

Experience managing offshore partners and working in government or regulated environments would be beneficial.

This is an opportunity to play a central role in shaping how Salesforce supports Ofgem’s digital services and transformation. You will lead the platform’s evolution, ensuring it remains resilient, scalable and capable of delivering value across the organisation at a time when digital capability is critical.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Deep operational expertise in managing complex Salesforce environments (Lead Criteria).
• Demonstrable experience managing a Salesforce Development team (Lead Criteria).
• Proven leadership in application operations or platform engineering.
• Demonstrable experience managing suppliers and technical risk.
• Demonstrable experience managing a Salesforce Administration team.

Holds or can obtain the following certifications or equivalent within 6 months:

• Salesforce Certified App Builder
• Salesforce Certified Advanced Administrator
• Salesforce Certified Platform Developer II.

Desirable Criteria

• Offshore SI management.

Behaviours

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

• Making Effective Decisions
• Communicating and Influencing
• Managing a Quality Service

Technical skills

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

• You will also be asked to prepare a presentation. Full details of the presentation will be included in the invitation to interview.

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £63,443, OFGEM contributes £18,379 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).Ofgem can offer you a comprehensive and competitive benefits package which includes; 30 days annual leave after 2 years; Excellent training and development opportunities; The opportunity to join the generous Civil Service pension which also includes a valuable range of benefits; hybrid working (currently 1 day a week in the office but this is kept under review), flexible working hours and family friendly policies. Plus lots of other benefits including clean and bright offices based centrally, engaged networks and teams and an opportunity to contribute to our ambitious and important targets of establishing a Net Zero energy system by 2050. This exciting blend of professional challenge and personal reward identifies career opportunities at Ofgem as something to get excited about.

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.

When you press the ‘Apply now’ button, you will be asked to complete personal details (not seen by the sift panel), your career history and qualifications.

You will then be asked to provide a 1250 word ‘personal statement’ evidencing how you meet the essential and desirable skills and capabilities listed in the role profile. Please ensure you demonstrate clearly, within your supporting statement, how you meet each of the criteria listed in the role profile.

The Civil Service values honesty and integrity and expects all candidates to abide by these principles. You must ensure that any evidence submitted as part of your application or used during interview, including your CV and any statements or examples, are truthful and factually accurate. Ofgem takes any incidences of cheating very seriously. Please ensure all examples provided are of your own experience. Any instances of plagiarism or other forms of cheating will be investigated and, if proven, the relevant applications will be withdrawn from the process. Please note that plagiarism can include presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own.

Please refer to Civil Service candidate advice on the acceptable use of artificial intelligence within the recruitment and selection process - Artificial intelligence and recruitment , Civil Service Careers

The personal information we have collected from you will be shared with Cifas who will use it to prevent fraud, other unlawful or dishonest conduct, malpractice, and other seriously improper conduct. If any of these are detected, you could be refused certain services or employment. Your personal information will also be used to verify your identity. Further details of how your information will be used by us and Cifas, and your data protection rights, can be found by [ https://www.cifas.org.uk/fpn].

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

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.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : Amber Shankland
• Email : amber.shankland@ofgem.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk

Further information

Appointment to the Civil Service is governed by the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. You have the right to complain if you feel there has been a breach of these Recruitment Principles.

In the first instance, you should raise the matter directly via recruitment@ofgem.gov.uk. If 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 website.

Attachments

DDSS Role Profile Principal Developer (Salesforce) (L3) Opens in new window (pdf, 128kB)DDSS Candidate Pack, Principal Salesforce Developer Opens in new window (pdf, 1955kB)Terms and Conditions Opens in new window (pdf, 335kB)