Junior-Midweight Developer in London

Location: Hybrid working in London office (Kings Cross) up to 3 days a week, plus homeworking.

About The Leasehold Advisory Service

The Leasehold Advisory Service (Lease) provides free, legal advice to leaseholders and park homeowners in England and Wales. We are an arm’s-length body (ALB) committed to empowering people to navigate the legal complexities of leasehold ownership through clear, accurate, and expert information. With over 1.4 million annual website visitors and tens of thousands of direct enquiries, our digital platforms are the primary vehicle for public empowerment. As the sector evolves, so does our responsibility to provide impartial advice at scale. We are building a small internal engineering team to ensure our technology is as accessible, reliable, and intelligent as the advice we provide.

About the role

We are looking for a curious, capable developer to join our engineering team and work alongside our Technical Lead. This is a hands‑on delivery role for someone earlier in their career who wants to build real things that matter — services used by more than a million people navigating stressful legal situations. You will write code across our stack, from our Wagtail/Django back end to our React front end, working to the technical direction set by our Technical Lead. Just as importantly, you will bring a strong eye for how our services look, feel, and work for real users. We advise people at difficult moments in their lives, and the clarity and accessibility of our digital services matters as much as the code beneath them.

We work AI‑first. We expect you to use modern AI coding assistants as a natural part of your workflow — but never as a substitute for understanding what you are building. Good engineering fundamentals come first: readable code, sensible tests, and the habit of asking why. This is a role with room to grow. You will be mentored directly by an experienced senior engineer, take on increasing ownership over time, and help shape how a national advisory service builds and maintains its technology.

Key responsibilities

• AI-augmented delivery: Use AI coding assistants (such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot, or Claude Code) as a core part of your workflow, applying good judgement to review, test, and understand everything you ship.
• User-centred, accessible front‑end: Turn designs and user needs into clean, usable, accessible interfaces. Bring a genuine interest in interaction design and the details that make a service easy to use.
• Building to standards: Develop with accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA) and the GOV.UK Service Standard in mind, helping ensure our services meet the expectations of a public body.
• Maintenance and reliability: Take ownership of the everyday work that keeps services healthy — bug fixes, dependency updates, small improvements, and responding to issues as they arise.
• Collaboration and learning: Work closely with the Technical Lead, and with product, content, and analytics colleagues; ask questions, share what you learn, and grow your craft.

What we’re looking for

This is a junior-to-mid role, so we care more about attitude, aptitude, and fundamentals than a long CV. We would love to hear from you if you:

• Have some practical development experience — whether commercial, through significant personal projects, an apprenticeship, or a strong portfolio.
• Genuinely enjoy building things, are curious about how they work, and want to keep learning.
• Are comfortable working AI‑first, while caring about writing code you understand and can stand behind.
• Have a real eye for design and usability — you notice when something is confusing, awkward, or inaccessible, and you want to fix it.
• Are interested in (or already familiar with) accessibility and public‑sector service standards, and understand why they matter.
• Are happy to take on the less glamorous maintenance work as well as the new build — you see keeping things running as part of doing the job well.

Technical skills

• Confident using AI coding assistants and agent as part of day‑to‑day development.
• Working knowledge of at least one back‑end language, ideally Python (Django a strong plus).
• Comfortable using Git and collaborative version control.
• 18 months+ experience of software development.
• Degree in Computer Science or similar or equivalent profession experience.
• Familiarity with Wagtail or another Django‑based CMS.
• Familiarity with design tools such as Figma, and an interest in interaction and user‑experience design.
• Experience with accessibility testing and best practice.
• Experience with PostgreSQL, Docker, RESTful APIs, and automated testing.
• Any experience in the public sector, a charity, or another purpose‑driven organisation.

Additional information

Working at LEASE: LEASE is committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, and particularly welcome applications from women, minority ethnic and disabled candidates who are underrepresented in legal and advice professions.

Our Culture and Values

• Quality – delivering high standards in everything we do
• Integrity – providing impartial and trusted advice
• Accountability – taking responsibility for outcomes
• Respect – valuing diversity and inclusion
• Communication – being open, clear and collaborative

Working Pattern

The working pattern for the role is hybrid, currently combining homeworking with regular attendance at our London office base in Kings Cross on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Attendance is also required at staff awaydays. Additional flexibility on office attendance may be available to those living outside the Southeast subject to business needs. The post is open to full time, flexible working and job‑share applicants.

Security and Right to Work

Successful candidates must pass a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. Candidates must have the right to live and work in the UK and will be subject to UK immigration requirements. We cannot offer visa sponsorship for this role.

Closing date: 09th August 2026 – we reserve the right to close the role early should we receive a high volume of application.

Use of AI in your application

You are welcome to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help prepare your application. However, all information you provide must be truthful and accurate, and you remain fully responsible for the content of your application. Applications that rely heavily on generic AI‑generated text, without reflecting your own experience, skills and motivation, rarely stand out. We receive a high volume of applications of this kind, and they are unlikely to progress to interview. We strongly encourage you to use any AI assistance thoughtfully, and to ensure your final application clearly reflects who you are and why you are suited to this role.