Scottish Government software development queries: FOI release

Information requested

• How many software developers are currently employed by the Scottish Government?
• How many app developers are currently employed within the Scottish Government?
• How many software engineers are currently employed within the Scottish Government?
• How many people are working on user experience within software development in the Scottish Government?

Response

I enclose a copy of all of the information you requested, treated as individual questions as per your preferred format. To provide a response, I have considered all Scottish Government permanent and fixed term employees. Data available is for those who are members of the Digital, Data and Technology Profession – this includes all core Scottish Government directorates and (non-core) Executive Agencies. The data is as extracted on 14 October 2025.

The answer to your questions are:

Question 1: How many software developers are currently employed by the Scottish Government?

Answer: As defined in the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework, we have mapped this to the Software Developer role.

There are currently 128 Software Developers employed by Scottish Government as follows: Scottish Government core = 55 and non-core = 73.

Question 2: How many app developers are currently employed within the Scottish Government?

Answer: As defined in the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework, we have mapped this to the Front End Developer role.

There are currently 4 Front End Developers employed by Scottish Government as follows: Scottish Government core = 3 and non-core = 1. At present, these roles do not specifically work on app development. There are no roles defined as ‘app developers’ employed by Scottish Government.

Question 3: How many software engineers are currently employed within the Scottish Government?

Answer: As defined in the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework, we have mapped this to the DevOps Engineer role.

There are currently 13 DevOps Engineers employed by Scottish Government as follows: Scottish Government core = 8 and non-core = 5. It is expected that Software Developers [n=128] will also work on software engineering as part of their job role.

Question 4: How many people are working on user experience within software development in the Scottish Government?

Answer: Software Developers, Frontend Developers and DevOps Engineers are roles that make up the Software Development job family. The role of a software developer is defined through the UK Government Digital and Data Profession Capability Framework. A software developer designs, runs and improves software that meets user needs. Specifically, they:

• are responsible for writing clean, secure code following a test-driven approach
• create code that is open by default and easy for others to reuse

All software developers employed by Scottish Government consider user experience as part of their job role and as defined by the Scottish Approach to Service Design.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.