Graduate Software Developer

OCU; Preston; On-site; GBP 25,000 - 35,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading utility contractor in the UK is seeking a Graduate Software Developer to join their rapidly expanding team. In this role, you will work alongside senior engineers on the OCU One platform, contributing to development, testing, and quality assurance processes. Responsibilities include building components, writing tests, and participating in code reviews. The ideal candidate should possess familiarity with Ruby, Git, and a passion for continuous learning. This is a full-time opportunity with strong mentorship and growth potential.

Qualifications

• 2 years commercial or strong academic software-development exposure.
• Basic knowledge of Git commits, branching, and pull-request flow.
• Able to write simple RSpec or Minitest cases.

Responsibilities

• Build well-defined Rails components and assist in bug fixes.
• Write unit and integration tests for new code.
• Document changes in pull-request descriptions.

Skills

Commercial or academic software-development exposure

Familiarity with Ruby or another OO language

Basic Git knowledge

Understanding of unit/integration testing

Strong communication skills

Enthusiasm for learning

Tools

Ruby on Rails

Docker

CI pipelines

PostgreSQL / MySQL

HTML/CSS/JS

Flutter

Job description

Graduate Software Developer

Role Overview

We're seeking a curious proactive Junior Developer to help extend OCU One our bespoke workforce‑management platform. You’ll work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with senior engineers, writing code, crafting tests and learning how we ship reliable maintainable software that powers thousands of field activities every day.

From your first sprint you’ll pick up clearly scoped tickets, contribute to peer reviews and execute test cases that safeguard quality. You’ll receive mentorship in Ruby on Rails, SQL tuning, containerised development and modern CI/CD workflows while gradually taking on more complex tasks.

Expect exposure to the whole engineering lifecycle: analysing user stories, coding and QAing features, reviewing logs after release and proposing incremental improvements. If you thrive on learning by doing and want to see your code make a tangible operational impact this is the perfect step‑up role.

Feature Development & Maintenance

• Build small well‑defined Rails (or similar) components and assist in bug fixes.
• Write basic unit and integration tests for new code.
• Document changes clearly in pull‑request descriptions.

Code Quality Testing & Peer Review

• Follow established coding standards; seek feedback and iterate quickly.
• Execute functional / regression test scripts and log clear defect reports.
• Participate in pair‑programming and learn to give constructive PR comments.

Learning & Mentorship

• Shadow senior developers during design sessions and spike investigations.
• Complete agreed learning paths (framework, database, testing tools).
• Present occasional “what I learned” demos at team show‑and‑tells.

Tooling & Process Participation

• Use Git branches, commits and pull requests as part of daily workflow.
• Run local containers / dev scripts; raise issues and suggest tweaks to improve Developer Experience.
• Update tickets and contribute to sprint ceremonies.

Support & Continuous Improvement

• Reproduce simple issues in test/staging; help verify fixes during releases.
• Monitor basic application logs and surface anomalies to the team.
• Suggest documentation updates and lightweight process improvements.

Skills and Experience:

Essential Skills

• 02 years commercial or strong academic software‑development exposure.
• Familiarity with Ruby (or another OO language) and web‑framework basics.
• Basic knowledge of Git commits, branching and pull‑request flow.
• Understanding of unit / integration testing principles; able to write simple RSpec or Minitest cases.
• Clear communicator, comfortable asking questions and explaining findings.
• Demonstrable enthusiasm for continuous learning and problem‑solving.

Desirable Skills

• Exposure to Ruby on Rails and relational databases (PostgreSQL / MySQL).
• Experience with containerised development (Docker) or cloud hosting.
• Familiarity with CI pipelines (GitHub Actions, Jenkins etc.).
• Knowledge of front‑end tech (HTML/CSS/JS) or mobile (Flutter) basics.
• Participation in open‑source projects or coding communities.
• Background in field‑service construction or workforce management platforms.
• Experience working on in‑house developed platforms or enterprise software.

What We Value

We value our commitment to each other summed up in our five values we all sign up to these: We care about safety. We lead with integrity. We strive to be better every day. We make a positive impact. We deliver to grow. We are one company united.

Our Aim & Vision at OCU

To be the UK’s leading energy transition and utilities contractor. We are committed to leading the way in utilities and energy transition contracting; our mission is to innovate and deliver sustainability. At OCU our passion for addressing complex challenges brings new standards of growth in our people and capabilities. OCU is an equal opportunities employer.

Company Information:

Established in 1994 OCU Group is one of the fastest growing utility engineering contractors in the UK with a long successful track record in delivering customer‑focused civil engineering solutions.

Working directly with many of the country’s leading blue‑chip power, water, telecoms and rail clients we are looking for the very best talent to join our growing team.

We pride ourselves on empowering our employees and offering opportunities for them to take control of their own personal development and career progression in a supportive environment.

We believe that being successful is a choice. We choose to be successful. We are OCU One Company United. We celebrate difference and appreciate diverse backgrounds. We encourage everyone who joins us to be themselves at work and create inclusive teams in our workplace.

OCU is an equal opportunities employer.

Employment Type: Full Time

Experience: years

Vacancy: 1