Senior Android Engineer

Guardian Media Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 74,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 30 days + 5 days

Private healthcare

Pension scheme with employer match

Volunteer days

Job summary

The Guardian, based in the United Kingdom, is seeking a Senior Android Developer for its Apps Experience team. You will play a critical role in building and refining features for the Guardian Android app, primarily in Kotlin with some Java.

You will lead on projects, collaborate cross-functionally, and mentor colleagues to grow their skills. You’ll work in a collaborative culture, with hybrid working patterns (Kings Cross office 1 day a week, 4 days remote) and a strong emphasis on innovation

Qualifications

• Proven Android development expertise with a strong interest in growing skills.
• Experience with modern Android tooling (Jetpack Compose, Coroutines/Flow, MVVM, Webviews, Jetpack libraries).
• Experience or interest in leadership roles within team projects.
• Experience with JVM/unit testing, instrumentation testing, or UI regression testing.

Responsibilities

• Build and test major new features and maintain existing app functionality.
• Work 90%+ in Kotlin, with possible Java work.
• Collaborate with iOS, server, web engineers, designers, PMs, editorial and commercial colleagues.
• Take on leadership in some team projects and mentor others.

Skills

Android development

Jetpack Compose

Coroutines/Flow

MVVM

Webviews

Jetpack libraries

Modular app architectures

Testing (JUnit)

Instrumentation testing

UI regression testing

Leadership in teams

iOS familiarity

Job description

Join our team at the Guardian and be a part of a diverse and inclusive global organisation that delivers fearless, investigative journalism and holds power to account. Our team of award-winning journalists, cutting-edge commercial professionals and industry-leading digital experts are committed to making a difference and represent a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. We offer a challenging and exciting environment for career development, with a focus on training, growth and fostering an inclusive culture.

We are now looking for a Senior Android Developer to join our Apps Experience team. Development of digital products is central to the Guardian. We create our award-winning Android app primarily in Kotlin and Java using Android Studio. We're focussed on providing a fast and stable experience to our users, and our Play Store rating of 4.7 stars is testament to that.

You’ll work on major new features, as well as improving and maintaining existing functionality for The Guardian’s Android app. As a Senior Developer you’ll take the lead on projects and offer encouragement and guidance to help others to grow.

About the role

• Building and testing major new features, as well as improving and maintaining existing functionality for the app.
• Working 90%+ in Kotlin, but you may be required to work with Java too.
• You won't be coding in isolation - our culture is strongly collaborative, whether pair programming with other developers or working closely with other stakeholders.
• You can expect to work closely with iOS, server-side, and web engineers, and designers, product managers, editorial and commercial colleagues.
• You’ll take on a leadership role in some of the teams projects
• You’ll be encouraged to help others grow - you will pass on your expertise to other developers, whilst continuing to grow yourself.
• Sometimes deciding what code to write is as hard as writing the code itself. As an engineer you'll be involved in product decisions as well as technical ones.
• You’ll strive to be innovative on a daily basis, as well as at our regular hack days.

About you

• You have demonstrated expertise in Android development and you have a strong interest in growing your skills.
• You have strong competence in one or more of modern Android development tools, including Jetpack Compose, Coroutines/Flow, MVVM, Webviews, other Jetpack libraries, and modular app architectures.
• You test your code and promote a culture of testing. Demonstrate experience with some of JVM unit testing, instrumented testing, and UI regression testing
• You are comfortable working with both cutting edge technologies as well as legacy code
• You have experience of, or are willing to take on a leadership role in some team projects
• You have a rough idea of how iOS development works and you'd like to know more, perhaps even try it yourself.
• Familiarity with Swift and ObjectiveC for iOS, or Scala and Typescript for server side development is useful.

We actively encourage applications from groups traditionally underrepresented in the UK media

Our developers operate in a hybrid environment working 1 day a week from our offices in Kings Cross and 4 days remotely. If you’d like to come in more than that, that’s great too.

We strive for transparency in remuneration where possible. The salary for new Senior Android Developers at the Guardian is £82,000 per year.

We value and respect all differences (seen and unseen) in all people. We aspire to have inclusive working experiences and an environment that reflects the audience we serve, where our people have equal access to career development opportunities, their voices are heard and can contribute to our future. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. Many of our staff work flexibly and we will consider all requests for flexible working arrangements.

Benefits at the Guardian

You’ll have 30 days of annual leave per year (plus bank holidays) with the option to purchase an additional 5 days. Our pension scheme is generous; if you contribute 5% then we will contribute 8-12% (depending on your age). We believe in giving back, which is why employees are given 2 volunteering days annually and the option of payroll giving. Season ticket loans are also available.

You are entitled to private healthcare, life cover, income protection, and eye tests. You can also opt in to dental insurance.

We have enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave policies in place. We also support our employees by offering an IVF, menopause, baby loss, and trans equality policy.

Culture and wellbeing

We want everyone to feel like they belong at the Guardian and we champion diversity of thought. Our various employee forums provide a platform to use their voice to foster an inclusive workplace. We became the first major media organisation to achieve B Corp status.

We offer tools to help you prioritise your wellbeing including access to our employee benefits platform which provides tailored support for health and wellbeing. In addition, we also offer free yoga and pilates classes. These run alongside our corporate gym membership and cycle to work scheme.

Our canteen has views overlooking the Regents Canal and caters for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Learning and development

We encourage personal and professional growth. Employees have access to a broad range of tools and solutions, and we are happy to support the pursuit of professional qualifications through vocational courses and apprenticeships.

We value honesty in your application.

AI generated content must not be presented as your own work.

Please review our guidance on the use of AI in your application here.

The closing date for applications is Monday 26th October 2026.

All roles at the Guardian are open for everybody to apply. It is important to us that you feel supported and comfortable throughout your recruitment process, in order to perform your best. Please let us know if there are any changes we could make to help your application, this includes providing documents in accessible formats or personalising the process to better support your needs. Please contact Anna Vipers on [e-mail] to discuss further so we can work with you to support you through your application.