Software Engineer

National History Museum; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Holiday entitlement

Pension scheme

Season ticket loan

Life insurance

Free museum admissions

Staff discounts

Training opportunities

CSSC membership

Sports & Social Association

Job summary

National History Museum in London is seeking a Software Engineer to build and support backend services, integrations, and applications underpinning our digital experiences and business capabilities.

You'll work with Java Spring Boot, SQL/NoSQL databases, CI/CD pipelines, containerised deployments and cloud services, collaborating with engineers, product managers and stakeholders to design secure, scalable solutions and improve engineering practices.

Qualifications

• Experience developing backend applications in production environments.
• Strong experience with Java and Spring Boot.
• Familiarity with version control, automated testing, and CI processes.
• Appreciation for security, reliability, and maintainability in software.

Responsibilities

• Build and support backend services, integrations and applications underpinning the Museum’s digital experiences and business capabilities.
• Design solutions, review code and improve engineering practices.
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers and stakeholders to deliver high-quality software.

Skills

Java

Spring Boot

SQL

NoSQL

CI/CD

Containerisation

Cloud services

Job description

About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 1100 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

As a Software Engineer, you'll help build and support the backend services, integrations, and applications that underpin the Museum's digital experiences and business capabilities.

You’ll work with technologies including Java Spring Boot services and APIs, SQL and NoSQL databases, modern CI/CD pipelines, containerised deployments and cloud services, while collaborating closely with engineers, product managers and stakeholders across the Museum. You’ll play an active role in designing solutions, reviewing code, improving engineering practices, and helping ensure our systems remain secure, resilient, and maintainable.

This is an opportunity to work on meaningful products at scale, contribute across a broad technology landscape, and continue developing your skills within a supportive team that values learning, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

About you

We’re looking for a collaborative software engineer with experience developing backend applications in a production environment. You might already have strong experience with Java and Spring Boot, or you may have built similar backend services using related technologies and be keen to deepen your expertise.

You enjoy solving problems, learning new technologies, and working closely with others to deliver high-quality software. You’ll be familiar with modern engineering practices such as version control, code reviews, automated testing, and continuous integration, and you’ll appreciate the importance of security, reliability, and maintainability in everything you build.

We know that great candidates don’t always meet every listed requirement. If you’re excited about the role and can demonstrate strong software engineering fundamentals, we’d encourage you to apply.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here

What we offer

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk
• Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi

Hybrid working

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first‑hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events. We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working model that requires regular, weekly attendance for this role, with the precise pattern of days on site and worked from home to be agreed with your manager.

Closing date: 23:59 on 25 October 2026

Interviews expected: w/c 09 November 2026

Please note that this role does not qualify for Museum sponsorship so the successful postholder will need to have a valid right to work in the UK at the point of offer.