Software Engineer - School of Computer Science - 95503 - Grade 7

University of Birmingham; United Kingdom; On-site; GBP 40,000 - 60,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading UK university is seeking a Software Engineer to develop and maintain software solutions. The role involves collaborating with various stakeholders and mentoring junior staff. Candidates should have experience in software development and be able to learn new languages swiftly. Competitive salary and the chance to work in an inclusive environment are offered.

Qualifications

• Experience developing and deploying software projects required.
• Self-motivated learner interested in continually updating skills.
• Ability to work as part of a team to deliver software products.

Responsibilities

• Develop high-quality software to meet project requirements.
• Mentor and coach new team members.
• Identify opportunities for service improvement and implement solutions.

Skills

TypeScript

Go

SQL

Git

Agile methodologies

CI/CD

Python

Tools

PostgreSQL

Terraform

Ansible

Job description

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Software Engineer - School of Computer Science - 95503 - Grade 7

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Client:

University of Birmingham

Location:

United Kingdom

Job Category:

Other

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EU work permit required:

Yes

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Job Reference:

b99c4fef0d29

Job Views:

7

Posted:

13.08.2025

Expiry Date:

27.09.2025

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Job Description:

Summary

The post-holder will develop, deploy, maintain and support high-quality software solutions, services and platforms. They will have a broad technical understanding of modern software development and system administration, as well as the ability to rapidly obtain deep and specialist knowledge of specific technologies, paradigms and best-practices on a per-project basis.

The post-holder will collaborate closely with academic and professional services colleagues to make technical plans and decisions, to align with policy, and as part of an Agile software development process. They will interact with many staff within the School on at least a semi-regular basis.

The post reports into the Head of Software Engineering. The post-holder will operate with some degree of independence from a technical perspective and will require professional experience and expertise and the ability to independently self-learn and to research established solutions.

The post-holder will have a varied, interesting and challenging workload that changes with the evolving requirements arising from world-class researchers and the delivery of highly ranked teaching. They will join an existing team with a wide range of skills, and their workload will vary depending on the post-holder’s specialisms, specialisms within the rest of the team, and the work available.

Main Duties

• Identify and prioritise Individual Contributor (IC) tasks for themselves throughout the software development lifecycle, aligning with strategic and tactical choices, and reacting to environmental changes and challenges as appropriate.
• Develop high-quality software to meet the requirements of the software and services owned by the team. Keep up to date with relevant changes and technologies in industry to maintain best practices. Evolve existing software and systems as appropriate.
• Develop software applications and learning environments. The details of this duty will vary significantly based on the task at hand. The post-holder is expected to be a proficient software engineer with a technical background to be able to handle these highly varied requirements.
• Take responsibility and work collaboratively with staff from the School (and across the University) for the definition, documentation, development and satisfactory completion of software projects and infrastructure improvements: defining requirements; devising solutions; agreeing timescales and priorities as well as identifying the risks to be managed. Manage expectations of stakeholders throughout, and keep them updated as priorities, timelines and requirements evolve.
• Mentor and coach new team members, particularly those in less senior roles within the team.
• Provide input on School-wide policies and procedures in collaboration with the Head of Software Engineering, Senior Software Engineer(s), senior academics and professional service staff.
• Identify opportunities for cost-savings and see that they are implemented.
• Each of these engagements will be unique in nature and complexity. They will typically range from requiring a few days to several months of effort. In rare cases, very large projects (typically underpinning the entire infrastructure) may involve work over multiple years.
• Represent the team:informally in discussions with colleagues;in various formal regular groups and committees within the School;occasionally as required in wider College / University meetings.
• Build and maintain excellent working relationships with academics and professional services staff within the School, and in the wider University as appropriate.
• Provide technical advice and guidance:to academic and professional services staff in relation to technical implications of strategic and tactical decision making;to academics in the context of planning and undertaking research and teaching delivery.
• Undertake code reviews with the rest of the team (including Infrastructure as Code reviews). Provide technical and financial advice and guidance to academics in relation to specialist computing resources, in particular cloud-based resources but also specialist physical computing equipment.
• Keep up to date with relevant technologies and developments to be able to offer appropriate advice and guidance.
• Identify candidates for tasks / processes to automate in other teams that would increase their efficiency, and either implement these automations or delegate to another team member. Work closely with other teams during this implementation to ensure the automation (whether full or partial) is accurate and efficient, and that the final solution works well for all stakeholders.
• Identify opportunities for service improvement and propose and develop innovative solutions to enrich the user experience, to enhance service delivery, and reduce costs or environmental impacts. Identify candidates for internal tasks / processes to automate with an appropriate ROI and see through these improvements in collaboration with the rest of the team.
• Maintain an awareness of technical developments, tools and ideas in in software engineering and DevOps, including attending conferences, networking with industry peers, undertaking formal training and taking part in technical workshops as appropriate.
• In addition to University provided training and development, the post-holder will undertake sufficient personal and professional development as required, ensuring skills and knowledge are up to date so that the role is performed to the required level.
• Promote equality and value diversity acting as a role model and fostering an inclusive working culture.

Person Specification

• Relevant experience developing and deploying software projects
• Broad and deep knowledge of software development processes, tools and techniques
• Experience developing software, ideally in TypeScript and / or Go, although prior experience with these languages is not a firm requirement; in addition, the post-holder should be able to learn new programming languages and supporting tooling independently in a reasonable timeframe
• A self-motivated learner interesting in and capable of continually updating skills – each new project is likely to require learning something new
• Good personal organisational skills
• Ability to work as part of a team to deliver software products and services
• Ideally, experience with one or more of the following:Using git, and GitHub/GitLab/BitBucket or similar toolsDeveloping software in multiple different languagesWorking with SQL databases, preferably PostgreSQLOne or more Agile methodologiesWorking and developing in a Linux environmentPublic cloud providers, preferably AWSExperience working with containersWeb technologies (SPAs, REST APIs, modern HTML/CSS etc)Working in a software and/or DevOps teamDesigning/developing, and knowledge of the benefits/challenges of, event-driven microservicesWorking with and developing appropriate software test suitesCI/CDInfrastructure-as-code tools (. CDK, Terraform)Configuration Management tools (. Puppet, Ansible)Any relevant cloud computing certification(s)Using a GitOps pipelinePython data science and AI toolsWorking for, or with, a Higher Education providerWorking directly with software customers and end-users