Software Engineer

Software Engineer – Back End or Front End Hybrid – 2 days per week in the office (Milton Keynes or Basingstoke) React, Java, PostgreSQL, API £50 - 65k We are looking for an experienced Software Developer with excellent front or back end developments skills due to software development moving from an outsourced model to in-house Working alongside the development team you will Be highly involved with knowledge transfer, including code walkthroughs, pairing sessions, and documentation reviews with the outgoing external tea Gain understanding of the current application architecture — service boundaries, dependency injection patterns, build system, and deployment configuration Design and implement new back-end features, enhancements, and bug fixes in Java, following agreed coding standards and architectural principle Take ownership of the front-end codebase — maintaining, refactoring, and extending UI components to a high standard. PostgreSQL data model — schema design, migration management (Flyway/Liquibase), indexing strategy, and query optimisation Collaborate with back-end developers on API contract alignment and data-fetching conventions. Monitor and improve front-end performance — Core Web Vitals, bundle size, lazy loading, and rendering optimisation. Design, document, and maintain RESTful and/or GraphQL APIs, ensuring consistency, versioning, and thorough OpenAPI/Swagger documentation Identify, catalogue, and systematically address technical debt in collaboration with the wider team Your background and experience will include Great communication skills, able to contribute to future roadmaps for the products For back end: Excellent Java development experience (Java 11+) in a production environment — including Spring Boot, dependency injection, and RESTful API design. PostgreSQL skills: schema design, complex query writing, index optimisation, and migration tooling (Flyway or Liquibase). Experience designing and documenting APIs using OpenAPI/Swagger Understanding of software design principles (SOLID, DRY, Clean Architecture) Understanding and interest in AI coding assistants — Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, or equivalent Takes initiative in identifying and addressing front-end technical debt. Methodical about performance and tests — does not consider a feature done until it is covered and fast. Strong proficiency in modern JavaScript and TypeScript in a production front-end context. Deep experience with a modern component framework — React is preferred (hooks, context, performance patterns). Solid understanding of state management approaches — Context API, Redux or similar. Strong HTML and CSS fundamentals including responsive design, CSS-in-JS or module-based CSS approaches.