Senior Software Engineer

Salary: £50,000 - 50,000 per year

Requirements

• Experience building robust software deployed into high-availability production environments, with a strong focus on software quality, reliability, and maintainability.
• Proven experience working within Agile/Scrum delivery teams and contributing to iterative, collaborative software development.
• Experience developing software in a Unix/Linux environment using a modern programming language, with Python preferred.
• Hands-on experience with container runtimes and containerising applications.
• Experience designing, building, or maintaining CI/CD pipelines to support automated build, test, and deployment processes.
• Ability to obtain SC clearance with no restrictions, or already hold SC clearance with no restrictions.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership within our software team, setting and promoting best practice in software design, coding standards, security, testing, and CI/CD pipelines.
• Design, develop, and implement robust, secure, and highly available software solutions for production environments, taking end-to-end responsibility across the SDLC.
• Identify and implement continuous improvements to software architecture, development processes, and operational practices, acting as a process owner for agreed engineering standards and approaches.
• Lead a small software team or workstream, providing direction, prioritisation, and technical decision-making while mentoring engineers and assuring delivery quality.
• Act as Scrum Master when required, leading agile ceremonies, supporting effective delivery, and continuously improving team ways of working.

Technologies

• CI/CD
• Support
• Linux
• Python
• Security
• Unix
• Backbone
• Embedded

More

We are our world-leading Time & Frequency department, part of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), and we are seeking a Senior Software Engineer to join us at a pivotal moment for UK digital infrastructure. Backed by a £180 million government investment in the National Timing Centre programme, we are developing a world-first resilient time distribution capability to complement satellite systems such as GPS and support essential services including telecommunications, online banking, emergency response, transport networks, and wider digital operations. We are a world-leading centre of excellence in measurement science, engineering, and technology, and we offer a culture built around diversity, inclusion, flexible working, social activities, well-being, rewards, benefits, recognition, and reasonable adjustments throughout recruitment. We review applications and conduct interviews throughout the advert period, so we encourage early applications.

last updated 26 week of 2026