Software Engineer

Software Engineer
Location: Cambridge, UK or remote with regular travel to Cambridge
Salary: £37,000 – £44,000 p.a. full-time equivalent, dependent on experience
Basis: Permanent; full-time, part-time or flexible
Eligibility: You must be eligible to work in the UK

The role

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based educational charity with the mission to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. Our products achieve this mission by providing high-quality learning experiences, online and for free, that engage and inspire young people to explore computing and digital making inside and outside of school.

We’re looking for a Software Engineer to join our team and develop the online experiences for Astro Pi and Coolest Projects, as well as the platform that supports Code Club. You’ll need to have good programming and technical skills, an appetite to learn what you don’t know, and a commitment to make a difference for our users.

You’ll work within a friendly/supportive, collaborative, and agile team of Product Managers, Engineering Managers, Product Designers, and fellow Software Engineers. Together, you will create a variety of digital products and services that support volunteers, educators, and learners. This is your chance to create products that have a real and positive impact on hundreds of thousands of young people across the world.

To learn more about the experience of one of our Software Engineers, check out this blog post. 

We strive to make the Foundation a place where talented people who care about our mission can do the best work of their careers. We have a flexible and collaborative approach to all aspects of our work. If you’re the right person for the job, we’ll make it work for you, and you can be confident that you’ll be working with an exceptional team.

Responsibilities

• Build products, platforms, and services across the Raspberry Pi Foundation, with the goal to create valuable learning experiences
• Collaboratively deliver high-quality working software with measurable impact
• Write elegant and secure code, following a test-driven approach
• Work with Software Engineers and Engineering Managers to improve processes and code quality across our products
• Help to plan the development of our products through technical analysis and evaluation of architectural needs

Experience and personal attributes

We recognise that everyone has the potential for growth, and we welcome applications from candidates who can demonstrate that they have some, but not all, of the experience and personal attributes listed here.

• Demonstrable experience of working as a professional Software Engineer with a focus on web technologies; or having work experience in a different field and looking to transition into Software Engineering through completion of a degree, bootcamp, or similar
• A proactive, pragmatic, and supportive attitude along with being happy to provide and receive constructive feedback
• Experience with a high-level language such as Ruby, JavaScript, or Python along with a database system (e.g. MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB)
• A product mindset and the ability to see the bigger picture
• Interpersonal skills (verbal and written communications), with a collaborative approach to work effectively as part of a cross-disciplinary team
• An interest in education, especially around computer science, physical computing, and digital making
• Knowledge of managing infrastructure on platforms such as Heroku, Cloudflare, and AWS

About us

The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based educational charity with the mission to enable young people to realise their full potential through the power of computing and digital technologies. You can read more about us on our careers page.

Established in 2008 and first known for our product — the wildly successful Raspberry Pi computer — the Foundation has developed education programmes, learning experiences, and products that are helping millions of young people learn vital new knowledge and skills

Through Code Club and CoderDojo, we support the world’s largest network of free informal computing clubs for young people. Tens of thousands of educators have taken our online courses, and millions of people use our free online learning resources. To deepen our understanding of how young people learn about computing and how to create with digital technologies, we conduct academic research, and we use that knowledge to increase the impact of our work and advance the field of computing education.

Across all of our work, we work hard to engage young people who come from backgrounds that are traditionally underrepresented in the field of computing or who experience educational disadvantage. We work all over the world, with teams based in the UK, Ireland, North America, and India, and partnerships with mission-aligned organisations in over 40 countries.

We are at the forefront of the global movement to help young people learn about computing and digital making. You can read more about our mission, values, and goals in our Annual Review 2023 and our Strategy 2022–2025.

Benefits

In addition to competitive salaries, we offer a range of benefits for all of our colleagues, including:

• 25 days’ annual leave initially, growing to 30 days after five years’ service
• Company-wide close down for 3 days at the end of the year
• Generous company pension scheme with 8% employer and 4% employee contributions
• Private healthcare
• Life assurance and long-term illness insurance policy
• Investment in professional development and learning
• Flexible work hours as needed, to fit around childcare or other commitments
• Generous family leave policy
• Cycle-to-work scheme and season ticket loan

Timetable for applications
Closing date: 10.00am GMT, Monday 21 October
Phone screen: From application through to w/c 21 October
First-round interview: w/c Monday 28 October
Second-round interview: w/c Monday 4 November

We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children and young people, and we expect all staff and volunteers to share this commitment. If successful in the selection process, you will be required to undergo a background check to confirm that you are a suitable person to work with children. Further background checks will be made at regular intervals thereafter.