Back-End Software Engineer (PHP & Symfony)

Expert computing. Goal-oriented tasks. Endless upskilling.

Back-End Software Engineer (PHP & Symfony)

£40,000 - £50,000 (+ Benefits )

Reports to: Lead Software Engineer

Department: Chief Operating Office

Contract: 12 month fixed-term contract

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Stratford, London. Office-based with high flexibility (1-2 days per week in the office)

Visa sponsorship: You must be eligible to work in the UK to apply for this vacancy. Cancer Research UK is not able to offer visa sponsorship.

Closing date: 06 December 2024 23:55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. If you require more time to apply as part of a reasonable adjustment, please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Recruitment process: One competency-based interview with a technical exercise

Interview date: From the week commencing 16 December 2024

How do I apply? We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity, and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to fully complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you quickly, fairly, and objectively.

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

We are professionals with purpose, beating cancer every day. But we need to go much further and much faster. That's why we're looking for someone talented, someone who wants to develop their skills, someone like you.

Cancer Research UK has an ambitious Engineering Strategy and modern Tech Stack with a complex hybrid (on-premise & multi-cloud) infrastructure underpinning an extensive technical estate. As part of our Engage Strategy , the charity is delivering a range of bold, modern change initiatives and programmes to better harness our technology to deliver more engaging and positive experiences for our audiences and inspire millions of people in deeper, more meaningful ways to join our mission (and in turn drive growth).

As a Back-End Software Engineer, you will be part of our Fundraising & Trading portfolio rotating across a range of change initiatives and products that helped raise £597m towards Cancer Research UK's life-saving work (e.g., our events management product which enables mass events such as Race for Life , London Marathon , Shine , and individual events). However, you will predominantly focus on using Symfony to develop the back-end of our Online Fundraising Web Application which is an in-house software solution that has created half a million fundraising pages for our supporters, processed 2.6m donations, and fundraised c.£65m for the charity. If you want to learn more about our Online Fundraising solution, check out this article from one of our Engineers working on this product.

In this role, you will help take our Fundraising & Trading products to the next level by partnering with our product teams to develop our software packages and high-quality code; ensure best practices and deliver technical solutions as part of our Engineering Strategy. You will also gain exposure to stakeholders across the charity while collaborating with other Engineers, Product Managers, Testers, Agile Coaches, Architects, and Business Analysts to help convert business challenges into technical solutions while continually improving the accessibility, availability, performance, and security of our products.

This is an opportunity for you to gain exposure to a modern tech stack while being part of a diverse Technology team and using your technical skills to deliver purpose-driven solutions. If you are an experienced Back-End Engineer with PHP and Symfony experience, we would love you to join our mission.

What will I be doing?

• Developing software packages and solutions within our Fundraising & Trading portfolio with a specific focus on our Online Fundraising applications.

  • This will involve a significant focus on the back-end creation of Cancer Research UK's Online Fundraising Web Application (PHP Symfony).

• Applying lean and Agile principles to develop high-quality code that has minimal bugs, adheres to Cancer Research UK standards, and is highly supportable.

• Working either independently or in collaboration with Solution Architects to design new solutions in line with the Software Engineering strategy.

• Autonomously delivering backlog items for an existing product.

• Collaborating with the Fundraising & Trading product team (e.g., Product Managers, Service Designers, UX Designers, Business Analysts etc) to identify user needs, discuss capabilities, and iteratively design solutions.

• Contributing to the Software Engineering capability team to share good practices, develop standards, patterns, automation & tools, and reduce technical debt and operational risks.

• Applying Site Reliability Engineering principles to track and improve the availability, performance, and security of our Fundraising & Trading products while supporting the resolution of incidents impacting these products.

What skills will I need?

• Experienced Software Engineer with a proven ability to write clean, readable, and properly tested code based on tried and tested design patterns.

• Must have demonstrable knowledge of PHP Symfony and ideally JavaScript/ TypeScript with an ability and willingness to learn new languages, frameworks, and tools.

• Experience using large-scale code repositories.

• Some experience developing REST APIs and other back-end components.

• Ran critical services in production and designed highly available, scalable, and secure solutions.

• Awareness of accessibility standards and guidelines.

• Ability to communicate with technical and non-technical business colleagues.

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human : Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We're looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you're interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we'd still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page .

Additional Information

For more information about working with us please visit our website or contact us at [email protected] .

For more updates on our work and careers, follow us on: LinkedIn , Facebook , Instagram , X and YouTube .

Our vision is to create a charity where everyone feels like they ...