Senior Software Engineer, Applied Innovation

Main Purpose and Responsibilities

As a Senior Software Engineer in the Kainos Applied Innovation team, you will work closely with customers and colleagues to identify, prototype, and deliver high-impact software solutions. The role combines hands-on engineering with applied R&D; you will rapidly explore emerging technologies, assess their practical value, and turn promising ideas into working products, prototypes, and share technical recommendations.

This is a fast-paced and ambiguous environment, so you will be expected to take initiative, work autonomously, and make sound technical judgements with limited direction. You will communicate findings clearly, help customers and teams understand the opportunities and trade-offs of new approaches, and apply insights to real-world problems.

You will collaborate with talented colleagues across disciplines, contribute to a culture of experimentation and engineering quality, and support others as they take on new technical challenges.

• Proficient in designing, building, testing and maintaining modern software applications.
• Experience of applying development best practices and patterns in relation to security, scalability and performance.
• Contributing to technical decisions and direction in a collaborative team environment, including architecture, estimation, product planning, and user story/requirement creation.
• Experience of design and development across multiple layers of an application.
• Mentoring junior team members.
• Exposure to modern AI-driven development tools and techniques.
• Experience of leading on features and projects in a team environment, as well as working independently and autonomously.

• Good communication skills with the ability to communicate issues to technical and non-technical people; able to engage stakeholders and understand their goals and motivations.
• Experience of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery techniques.
• Experience of debugging and troubleshooting live applications.
• Active participation in knowledge sharing activities, both within the team and with wider non-technical audiences.
• Experience of multiple programming languages, data storage technologies and AI tools.
• Experience of balancing technical dependencies with user needs and commercial constraints.
• Knowledge of public cloud platforms, such as AWS and Azure, including SaaS and PaaS offerings.
• Experience of researching novel or new technologies and making recommendations for their use.

We are committed to building a team that is as diverse as the world we live in, where everyone is valued, respected, and given an equal chance to thrive. We actively seek out talented people from all backgrounds, regardless of age, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, or any other characteristic that makes them who they are.