UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education.

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers — they're at the heart of everything we do.

The Digital Services business unit is at the heart of UCAS’ technical innovation, data and infrastructure. It focuses on leveraging data science, technology, and enterprise architecture to enhance UCAS' digital products and services.

The unit is dedicated to developing and improving customer-centric digital solutions, ensuring seamless and secure online experiences for all users. By providing insightful data and analysis, often made available to anyone with free-to-use intuitive dashboard, Digital Services empowers the Higher Education sector and those interested in the sector with valuable information to make informed decisions. By working in collaborative, expert led, multi-disciplinary teams, Digital Services drives UCAS’ mission to connect students with their next opportunities through advanced technological solutions.

The Senior Software Engineer is the key development and technical specialist resource for the team, responsible for developing and delivering software solutions in line with UCAS’ Corporate and IT strategy. They maintain a detailed knowledge of existing UCAS applications and systems while work alongside other Senior Software Engineers to ensure compliance with UCAS coding and design standards.

Key accountabilities:

• Provide technical leadership and innovation, utilising advanced technical skills.


• Accountable for the development of quality solutions based on technical requirements, leading projects and/or project teams as required.

• Provide coaching, mentoring support and feedback to team members in key technologies and developments, to improve general skill set of the team and increase knowledge of solutions.

• Code/configure and document complex solutions from supplied specifications, using agreed standards and tools, and conduct reviews with others as appropriate.

• Define and maintain coding and best practice standards and documentation guidelines.

• Develop and maintain specialist knowledge of cloud technologies, design principles, architectures, and software.

• Analyse data requirements to establish, modify, and maintain object/data models

• Act as a subject matter expert (SME) for related technologies and understand the interactions between the systems.

For a full job description please see the attached role profile.

• Educated to degree level in relevant computing discipline or able to demonstrate an equivalent level of professional experience.

• Substantial experience of developing enterprise level .Net applications.

• Significant experience leading and designing solutions

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with ability to communicate effectively to both non-technical and technical audiences

• Experience of working successfully in a dynamic, large-scale agile department with multiple technologies.

• Significant experience developing solutions for the cloud.

• Highly proficient in automated CI/CD pipelines, including automated testing.

• Significant experience of coaching and mentoring junior members of staff, with a proven ability to develop individuals and input into performance evaluation.

• Proven ability to lead architectural designs, considering business need, cost, and delivery timescales.

Salary up to £56,000

• Purpose-driven work in a charity-led organisation connecting people to education and opportunity


• Internal training, mentoring, and access to industry-recognised certifications through our development academies


• Hybrid working model built on trust and flexibility, with a 35-hour week and flexible contracts


• 30 days annual leave, 3 concessionary days over Christmas, bank holidays, and the option to purchase additional leave


• Everyday wellbeing support through Perkbox, offering discounts and wellness tools

• Onsite facilities including a subsidised gym, café, and free parking at our Cheltenham office


• Inclusive culture supported by employee networks, wellbeing champions, and Mental Health First Aiders


• Recognition and reward through our quarterly employee scheme and an ex-gratia bonus for going above and beyond

Studies have shown that some groups of people are less likely to apply to a role unless they tick every box. At UCAS we recognise that talent comes in various forms and we are committed to delivering a fair and equitable recruitment process where applicants have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their skills. So, if you are interested in this vacancy, but don't necessarily meet every single point on the job description, please apply.

If you have any questions and would like to find out more about the role before applying please email the Talent Acquisition team via careers@ucas.ac.uk.

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