Back end Engineer

We support peace and prosperity by building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries worldwide. For 90 years we have shaped brighter futures through education, arts, culture, language, and creativity.

Working with people in over 200 countries and territories, we are on the ground in more than 100 countries.

We connect. We inspire.

Backend Engineer

Location: Poland

Contract Type: Indefinite Contract

Pay Grade: 8

Closing date: 28 July 2025 at 22:59 CEST / 23:59 East African Time

Requirements: You must have the legal right to work in Poland at the time of application. We are unable to support with visa sponsorship and relocation.

Role Context - About The Team

The Digital and Technology Directorate leads the British Council’s digital strategy and transformation. It creates and executes technology initiatives to fulfil the organisation’s mission and corporate priorities.

Key Focus Areas Are

• Creating digital products that attract and retain customers, delivering business value through digital design and delivery expertise.
• Developing and optimising digital platforms that provide seamless customer interactions and use scalable and secure capabilities.
• Enhancing digital capability across the organisation.
• Enabling growth, impact and efficiency through technology.
  
  

Digital and Technology is a global Directorate organised into four divisions: Product, Engineering, Operations and Performance which collectively create digital products and services, maintain, and improve products, services and platforms and optimise performance. Areas of responsibility include digital and technology strategy, architecture, infrastructure, software, development, data, innovation, and cybersecurity. It ensures that technology initiatives are customer and value focused, accessible, efficient, and secure.

This role is a senior role in the Engineering unit. The Engineering team brings together capabilities which include Architecture, Software Engineering, QA and Delivery expertise to ensure excellence in the development of our global products and services. Encompassing Reuse, Buy and Build strategies, it champions community of practices, define solutions and core-capabilities and create amazing products.

Role Purpose - The Job

As Backend Engineer, you will be a key member of the team developing and maintaining robust, scalable, and efficient Backend systems to meet the needs of a range of British Council products and services accessed globally.

You will use your expertise to contribute to the technical design, implementation and optimisation of our Backend solutions. With your strong understanding of software engineering principles and best practice, you will play a pivotal role in assuring the stability, performance, and security of these systems whilst guiding their seamless integration with client applications to support our organisation's user-centred digital initiatives.

You will work alongside software engineers, working in cross-functional teams, sharing your development skills, planning and insight to ensure high quality code is delivered in line with project goals and delivery plans using agile methods.

You will enjoy working openly as part of a multidisciplinary team, and collaborate closely with teams of Engineering, Product, Design and Operations colleagues based around the world to build our next generation of digital systems.

Main Accountabilities

Product/Programme/Service delivery

• Use agreed specifications to design, code, review, test and document programs or scripts, using the right standards and tools.
• Collaborate with product managers and other stakeholders to plan development on Backend engineering stories.
• Contribute to the technical design and implementation of scalable and reliable Backend systems to support product/service delivery.
• Ensure timely delivery of Backend engineering projects, adhering to project milestones, quality standards and coding best practice.
• Identify and recommend the adoption of emerging technologies
• Collaborative and contribute to an inclusive team culture, promoting knowledge sharing, innovation, and continuous improvement.
• Identify opportunities for cost optimisation and efficiency improvements in Backend systems while balancing business needs and quality standards.
  
  

Customers & stakeholders

• Engage with key stakeholders and business partners to understand their Backend engineering needs and provide technical solutions that meet their requirements.
• Collaborate with customer success managers to gather feedback from customers and incorporate it into the continuous improvement of Backend systems.
  
  

Risk & compliance

• Identify potential risks and vulnerabilities in Backend systems and suggest appropriate security measures to mitigate them.
• Ensure compliance with industry standards, regulations, and data privacy requirements in the design and implementation of Backend solutions.
• Implement and maintain robust monitoring and logging mechanisms to detect and respond to potential security breaches or compliance issues.
  
  

Analysis & reporting

• Develop and maintain analytics and reporting capabilities for Backend systems, providing insights on performance, usage patterns, and user behaviour.
• Collaborate with data analysts and business analysts to gather requirements and develop data-driven solutions for Backend systems optimisation.
  
  

Minimum/essential

Requirements Of The Role:

• Experience in Backend engineering, involved in designing and implementing scalable and high-performance systems.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as .Net, C#, PHP, NodeJS, Python, and experience with Backend frameworks (e.g., Symfony, Express, Django).
• Good understanding of distributed system concepts, cloud architectures (e.g., AWS, Azure), and microservices architecture.
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases, data modelling, and query optimization.
• Solid knowledge of RESTful APIs, message queues, caching mechanisms, and other Backend technologies.
• Experience with end-to-end unit and integration testing (e.g., Cypress, Jest and Playwright)
• Prototyping skills
• Knowledge of resource allocation and management, and component optimisation
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Experience of agile development (Scrum/Kanban), software patterns, test and behaviour driven development and version control
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent experience.
• Continuous learning through online courses, workshops, and industry conferences to stay updated with emerging technologies and best practices in Backend development.
• Strong foundation in computer science fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, and software design principles
  
  

Desirable

• Knowledge of containerization and orchestration platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and related technologies.
• Knowledge of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Jenkins, Terraform).
• Understanding of frontend technologies (e.g., React, Angular)
• Familiarity with event-driven architecture and stream processing frameworks (e.g., Kafka, Apache Flink).
• Understanding of security best practices, authentication, and authorisation protocols (e.g., OAuth, JWT).
• Master's degree in Computer Science or a relevant specialisation providing a deeper understanding of advanced topics and research in Backend engineering.
  
  

Role Specific Skills

• Technical Expertise: Stong understanding of Backend technologies, frameworks, and architectures.
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking: analyse problems, identify patterns, and propose innovative solutions.
• Strategic Thinking: strategic mindset and the ability to align technical decisions with the organization's goals and objectives
  
  

A connected and trusted UK in a more connected and trusted world.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Statement

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and welcome applications from all sections of the community as we believe that a diverse workforce gives added depth to our work. The British Council is a Disability Confident Employer. The Disability Confident scheme helps challenge attitudes, increase understanding of disability and ensure staff are drawn from the widest possible pool of talent. We guarantee an interview for disabled applicants who meet the minimum role requirements. We welcome discussions about specific requirements or adjustments to enable participation and engagement in our work and activities.

Safeguarding Statement

The British Council is committed to safeguarding children, young people and adults who we work with. We believe that all children and adults everywhere in the world deserve to live in safe environments and have the right to be protected from all forms of abuse, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in article 19, UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child) 1989. Appointment to positions where there is direct involvement with vulnerable groups will be dependent on thorough checks being completed in line with legal requirements and with the British Council’s Safeguarding policies for Adults and Children.

If you experience any difficulties with submitting your application, please email [email protected]