Associate Developer

Are you an early-career engineer who is ready to build something real, grow fast, and learn from a team that is genuinely invested in your development? We would love to hear from you.

About Acorn

At Acorn PLMS, we are on a mission to transform the corporate learning experience. Our cutting-edge Performance Learning Management System (PLMS) software is powered by AI and designed to ensure that what people learn directly contributes to their exceptional performance in business. Corporate performance and learning needs a revolution, and Acorn PLMS is the antidote. We are the only solution that guides learners step by step to master the specific capabilities required for their roles, ultimately accelerating organisational performance.

Location

We are open to individuals based in Sydney or Canberra — this is an in-office role.

Role Overview

The Associate Developer is an early-career engineer building the foundational skills needed to deliver reliable software as part of Acorn's engineering team. Working closely with senior engineers and team leads, you will contribute to feature development, grow your understanding of our codebase and delivery processes, and develop your technical and collaborative capabilities over time.

This is a role for someone who is curious, eager to learn, and committed to improving — both as an individual and as a contributing member of the team. You will be mentored and guided throughout, and are expected to ask questions early, communicate progress clearly, and take ownership of your work.

The best part… we use our Acorn software at Acorn. We believe in the power of our Managers and Staff being aligned on the 5 capabilities needed for each role, and the level that we expect for any given role, using our Acorn AI tool to streamline this consistently across our business. The 5 levels comprise Foundational, Developing, Proficient, Advanced and Expert.

Here are the 5 key capabilities for the role and the level expected to give you an idea of what the role entails.

5 Key Capabilities

1. Technical Craft & System Design Applies established engineering patterns to build maintainable, secure software that is easy to understand, change, and operate. Writes simple, well-structured code that follows team standards and conventions, seeks feedback through code reviews, and uses existing components and patterns appropriately.

Level — Foundational, with growth toward Developing.

2. Software Delivery & Code Quality Delivers scoped work reliably to enable predictable, high-quality outcomes for the team and its stakeholders. Delivers small tasks with guidance, clarifies acceptance criteria, completes work to the expected standard, communicates progress, and asks for help early when blocked. Writes tested code for their changes, follows secure coding standards, and addresses review feedback promptly.

Level — Foundational.

3. Delivery, Tooling & Operational Awareness Learns how software is deployed and operated by following team processes and participating in delivery rituals. At this stage, the focus is on building awareness of CI/CD, release processes, and incident response under guidance — developing habits around verification, change safety, and operational care that will underpin future delivery ownership.

Level — Foundational.

4. Collaboration, Communication & Team Contribution Collaborates effectively within the team to enable shared understanding, smooth delivery, and positive day-to-day ways of working. Communicates clearly with teammates, participates in team rituals, follows agreed ways of working, listens actively, asks questions when unsure, and shares information needed for others to do their work.

Level — Foundational, with growth toward Developing.

5. Customer & Product Awareness Learns how their work relates to customer needs and product outcomes, using requirements and guidance from others. Uses basic data or feedback when provided, asks questions to understand success measures, and begins connecting their work to the value it creates for users and the business.

Level — Foundational.

Key Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development of features and bug fixes under the guidance of senior engineers, following team standards and conventions.
• Deliver small, well-scoped tasks end-to-end, including implementation, testing, and basic validation.
• Communicate progress and blockers clearly, asking for help early when stuck rather than waiting until it impacts delivery.
• Write clean, readable code that follows established patterns and is reviewed constructively by peers.
• Write and maintain tests for your changes, address code review feedback promptly, and fix defects in your work.
• Participate actively in team rituals — standups, retrospectives, sprint planning — and contribute to a respectful and collaborative team culture.
• Learn and apply the team's CI/CD, deployment, and operational processes under guidance.
• Seek feedback regularly and demonstrate a commitment to growing your technical skills and self-awareness over time.
• Begin to develop familiarity with AI-assisted coding tools as part of your development workflow, learning to critically evaluate and apply AI-generated output responsibly.

Required Experience

• 0–2 years of experience in software development, including internships, academic projects, or early professional roles.
• Familiarity with at least one programming language (e.g. JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, PHP, or similar) and a desire to learn across the stack.
• Basic understanding of version control (Git), and a willingness to learn modern frameworks and tools used by the team.
• Some exposure to writing and running tests, and an understanding of why testing matters for code quality.
• Comfortable asking questions, taking feedback constructively, and iterating on your approach.
• Clear written and verbal communication, with a genuine interest in understanding how your work connects to user and product outcomes.
• Openness to using AI-assisted tooling (e.g. GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor) as part of your workflow, with an understanding that you remain responsible for the correctness and quality of your output.
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

Why Join Acorn PLMS?

• You will be joining a global SaaS scale-up that genuinely practises what it preaches — we use our own product to develop our people, so you will experience first-hand the kind of structured growth and capability-building that most companies only talk about.
• This is a real engineering team building real product for over 3 million active learners globally. Your work ships and it matters.
• You will be mentored by experienced engineers who are invested in your growth, with clear expectations and a structured pathway to the next level.
• We move fast and build together in-office — the kind of daily collaboration that accelerates learning in ways remote work simply cannot replicate.
• You are joining at a stage where there is still enormous runway, which means genuine opportunities to grow your scope and impact as the business grows.

Location

We are open to individuals based in Sydney, Australia or Canberra, Australia. We are an office-first company, meaning we work from our local offices the majority (if not all) of the time. We want to create cool stuff with great people, and we know from experience that is best done through daily moments like the coffee run, walk to grab lunch, or quick huddles.

Being able to capitalise on this is key to our ongoing success and a large part of the reason we can work at the pace we do. Please note candidates will need to be in commuting distance to our offices based in Sydney CBD or Canberra CBD.

Applicants must have full working rights in Australia to be considered for this role. Unfortunately we are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.

Our Recruitment Process

Acorn is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected. We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all qualified candidates. We aim to ensure that our recruitment process is fair and accessible to everyone and encourage candidates to request any accommodations needed during the application or interview stages.

About Acorn

Acorn is the hub for learning and performance for over 3 million active learners globally. The work you do — whether that's writing lines of code, designing the layout of a dashboard, or talking to customers — helps real people grow not just professionally, but personally. In the space of 10 years, we've grown to a global platform in the heart of many major organisations' ecosystems.

There's still so much more to do, and we need people who are keen to help us journey into the next phase on board! And since we're still growing, there's so much you can learn on that journey with us. To find out more about life at Acorn, our Values and working with us, check out our website at https://acorn.works and see our Life At Acorn video here! https://youtu.be/2BGUk-n3FrQ?si=U_sS1Y5ZSP0tNtZW