Alongside this role you will be completing the course Software & Computing > Level 5-6

Choose from the following

• Computing Systems at  Ulster University

  Apply after job offer

• Software Engineering Higher Level Apprenticeship at  QUB

  Apply after job offer

You'll be our first apprentice hire and you'll be joining a small, growing team.

This role grows with you. Over the years of your apprenticeship and beyond, you'll move along our Forward Deployed Engineer track. An FDE is an engineer who works directly with customers to build something start to finish. The skills you'll grow into here are the ones that role demands: judgement and client trust earned by being close to real work. We'll put together a personal training plan with you in your first weeks and revisit it as you progress.

This is a hands-on role from day one. You'll be pairing up with Senior Engineers to contribute on the same codebases and same client outcomes. You get that real world experience with the support of a senior mentor from the start.

Core Responsibilities

You'll spend most of your time on three things.

Learning the craft. Software engineering is mostly fundamentals. You'll learn how to read and write code that other people will need to maintain, and how to think about quality before you ship. Your study days and your work days reinforce each other.

Working on client projects. From early on, you'll contribute to the production software we build for our clients. Responsibility grows as you do.

Getting AI fluency right. AI tooling is part of how we work end to end. You'll learn to use AI tools effectively and to recognise when they aren't the right answer. Good judgement comes from understanding the fundamentals.

Our Principles

We believe AI has fundamentally changed how software gets built.

We believe the engineers who'll thrive are the ones who get energy from the whole problem, including the parts that don't look like engineering yet.

We believe the best work happens when the engineer is close enough to the business to have an opinion about it.

What We Value

Curiosity that goes beyond the codebase. The best engineers we know got there by being curious about how things work, including the parts that aren't engineering. If that's how you're wired, you'll do well here.

Some experience playing with AI tools. You've used ChatGPT or similar and formed a view on what they're good for and where they fall down. Come in with an opinion.

Intellectual honesty. You say "I don't know yet" when you don't, and change your mind when the evidence shifts.

Hunger to be an excellent engineer. You want to understand why things work and to build on solid foundations.

Ownership of your own growth. Apprenticeships work when the apprentice drives. You'll need to ask questions and spot things you want to learn more about.

What We Require

Belfast-based and office-first. We work from a shared office space at Ormeau Baths and that's where you'll spend most of your time. Learning the craft means being in the room with experienced engineers.

You must be eligible to obtain UK security clearance (BPSS as a minimum, with the ability to clear SC). Some of our client engagements require this and we need everyone on the team to be clearable in the long term.

What Happens When You Apply

Applications run through the WorkPlus Software For All campaign in June, and feed through to our recruitment pipeline.

We read every response. If we want to keep talking, we'll set up a conversation. We want to hear how you think about software and what you'd hope to learn here. Come with questions of your own.

Helpful links

We're hiring on potential. We want to know how you think and what you're interested in knowing more about.

We're looking for someone who:

• Is genuinely curious. You ask why things work the way they do. You find systems and problems interesting.

• Wants to be an excellent engineer. You care about understanding why things work.

• Has used AI tools. You've used an AI tool to help you create something, this could be Claude, Codex or Cursor to help you write code. Or you might have used Gemini to help you create documents or be creative. Or Lovable or similar to create a mockup. We want you to have formed a view on what they're good for and where they fall down.

• Is honest about what you don't know. You're comfortable saying "I don't know yet, but I'll find out".

• Takes ownership. When you take something on, you see it through.

If you're considering a career in software and want to learn alongside founders who've been building it for a long time, you should apply. The best engineers we know started with the fundamentals. They wanted to keep improving the systems and software you see and use every day. We’ll give you the guidance and real client projects to hone these skills and become a fully fledged Forward Deployed Engineer.