Back End Developer in London

Join our team at the Guardian and be a part of a diverse and inclusive global organisation that delivers fearless, investigative journalism, and holds power to account. Our team of award-winning journalists, cutting-edge commercial professionals, and industry-leading digital experts are committed to making a difference and represent a wide range of backgrounds and perspectives. We offer a challenging and exciting environment for career development, with a focus on training, growth and fostering an inclusive culture.

We are now looking for a Server Side Developer to join our Developer Experience stream. This is a 12 month fixed term contract to support the team for a specific project, building a new Developer Experience platform that improves the efficiency of the Guardian’s engineering team by strengthening our observability and deployment capabilities and making it easier to develop software.

Development of digital products is central to the Guardian. As a server side engineer, you’ll be equally willing to dive into a purely functional and composable Scala back-end or work with a variety of database and streaming technologies. Much of our code is openly available on GitHub, and some of our projects are widely used throughout the Open Source community. Many of our developers regularly attend and present at conferences.

About the role:

• You’ll mostly be programming in Scala and TypeScript, running in AWS, but we use the tool that best fits the problem.
• You’ll be working in a cross-functional team, which is empowered to rapidly iterate and release new features.
• You won’t be coding in isolation - our culture is strongly collaborative, whether pair programming within your team or working closely with developers across other product teams.
• Sometimes deciding what code to write is as hard as writing the code itself.
• As an engineer you’ll be involved in product decisions as well as technical ones.
• You’ll be encouraged to help others grow - you will pass on your expertise to other developers, whilst continuing to grow yourself.

About you:

• Demonstrated experience as a software developer programming in Scala and Typescript, running in AWS.
• Experience working in Scala back-end and with database and streaming technologies.
• Experience working in a cross-functional team in an agile environment.
• You are excited by the opportunity to shape the future of digital journalism.
• Your interests go beyond just your team’s objectives; you are curious about where the organisation is moving as a whole.

We actively encourage applications from groups traditionally underrepresented in the UK media. Our developers operate in a hybrid environment working 1 day a week from our offices in Kings Cross and 4 days remotely. If you’d like to come in more than that, that’s great too.

We strive for transparency in remuneration where possible. The salary for new mid-level Developers at the Guardian is £57,000 per year. We value and respect all differences (seen and unseen) in all people. We aspire to have inclusive working experiences and an environment that reflects the audience we serve, where our people have equal access to career development opportunities, their voices are heard and can contribute to our future. We actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.

Many of our staff work flexibly and we will consider all requests for flexible working arrangements. Guardian News and Media is proud to be a London Living wage employer. The minimum salary for any full-time role within the organisation is £30,000 per annum. Salary ranges are dependent on skills and experience.

How to apply:

To apply, please upload your latest CV and a cover letter which outlines why you’d love to take on this role, and why you’re a great match for what we’re looking for. We appreciate the time taken to prepare each application we receive. We do not use AI-assisted technology to review applications; every application is reviewed by a member of our recruitment team. Thank you for bearing with us during the screening process.

The closing date for applications is Wednesday 22nd July 2026. The interview process will include a screening call with the recruitment team, an in-person interview and a pair programming exercise. All roles at the Guardian are open for everybody to apply. It is important to us that you feel supported and comfortable throughout your recruitment process, in order to perform your best. Please let us know if there are any changes we could make to help your application, this includes providing documents in accessible formats or personalising the process to better support your needs.

Benefits at the Guardian:

• You’ll have 30 days of annual leave per year (plus bank holidays) with the option to purchase an additional 5 days.
• Our pension scheme is generous; if you contribute 5% then we will contribute 8-12% (depending on your age).
• We believe in giving back, which is why employees are given 2 volunteering days annually and the option of payroll giving.
• Season ticket loans are also available.
• You are entitled to life cover, income protection, and eye tests. You can also opt in to dental insurance.
• We have enhanced maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave policies in place.
• We also support our employees by offering an IVF, menopause, baby loss, and trans equality policy.

Culture and wellbeing:

We want everyone to feel like they belong at the Guardian and we champion diversity of thought. Our various employee forums provide a platform to use their voice to foster an inclusive workplace. We became the first major media organisation to achieve B Corp status.

We offer tools to help you prioritise your wellbeing including access to our employee benefits platform which provides tailored support for health and wellbeing. In addition, we also offer free yoga and pilates classes. These run alongside our corporate gym membership and cycle to work scheme. Our canteen has views overlooking the Regents Canal and caters for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Learning and development:

We encourage personal and professional growth. Employees have access to a broad range of tools and solutions, and we are happy to support the pursuit of professional qualifications through vocational courses and apprenticeships.