Senior Applications Engineer

Senior Applications Engineer

Full-Time 46000 - 52000 £ / year (est.) Home office (partial)
National History Museum

At a Glance

  • Tasks: Support and evolve critical applications at the Natural History Museum, ensuring reliability and optimisation.
  • Company: Join a world-class visitor attraction and science research centre with a mission for sustainability.
  • Benefits: Enjoy 27.5 days holiday, pension scheme, life insurance, and discounts at shops and cafes.
  • Other info: Hybrid working model with opportunities for professional development and a supportive team environment.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on technology that supports millions of visitors and inspires care for our planet.
  • Qualifications: Experience in applications engineering, CRM, eCommerce, and strong problem-solving skills required.

The predicted salary is between 46000 - 52000 £ per year.

About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website. Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things. We employ 1100 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world. Diversity and inclusion matter to us. Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment. We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

We’re looking for a Senior Applications Engineer to play a key role in supporting and evolving the Natural History Museum’s business and commercial applications. This is a varied and hands‑on role where you will act as a technical lead across a diverse application landscape, including CRM, eCommerce, ticketing and content platforms. You’ll ensure these critical systems are reliable, optimised and continuously improving—supporting both day‑to‑day operations and the Museum’s wider digital ambitions. You’ll work closely with Product Owners, analysts and engineering teams to plan and deliver upgrades, improvements and new capabilities. From managing deployments and supporting CI/CD pipelines to troubleshooting complex issues across cloud, web and containerised environments, you’ll be at the centre of keeping our services running smoothly and efficiently. Alongside this, you’ll lead on incident response and service performance, ensuring issues are resolved quickly and effectively while identifying opportunities to improve systems, automation and user experience. If you’re looking for a role with real ownership, this offers the opportunity to work across modern and legacy technologies (including Kubernetes, GitLab, Adobe Experience Manager and Dynamics CRM) within a collaborative, supportive environment where learning and development are actively encouraged.

About you

Are you an experienced applications or platform engineer who enjoys solving complex technical problems across a diverse technology stack? If you thrive in environments where no two days are the same, this could be the role for you. You bring strong experience supporting and administering business‑critical applications—such as CRM, eCommerce or ticketing systems—and understand how they integrate within wider platforms and infrastructure. You’re comfortable working across web technologies, cloud or containerised environments, and have a solid grasp of concepts such as CI/CD, system integrations and service reliability. If you enjoy diagnosing issues, improving systems and working collaboratively to deliver better services, you’ll thrive here. You’re proactive, detail‑oriented and able to manage competing priorities while maintaining a high standard of delivery. You’re also a strong communicator who can work effectively with both technical and non‑technical stakeholders, building relationships and ensuring users receive the support they need. You’re curious and motivated to keep learning, keen to explore new technologies and continuously improve how systems and services are delivered.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

What we offer

  • 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
  • Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
  • Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
  • Life insurance
  • Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
  • Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
  • We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
  • Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures.
  • Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in‑house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi
  • Hybrid working

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first‑hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events. We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working where you will be required to be on‑site at our South Kensington office at least two days per week. On‑site days are subject to increase to support project delivery and during periods of increased workload.

Senior Applications Engineer employer: National History Museum

The Natural History Museum is an exceptional employer, offering a vibrant work culture that champions diversity and inclusion while fostering a sense of belonging among its 1,100 staff. With generous benefits such as 27.5 days of holiday, a robust pension scheme, and opportunities for professional development, employees are encouraged to grow and thrive in their roles. Located in South Kensington, the Museum provides a unique environment where staff can engage with world-class collections and contribute to meaningful scientific research, all while enjoying the flexibility of hybrid working.

National History Museum

Contact Details:

National History Museum Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Senior Applications Engineer

Join Local Tech Meetups

Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at National History Museum or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!

Contribute to Open Source Projects

Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to National History Museum.

Tap into Online Developer Communities

Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like National History Museum.

Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles

Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like National History Museum that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!

We think you need these skills to ace Senior Applications Engineer

Technical Leadership
Application Support
CRM Systems
eCommerce Platforms
Ticketing Systems
Cloud Environments
Containerised Environments

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at National History Museum.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at National History Museum and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at National History Museum

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If National History Museum uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.