Software Engineer – APIs & Integrations in Manchester

Manchester City Centre | Hybrid - 2 days per week

Most engineering roles at this level involve joining an established team and working within structures that are already in place.

This opportunity is different.

We're working with a funded Manchester startup using behavioural science and AI-driven matching to help people discover and access career opportunities.

The product is live, customers are already using it, and the business is now entering its next stage of growth.

They're looking for a Software Engineer to become one of the first dedicated technical hires within the business, initially taking ownership of a key area: the integrations connecting the platform with its clients' HR and recruitment technology.

You'll work across integrations with Applicant Tracking Systems, HR platforms, career sites and other client systems, making sure data moves reliably and securely between platforms.

The opportunity to grow

This isn't intended to remain a purely delivery-focused engineering role.

You'll initially work closely with an experienced Fractional CTO and external engineering specialists, giving you access to strong technical experience while allowing you to take genuine ownership.

As the business grows, the intention is to bring more of its engineering capability in-house.

For the right person, that creates an opportunity to take on increasingly significant technical ownership, influence engineering decisions and potentially help build and lead the internal engineering capability in the future.

If you're ambitious and feel it could take years to get that level of responsibility where you are today, this could offer a much faster route.

• What you'll be doing
• Build, maintain and support integrations with client systems.
• Design and work with REST APIs, webhooks and authentication flows such as OAuth.
• Help establish integrations with HR platforms, ATSs and career sites.
• Troubleshoot and debug problems when integrations or data flows don't behave as expected.
• Work directly with clients and their technical teams to understand and resolve integration issues.
• Contribute across the stack using Node. js / Type Script and React.
• Work with Postgre SQL and cloud technology within a live production environment.
• Work alongside senior technical specialists and external developers.
• Gradually take greater ownership of engineering decisions and priorities as the internal capability develops.

What we're looking for

Hands-on experience working with APIs and system integrations is essential.

We're interested in speaking with Software Engineers who can demonstrate real examples of integrating different systems and can confidently explain the problems they encountered and how they solved them.

You'll ideally have experience across some of the following

• Node. js or similar backend development.
• Building and consuming REST APIs.
• System integrations and data flows.
• Webhooks and authentication such as OAuth.
• React or modern frontend development.
• SQL / relational databases.
• Troubleshooting and debugging across multiple systems.
• Previous

AWS experience isn't essential , and you'll also have the opportunity to gain exposure to technologies such as

SAP as the role develops.

The person we're looking for

Technical ability is important, but this role needs someone who is comfortable taking ownership rather than simply being handed the next development ticket.

You'll need to be

• Naturally curious and keen to understand how things work.
• Someone who genuinely enjoys problem-solving and debugging.
• Comfortable communicating directly with clients and non-technical stakeholders.
• Confident enough to ask questions and constructively challenge ideas.
• Able to use your own judgement when everything isn't perfectly defined.
• Comfortable working in a fast-moving startup environment.
• Ambitious about taking on more responsibility as the business grows.

You don't need to be the loudest person in the room.

But you do need the confidence to have an opinion and communicate it.

You'll join early enough to have genuine influence over how the technology function develops, while still having experienced technical people around you to learn from.

Rather than joining a large engineering structure with several layers above you, you'll have the opportunity to become increasingly important to the technical direction of the business.

For someone with strong API and integration experience who wants their next move to give them greater ownership and accelerate their progression towards Senior, Lead or broader technical responsibility, this offers a genuine fast route to do that.

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