At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the design and delivery of data pipelines in a hands-on engineering role.
- Company: Join OB Collective, a leader in data integrity for government and law enforcement.
- Benefits: Competitive rate of circa £700/day and remote-first work culture.
- Other info: Exciting opportunity for career growth in a dynamic, mission-driven environment.
- Why this job: Make a real impact on trustworthy data systems while shaping engineering standards.
- Qualifications: Strong Scala skills and current NPPV3 clearance required.
The predicted salary is between 70000 - 90000 £ per year.
Location: UK, remote-first with occasional onsite. UK-based, UK data handling only.
Engagement: Contract, outside IR35. Rate: circa £700/day depending on experience.
Clearance: Current, portable NPPV3 is essential (SC alongside is a strong plus). We can only consider people who already hold in-date, transferable clearance.
About the work: OB Collective build data integrity, provenance and assurance infrastructure for government and law-enforcement data environments – the layer that makes complex, multi-source data pipelines trustworthy, traceable and defensible. We have a growing pipeline of engagements in this space and are expanding our bench of senior, cleared engineers to draw on. This is a hands-on, lead engineering role: you shape the technical approach, set the standard for a small delivery team, stay close to the code, and work directly with operational users and partner engineers to ground the build in how systems are actually used.
What you'll do:
- Own the technical design and delivery of a data-pipeline/provenance engagement
- Build ingestion, transformation and lineage across distributed systems, streaming and batch
- Define integration interfaces with partner's existing pipeline and keep the join clean
- Engage operational users directly to understand real workflows and constraints
- Set engineering standards, review, and mentor a small team
Essential:
- Current, portable NPPV3 clearance
- Strong Scala/JVM engineering, with sound typed / functional design instincts
- Distributed systems experience — building and reasoning about concurrent, fault-tolerant services
- Experience with data pipelines — ingestion, transformation, lineage, streaming and batch
- Solid API and structured-data fluency: REST/gRPC, JSON/Avro/Protobuf
- Sound CI/CD and testing discipline — correctness matters in high-assurance work
- Self-directing: able to take an ambiguous problem and drive it to a robust solution without close supervision
- Comfortable engaging operational users and partner engineers, not just heads-down build
- UK-based, able to handle data within the UK only
Desirable:
- SC clearance alongside NPPV3
- Functional / typed Scala — Cats, Cats Effect, FS2, Circe — a strong plus
- Streaming / big-data frameworks (Kafka, Spark, Flink) for integrating with partner pipelines
- Government, policing or law-enforcement data experience
- Data lineage, provenance, audit or integrity/verification tooling
- Secure-by-design development and comfort handling sensitive/classified data (UK GDPR / DPA awareness)
- Containerisation/orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes); on-prem, air-gapped or restricted environments as well as cloud
To apply, please submit your CV highlighting relevant skills and experience, along with your current clearance status.
Senior Software Engineer in City of London employer: OB Collective
At OB Collective, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that values innovation and integrity in the realm of data engineering. Our remote-first work culture fosters flexibility and collaboration, allowing you to engage with a diverse team while contributing to meaningful projects that support government and law enforcement. With opportunities for professional growth and a commitment to high standards, you'll find a rewarding environment where your expertise in Scala and distributed systems can truly shine.
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We think this is how you could land Senior Software Engineer in City of London
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We think you need these skills to ace Senior Software Engineer in City of London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Showcase Your GitHub Projects:When applying for a freelance software engineering gig at OB Collective, make sure to include your GitHub link in your application. Highlighting your code repositories, contributions to Open Source, and any personal projects can really set you apart and give us insight into your skills and coding style.
Tailor Your CV with Relevant Skills:In software development, the specifics matter! Make sure your CV lists the programming languages and technologies you excel at. Focus on the ones that align with the projects OB Collective is working on. Listing your tech stack clearly will help us understand how you fit into our team.
Include a Portfolio of Your Work:A solid portfolio is a must when applying for freelance roles. Include links to any apps, websites, or software you've developed. Highlight any projects that reflect a strong user experience, efficiency, or innovative solutions—this is your chance to shine and show us what you can bring to the table!
Mention Your Availability and Rates:Since this is a freelance role, we want to know when you’re available and what your rates are like! Be upfront about your typical work hours and project timelines. This transparency will help us see if we can sync up for future projects at OB Collective.
How to prepare for a job interview at OB Collective
✨Showcase Your Code Wizardry
Since you're going for a freelance role in software engineering, have a solid portfolio ready to flaunt your best work. Include projects that highlight your coding skills, frameworks you excel in, and any problem-solving feats you've pulled off. This is your chance to shine, so choose pieces that reflect your unique style and expertise!
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✨Understand Their Tech Stack
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