Graduate Web Developer - Glasgow

With the UK government's ambitious goal of delivering 60GW of solar power by 2030, Solar Careers UK are on a mission to help recruit, train, and place over 43,000 new professionals into rewarding careers within the solar and battery storage industry. Solar Careers UK is a division of Solar Energy UK, the trade association representing over 425 solar businesses across the country. Many of these companies specialise in delivering high-quality solar installations for domestic, commercial, and utility-scale projects.

By completing this application, Solar Careers UK can help connect you to live job vacancies that match your skills and experience, and provide guidance on the qualifications and training needed to pursue your chosen career in the solar sector. If you are enthusiastic about renewable energy, whatever sector you currently work in, we encourage you to apply and join us in our mission to create a more sustainable future for everyone. New entrants welcome.

Would you like to take your first software development footsteps in a growing company that's using technology to make the transition to a low carbon future easier? Alongside our core business distributing components of renewable energy systems, we have a software team that builds and maintains our increasingly popular web applications for designing solar PV and heat pump systems. We're expanding fast, and we're looking to take on a graduate developer to work alongside the more experienced members of the team.

You will join our software team, working on the next generations of Easy PV and Heatpunk, our web tools for designing PV and heat pump systems. As a Graduate Developer you will be given the opportunity to try your hand at all aspects of software development. Some of the areas you will work in are:

• Front end code: You will work with our designer to implement our design system, ensuring users have a clean, pleasing, easy-to-use UI.
• Complex user interfaces: Much of the magic in Easy PV happens in 2D and 3D graphical editors. You'll need to get your head round complex geometry problems.
• Back end code: We are in the process of migrating our back end from PHP to node.js, with some Python and Rust modules for particular tasks. Some of our back end is routine work with databases, file storage and connections to external services - some of it is a lot more bespoke and esoteric!
• Testing and infrastructure: Our customer base is rapidly expanding, with a number of ‘Enterprise' implementations of Easy PV and Heatpunk for large installers and energy companies in addition to our public sites. We have to manage ever-increasing volumes of data and ensure new features are thoroughly tested in different environments before deployment.
• Problem solving: Some of what we do needs solutions to complex mathematical and logical problems - you'll need to be a great problem solver.

We are a fast-growing company selling a range of renewable energy products to trade customers from our offices across the UK. We sell solar PV systems, battery storage, electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps and a variety of associated products. We were recognised as the UK's best renewables distributor in 2020 and 2022, and Easy PV came out top (by a large margin!) in a LinkedIn poll for the most popular PV design software in the UK. As an organisation, we have a strong environmental ethos and a passion for promoting the uptake of renewable energy, and our team share a belief in an open and honest approach to business.

You're naturally talented at coding, thoughtful, and creative, and you want a career that will make a difference. You'd like to put your skills to use to make the planet greener as well as earn your keep. You've got a passion for good code and would love to spend your days building software that is intuitive and enjoyable to use. The main characteristic we are looking for is excellent problem solving. Software development is evolving rapidly, and AI coding assistants can now do a lot of the grunt work. These tools are only as good as their operator however, and you need to know how to get the best from them, and how to solve the problems that they get stuck on. We value initiative. We like people who can work independently, take pride in what they do, and don't need to be micro-managed. Not everyone has to be a generalist, and you might already have a clear preference for front or back end coding. For front-end developers an eye for good design is a big advantage. You need to build an understanding of how users interact with our software, and develop tools that are not just pleasing to the eye, but that are intuitive, feel natural, and a pleasure to use. For back-end developers we look for attention to detail, common sense and security awareness. The post is particularly suitable for recent graduates or those about to graduate, but we are open to other applicants who are changing career or have a small amount of prior experience in coding.

You'll be joining a young, dynamic company with positive values that is aiming to position itself as the leading distributor of renewable energy systems in the UK. As a software developer you will be joining a division that we see as crucial to the success of the company, and with enormous potential for growth. This will be a challenging but fulfilling role. We are open to some degree of flexible working - and there are times when working from home can allow you to get your head down and complete tasks free from distractions - but we believe it is best to see our colleagues face to face on most days so you will be expected to be based in the office at least four days a week. Starting salary is usually £38K for our graduate developers. If you have some experience or relevant high level academic qualifications (eg a PhD in a relevant field), a slightly higher salary may be negotiable. You won't get a company car - we'd rather encourage people to get on their bike or take public transport. But you do get a free bag of delicious, fresh, locally-grown organic veg every week. We can be flexible on start dates. We are open to a summer start for candidates who are completing their studies at the moment.