Software Engineer - Universal Search

Applicants must be authorized to work for any employer in the country in which the role is being hired. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time.

About Mark43

Mark43 empowers communities and their governments with technology that improves safety and quality of life. We build modern, resilient software that first responders and public safety agencies depend on in their most critical moments.

We are looking for an experienced Software Engineer – Universal Search to help shape the future of 3rd party search and data integration at Mark43. In this role, you’ll build and scale the systems behind our universal search platform that powers fast, accurate, and secure access to critical data across our RMS, CAD, and analytics products. You'll work on distributed systems, real-time data indexing, and modern search technologies to support life-saving decision making for our public safety users.

What You’ll Do

• Led end-to-end system design for a new universal search experience across RMS, CAD, and other core components, collaborating with Product and cross-functional engineering teams to ensure a scalable, secure, and user-friendly solution that spans domains.
• Extended platform configurability and connectivity to tap new search data sources using AI-powered coding tools to accelerate development while maintaining high standards for code quality.
• Reviewed pull requests for enhancements to our authorization layer and index mappings in configurations, providing detailed architectural and performance-focused feedback to improve clarity, maintainability, and system resilience.
• Acted as release manager, coordinating deployment logistics, validating release readiness, and ensuring smooth, downtime-free updates to production through clear cross-team communication.
• Owned the end-to-end delivery of a feature supporting permission-aware global search filtering, aligning closely with Product, Infrastructure, and Design from technical feasibility through post-release monitoring.
• Mentored junior engineers, pair-programmed through complex debugging sessions, and coached teammates on prioritizing technical debt while delivering roadmap commitments.
• Participated in the on-call rotation, triaged and resolved a spike in failed search queries, and led a structured Root Cause Analysis (RCA) to drive follow-up improvements in system observability and alerting.

What You’ll Need

We’re looking for a backend engineer with at least 3+ years of professional experience who can take ownership, lead initiatives, and operate with autonomy in a distributed systems environment.

Must-Haves:

• Proficiency in Java with strong backend development experience.
• Experience integrating and working with third-party systems to support search functionality across domains.
• Familiarity with event-driven architectures using Amazon SNS, Amazon SQS, or Kinesis.
• Strong experience with AWS services such as Lambda, API Gateway, Step Functions, S3, ECS/EKS, DynamoDB, Aurora/RDS, IAM, and CloudWatch.
• Prior experience using AI engines to increase development velocity and deliver results.
• Solid understanding of indexing strategies, document schema design, and query optimization.
• Comfort working with CI/CD workflows and Infrastructure-as-Code (IaC) tools in a serverless-first, microservices-based architecture.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

Nice to Have:

• Prior experience working on multi-tenant platforms or large-scale search products.
• Familiarity with public safety or regulated domains.
• Knowledge of security best practices around data access and query auditing.

People Who Thrive on Our Team Also Tend to Be:

• Mission-driven – You care deeply about building technology that improves lives and strengthens communities.
• Curious and humble – You ask questions before making assumptions and actively seek feedback.
• Team-oriented – You value cross-functional collaboration as a key to shipping great software.
• Growth-minded – You look for ways to improve every day, even if the path isn’t always clear.
• Calm under uncertainty – You’re comfortable navigating ambiguity and solving problems without a roadmap.

What We Offer

• 28 days holiday plus UK bank holidays.
• Private medical, dental, and vision insurance through AXA Health and BUPA, fully paid for you and your dependents.
• 18 weeks paid parental leave for primary caregivers plus a ramp-back programme.
• Income protection (75% of salary) and death in service cover (4x salary), fully paid.
• Pension through Nest with 3% employer contribution.
• Gym reimbursement for you and your partner.
• Equipment allowance to set up your home office.
• AI tooling including Claude Code Enterprise and ChatGPT Enterprise licences provided.
• Spring Health membership with therapy sessions and mental wellness tools, fully covered.
• Company performance-based bonus.
• Paid sabbatical of one month at your five-year anniversary.
• Biannual hackathons, learning budget, and a team that genuinely invests in your growth.

What We Value

• Humility. You know the best ideas win, no matter where they come from. You ask questions before making assumptions and you're as happy being wrong as being right, because either way, the team gets to a better answer.
• Inclusivity. You respect expertise in all its forms and actively seek out perspectives different from your own. You make space for others and assume good intent.
• Excellence. You care about quality in your code, your reviews, and how you communicate. You're not satisfied with 'it works' when it could be better, and you encourage the same standard in those around you.
• Diligence. You take ownership, mind the details, and understand that the software we build is used in moments that genuinely matter. You don't cut corners when people are depending on the outcome.

This role is based at our Central Manchester office and follows a hybrid work model with at least three days a week in the office. Applicants must be authorised to work in the UK. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment visa at this time. This role may require you to complete Non-Police Personnel Vetting (NPPV) security clearance up to level 3.

Mark43 is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, religion, sex disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status, or genetic information. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please email requesting the accommodation.