Graduate Consultant Software Engineer Full Time

Locations: London, Cambridge, Manchester

Salary: £45,000 + Profit Share

The Role

The role is a permanent developer role for graduates, or soon-to-be graduates, or those without a degree who are already proficient coders, looking to start in late 2026.

Responsibilities And Opportunities

As a software engineer at Softwire, you’ll be part of a bright, inclusive, supportive team, working directly with our customers to solve some of their biggest challenges. You could be involved in anything from large-scale digital transformations to artificial intelligence, making a genuine difference to people’s lives, businesses, and society along the way.

Interspersed with the project work, you’ll benefit from structured training that equips you for a long and fulfilling career in the digital world. Working here, your opportunities are virtually limitless, with a wide variety of career paths open to you. Both our current and our previous managing directors are alumni of our graduate programme.

Our Graduate Timeline

Months 1: Software Engineering Induction

Our new-starter training programme gets you up-to-speed with the skills you need to thrive as a professional digital engineer. You’ll get a grounding in coding, source control, modern technology stacks, and more. You’ll then form a team with your fellow graduates to develop a piece of software, typically for a not-for-profit organisation or to be used within Softwire. Under the guidance of experienced engineers and a dedicated mentor, you’ll learn what it takes to deliver commercial-grade software.

Months 2-15: Working on Client Projects

With your induction complete, you’ll immediately join one of our teams delivering a real-world project; either in-house or for a client, usually in our offices but sometimes on a customer site. You’ll get plenty of support throughout, surrounded by helpful colleagues and industry experts to answer all your questions. With continual peer review of your work, your software engineering skills will quickly rise to new levels.

This practical project work is supported by close mentoring and is combined with part-time, off-project, training sessions for a further three months. We offer an optional Level 4 apprenticeship for those who wish to continue formal learning. This industry-leading Level 4 apprenticeship course lasts six weeks spread over 12 months, broadening your knowledge in key aspects of professional software engineering, including system design, development methodologies, and additional technologies.

Month 16 and Beyond: Choose Your Career Path

We continue to invest in your development and promote from within. Many of our senior staff joined as graduates and have followed various career paths. You might decide you love leading project delivery, enjoy overseeing a technology team, find consulting your passion, or choose to specialise in areas such as design, data science, and artificial intelligence.

The People We Are Looking For

• A passion for solving real-world challenges: You’ll get a buzz from building things that make a difference to businesses, people, and society. Passion for coding is essential; any experience you have is a bonus.
• An articulate people-person: You’ll interact with various individuals: some deeply techy, some from complex business domains, and others with low digital literacy. Comfortably understanding their needs and discussing potentially complicated technical ideas with them is crucial.
• A positive, can-do team player: You always look to improve yourself and others, pushing the team to greater heights by helping colleagues out wherever possible. Your default answer to a question is ‘yes,’ and you make big problems seem small.

The Benefits Package

• Starting salary of £45,000
• 50% of company profits paid as profit share
• 25 days annual holiday with the option to buy or sell, plus charity days
• Generous maternity, paternity, and adoption pay
• Consistently ranked as one of the best places to work in the UK
• Dedicated budget for staff activities and entertainment
• Great offices, plus free on-site gym and subsidised restaurant in London
• A workplace that promotes diversity and inclusivity
• Annual company holiday abroad

Application Process and Start Dates

We highly value the effort you put into your application and aim to respond within two working days at each stage. If you reach the interview stage, you can choose your timeslots using our online booking system. Most interviews are conducted remotely.

We typically offer various start dates in the spring and autumn and allocate places to successful applicants on a first-come, first-served basis. We recommend applying early to secure your preferred start date.

More About Softwire: What You’ll Be Part Of

Our mission is to solve our customers’ business challenges using technology, demanding creativity and tackling complex issues in intelligent ways to help organisations streamline operations and better serve their customers and users.

We played an important role in the Moorfields Eye Hospital/DeepMind collaboration, which demonstrated how artificial intelligence could help doctors fast-track patients with serious eye diseases. We built the system that runs the BBC Live Events websites, sharing content from Glastonbury, the Reading and Leeds festivals, and the BBC Proms. We’re also the long-term digital partner for David Lloyd Leisure, building its mobile app, booking system, and numerous other capabilities.

More importantly, we strive to nurture a diverse, inclusive, and supportive culture, where people love what they do and feel inspired by working with some of the best minds in the business. We also have a generous budget for a varied programme of staff events and activities, with employees deciding how the money is spent.

Put all of this together, and you see why we’ve got such high retention rates and why we’ve been among the Best Companies to Work For list, 10 years in a row.

Learn more about our core values, and discover some of our company culture initiatives on our insights page.

Key Facts At-a-Glance

• Locations: London, Cambridge, Manchester
• Salary: £45,000 + profit share
• Start dates: Cohorts will begin in September and November 2026
• Who can apply: Graduates, soon-to-be graduates, or those without a degree who are proficient coders.
• When can I apply: Applications for roles won’t open before Summer 2026. You can pre-register your interest and be notified when applications open.