Arbor Education
Senior Python Engineer - PHP
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Location: Remote
Salary: £75,000 - £85,000
About us
At Arbor, we’re on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.
We believe in a future of work in schools where being challenged doesn’t mean being burnt out and overworked. Where data guides progress without overwhelming staff. And where everyone working in a school is reminded why they got into education every day.
Our MIS and school management tools are already making a difference in over 12,000 schools and trusts. Giving time and power back to staff, turning data into clear, actionable insights, and supporting happier working days.
At the heart of our brand is a recognition that the challenges schools face today aren’t just about efficiency, outputs and productivity - but about creating happier working lives for the people who drive education everyday: the staff. We want to make schools more joyful places to work, as well as learn.
About the role
We are looking for an experienced and highly technical Senior Product Engineer to join our Engineering team and help us implement and deliver large projects and advocate for high engineering standards. The remit and focus of the role is to be a key driver in the team, taking responsibility for developing and owning features and core components of the company's core systems and processes, as well as auxiliary services where needed. It’s a broad and exciting role, so we’re looking for someone up for a challenge - if you’re a proactive and collaborative Senior Product Engineer, this is the role for you.
Core responsibilities
- Build, maintain and scale platform-level back-end services to enhance and serve our core products.
- Leverage these capabilities to build and ship new features within the core Arbor product suite.
- Own the successful delivery of high-impact features, directly contributing to the advancement of Arbor products.
- Drive the development and implementation of advanced tests for new and existing features, ensuring high test coverage and reliability standards.
- Proactively identify, take ownership of, and resolve critical system bugs and issues using advanced problem-solving skills and comprehensive system knowledge.
- Maintain high code quality standards through thorough, constructive code reviews, ensuring solutions are well-tested, scalable, and maintainable.
- Produce well-architected, efficient, and scalable code by applying industry-leading design patterns and methodologies.
- Create and maintain thorough technical documentation and diagrams that promote best practices and ensure clear communication.
- Collaborate closely with the Engineering Manager, Tech Lead, QA Engineer, and Product Manager to address feature requests.
- Support the Engineering Manager with interviews, scrum ceremonies, and the implementation of strategies to improve and optimise product quality and lead time, demonstrating a comprehensive understanding of the development lifecycle and processes.
- Support the Tech Lead in developing technical roadmap solution designs, identifying areas for improvement, prioritising, and executing technical debt reduction.
- Act as a role model for technical excellence through code reviews, pair programming, and actively mentoring and coaching mid-level and junior engineers in best practices, fostering knowledge transfer within the team.
- Actively lead and participate in tech talks, workshops, and team-based learning initiatives.
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About you
- Demonstrable experience building back-end services in Python and/or PHP
- Comfortable working with both technologies in the long-term
- Experience with enterprise solutions and large-scale systems.
- Demonstrated knowledge of database technologies (SQL and NoSQL) and best practices for data modelling and performance optimisation.
- Proven experience in managing large, technical projects and delivering high-quality, impactful results with minimal supervision.
- Proven experience designing and writing APIs and services within a service-oriented environment.
- Applies best practices and software engineering principles (e.g., SOLID, DRY) effectively.
- Demonstrated knowledge of software best practices, including refactoring, writing clean code, and Test-Driven Development (TDD) and Test Automation.
- Understands Scrum methodology or other agile development processes.
- Demonstrates leadership through collaboration, mentorship, and a proactive approach to problem-solving.
- Possesses excellent written and spoken English skills, with the ability to communicate clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- A driven team player who actively participates in discussions and readily offers assistance to others.
Nice to Have:
- Prior professional experience building back-end services in both PHP & Python
- Domain experience within the UK Ed-Tech space
- PHP: Laminas /Symphony; Python: Fast API
- Service decomposition
What we offer
- The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you’ll see the impact of your work everyday.
- A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more!
- 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
- Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
- Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks
- Private Dental Insurance with Bupa
- Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
- Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay
- 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life!
- Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching)
- All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you
- Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success
- Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)
- Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year
- Dog friendly offices!
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Interview process
- Phone screen
- 1st stage
- 2nd stage
We are committed to a fair and comfortable recruitment process, so if you require any reasonable adjustments during your application or interview process, please reach out to a member of the team at careers@arbor-education.com.
Our commitment is also backed by our partnership with Neurodiversity Consultancy, Lexxic who provide us with training, support and advice.
Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisation
Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively encourage applications from people of all backgrounds.
Refer a friend
Know someone else who would be good for this role? You can refer a friend, family member or colleague, if they are offered a role with Arbor, we will say thank you with a voucher valued up to £200! Simply email: careers@arbor-education.com
Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.
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