Applications are open. We encourage you to apply early as we receive an extremely high volume of applications for our roles every year and applications may close earlier than anticipated. Please apply early to avoid disappointment.

The headlines

Level up your software engineering skills working on products and services used by millions of people around the world. You’ll help the BBC’s journalists, programme makers and business teams keep delivering 24/7 – and you’ll leave with an L7 postgraduate apprenticeship qualification in software engineering, management and leadership.

Start date: September 2022

Duration: 27 months

Salary: £29,250 (+ London Living Allowance of £4,729) in year one

Apprenticeships available: 9

Location(s): Manchester, London and Belfast & Cardiff

Leading to: a role in one of the BBC’s professional technology, systems and delivery teams, with a starting salary of £34,000 (+ £4,729 London Living Allowance) or more.

Role Responsibility

What you’ll be doing

Develop and deliver apps and websites used by millions every day - including sports, iPlayer and BBC.co.uk. And develop software and services for our journalists, producers and corporate teams, helping them to do their work and deliver content and products efficiently.

Be mentored and supported by BBC software experts, as you build your experience with software languages, software frameworks, cloud computing and associated systems.

Develop best practices for quality control, write automated tests, and work with others to integrate software with monitoring and support tools. And contribute to technical documentation of jobs.

Get full stack experience, and work with agile planning and delivery practices like pairing, code and documentation reviewing, and continuous delivery.

Spot and resolve issues throughout the product life cycle, including out of hours support (with support from others in the team).

And you’ll study for an L7 postgraduate apprenticeship qualification in software engineering, management and leadership, with specialist modules including: 

Foundations of object-oriented software development

Software engineering

Interactions between computers and humans

Database systems

Dissertation

Software project management

Reliability in software engineering 

Take a look at the job description and the candidate pack for more details about the role.

The Ideal Candidate

Who we’re looking for

To be eligible for this apprenticeship, you must:

Be aged 18 or over when the course starts in September 2022

Have Maths and English GCSEs or Standard (Scotland) at 9-4 (A-C) or equivalent

Have completed either a BSc degree in Computer Science and/or have at least 18 months of work experience in software development and programming

Be legally allowed to work in the UK

Have lived in the UK, Ireland or the European Economic Area (EEA), for at least three years before the start of the apprenticeship. Or have either pre-settled or settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme and lived in the UK, EEA or Gibraltar for at least three years

We’ll ask you to give examples to show you’re:

A resilient self-starter, able to manage work and study

Good at communicating and collaborating with technical and non-technical colleagues

A strong problem solver

Experienced in software engineering to a mid-level

Practically minded and good at managing your own time

Don’t worry if you don’t have an extensive CV or have never worked in software engineering. We’d love to see examples of your practical software development skills from your time in education or through extra-curricular activities, volunteering or industrial placements.

What you’ll get

During your apprenticeship:

A starting salary of £29,00 (+ £4,729 London Living Allowance), and potential pay increases

A flexible 35-hour working week, 26 days of annual leave days (with the option to buy an extra 5 days), and a defined pension scheme. Plus discounted dental, health care, gym and much more

A dedicated Team Manager and Scheme Specialist to help with your development

Professional coaching and mentoring by industry professionals

Access to our in-house Academy, which hosts a range of internal and external courses

At the end of your apprenticeship:

A recognised postgraduate MSc apprenticeship qualification in software engineering, awarded by both The Institute of Apprenticeships & Technical Education and a UK university

A role in one of the BBC’s professional technology, systems and delivery teams, with a starting salary of £34,000 (+ £4,729 London Living Allowance) or more

The chance to seek new challenges and work in different areas of the BBC

Applications are open. We encourage you to apply early as we receive an extremely high volume of applications for our roles every year and applications may close earlier than anticipated. Please apply early to avoid disappointment.

Apply on the BBC Careers Hub

We’ll check that your skills are a good fit for the role and you’re eligible for the scheme. If your application is successful, we’ll be in touch with the next steps.

If you’d like support with your application because of a learning difficulty or disability, please select the Extend Hub in the application.