Backend Engineer

British Council

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This role is open to applicants who already have the legal right to work in India at the time of application. Relocation and visa sponsorship are not available. The British Council supports flexible working, including hybrid arrangements, subject to line manager approval and operational requirements.

Role Context

As a Backend Engineer at the British Council, you will play a vital role in developing and maintaining scalable, secure, and high-performing backend systems that support a wide range of global digital products and services. You’ll contribute to technical design, implementation, and optimisation, ensuring seamless integration with client applications. Working in cross-functional agile teams, you’ll collaborate with engineers, product managers, designers, and operations colleagues to deliver high-quality code aligned with project goals and user-centred digital initiatives.

This role sits within the Engineering unit of the Digital and Technology Directorate, which leads the organisation’s digital strategy and transformation. The Directorate is structured into four divisions—Product, Engineering, Operations, and Performance—and is responsible for digital product development, platform optimisation, infrastructure, cybersecurity, and innovation. As part of the Engineering team, you’ll help define solutions, champion best practices, and contribute to the creation of impactful, customer-focused digital systems.

Main responsibilities

• Design, develop, test, and document backend systems using agreed specifications, standards, and tools.
• Collaborate with product managers and stakeholders to plan and deliver backend engineering stories aligned with project milestones and quality standards.
• Contribute to the technical design and implementation of scalable, reliable backend solutions that support global product and service delivery.
• Promote an inclusive team culture through collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement.
• Stay informed on emerging technologies and recommend their adoption where beneficial.
• Engage with stakeholders and business partners to understand backend engineering needs and deliver tailored technical solutions.
• Ensure backend systems comply with industry standards, data privacy regulations, and security protocols.
• Implement robust monitoring and logging to proactively detect and address potential security or compliance issues.
• Work with data and business analysts to gather requirements and develop data-driven backend optimisations that enhance system performance and value.

Role-Specific Skills

• Technical Expertise: Solid understanding of backend technologies, frameworks, and system architectures to build scalable and secure solutions.
• Problem Solving & Critical Thinking: Ability to analyse complex issues, identify patterns, and develop innovative, practical solutions.
• Adaptability: Comfortable working in dynamic, fast-paced environments with shifting priorities and evolving requirements.

Role specific knowledge and experience

Minimum/essential

• Experience in Backend engineering, involved in implementing scalable and high-performance systems.
• Strong experience in PHP development with a focus on the Symfony framework and knowledge of OOPS concepts
• Proficiency in PostgreSQL – writing efficient queries, stored procedures, and performance optimization
• Exposure to HubSpot or Similar APIs and integration Project
• Exposure to cloud services (such as AWS, Azure), and microservices architecture.
• Solid knowledge of RESTful APIs, caching systems, and any other Backend technologies.
• Experience of unit and integration testing.
• Knowledge of resource allocation and management.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Experience of agile development (Scrum/Kanban), software patterns, test and behaviour driven development, ITIL and version control
• Experience in supporting and maintaining middleware applications, including issue investigation and resolution
• Familiarity with asynchronous data processing

Desirable

• Knowledge of containerization and orchestration platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes) and related technologies.
• Knowledge of with end-to-end testing (e.g., Cypress or Playwright)
• Understanding of DevOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, automated testing, and infrastructure-as-code tools (e.g., Jenkins, Terraform).
• Exposure to event-driven architecture and stream processing frameworks (e.g., Kafka, Apache Flink).
• Understanding of security best practices, authentication, and authorisation protocols (e.g., OAuth, JWT).

Education and Professional Qualification

Minimum

• Continuous learning through online courses, workshops, and industry conferences to stay updated with emerging technologies and best practices in Backend development.
• Strong foundation in computer science fundamentals, including algorithms, data structures, and software design principles.

Desirable

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Software Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent experience

Language Requirements

• The British Council systems and global processes operate in English. Written and verbal proficiency in English is required.