Back End Developer - DV Cleared

Back End Developer

£500-£540 per day | Outside IR35

Java | Spring Boot | Secure Microservices

• Location: London (MOD site)
• Working Pattern: 4 days per week onsite
• Clearance: Current DV Security Clearance required
• Background: MOD / Defence experience required

The Opportunity

We're looking for an experienced Back End Developer to help build the core services behind a next-generation Defence Intelligence platform. You'll develop secure, scalable microservices and APIs that support mission-critical operational workflows, working within a highly secure environment alongside multidisciplinary engineering teams.

This is an excellent opportunity to contribute to the delivery of innovative digital capabilities supporting Defence operations.

About the Programme

This programme is delivering an AI-enabled Defence Intelligence capability designed to improve visibility of operational data, streamline complex workflows and support faster, more informed decision-making.

Working as part of an agile delivery team, you'll help develop secure, cloud-native services that integrate with existing Defence platforms while following modern engineering and DevSecOps practices.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop and maintain Java-based microservices.
• Build secure RESTful APIs supporting workflow, metadata, document management and integration services.
• Develop workflow integrations using orchestration technologies where required.
• Integrate with enterprise data sources, identity services and existing Defence systems.
• Design and develop scalable persistence layers using SQL and NoSQL databases.
• Contribute to cloud-native deployments, containerisation and CI/CD pipelines.
• Implement secure coding practices, logging, monitoring and audit capabilities.
• Participate in technical design sessions, code reviews and agile ceremonies.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Proven software development experience within MOD, Defence, National Security or similarly secure environments.
• Strong commercial Java development experience.
• Expertise with Spring Boot.
• Experience designing and developing RESTful APIs.
• Strong SQL and NoSQL database experience.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes or other container technologies.
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines and DevSecOps practices.
• Experience developing secure, scalable and maintainable backend services.

Desirable Experience

• Experience with Camunda 8, Zeebe, BPMN or other workflow orchestration platforms.
• OpenSearch or Elasticsearch.
• MongoDB, Microsoft SQL Server, Amazon RDS or hybrid data architectures.
• AWS, MODCloud, Tanzu, EKS or other cloud-native platforms.
• Event-driven architectures and asynchronous messaging.
• Istio, mTLS or service mesh technologies.
• Knowledge of semantic search, knowledge graphs or ontology-based solutions.

Mandatory Requirements

• Current DV Security Clearance.
• Ability to work onsite at an MOD location in London four days per week.
• Previous experience delivering within MOD, Defence, Defence Intelligence, Strategic Command or wider National Security organisations.
• Comfortable working with OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE and classified material where authorised.

Ways of Working

• Agile delivery within a multidisciplinary engineering team.
• Close collaboration with Defence stakeholders, Product, Delivery and Engineering teams.
• Secure-by-design approach with a strong focus on audit, traceability, resilience and assurance.
• Building high-quality, maintainable services that support critical operational capabilities.

What We're Looking For

We're interested in Back End Developers who can demonstrate:

• Successful delivery of secure software solutions within MOD or Defence environments.
• Strong experience designing robust, scalable backend services and APIs.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills across technical and non-technical teams.
• A practical understanding of agile delivery and modern software engineering practices.
• Awareness of secure system delivery, accreditation considerations and operational governance.

Rate: £500-£540 per day (Outside IR35)

Location: London (4 days onsite)

Clearance: Current DV Security Clearance required