Web Developer / Software Engineer — Quality & Delivery Specialist (Hyrbid, Exeter, UK)
The Quality & Delivery Specialist is an active, hands-on Software Engineer role that combines core web development execution with dedicated delivery coordination. While primarily an engineering role writing code and addressing backlog requirements, this position carries a specialist focus: directly assisting the Engineering Manager in driving flow, managing Jira Kanban boards, and maintaining strict release health and quality standards across web and mobile products. You will build new features, fix bugs, and reduce technical debt while serving as the primary engineering catalyst to eliminate delivery bottlenecks, ensure pre-production operational quality, and orchestrate smooth production releases.
Key Responsibilities
Core Engineering Responsibilities
- Active Codebase Contribution: Actively write clean, secure, and performant code in PHP and/or Python to deliver work from the backlog, including feature development, bug fixes, and critical technical debt.
- Full-Lifecycle Ownership: Drive engineering tasks through the complete lifecycle—from architecture and coding through code review, containerised testing, production deployment, and post-release monitoring.
- Engineering Standards & Code Review: Enforce version control (Git) standards and actively participate in peer code reviews, giving and receiving constructive feedback to keep code quality high and technical debt low.
- Technical Problem Solving: Apply strong analytical problem-solving skills to isolate complex bugs, refactor legacy code, and resolve technical impediments.
- Continuous Engineering Improvement: Advocate for technical process improvements, embrace a “fail-fast” learning mindset, and actively support peers through knowledge sharing and collaborative problem solving.
Board Facilitation & Delivery Flow
- Serve as the engineering anchor on the Jira Kanban board, managing daily board hygiene and ensuring smooth flow from initial backlog prioritisation through development, QA handoff, and deployment.
- Track work-in-progress (WIP) and clear technical and operational bottlenecks to maintain predictable engineering delivery across all product lines.
- Provide immediate visibility into delivery progress, highlighting technical dependencies and unblocking daily impediments during stand-ups to align Product Owners and management.
Quality Oversight & Operational Testing
- Bridge the gap between active development and quality sign-off by verifying comprehensive test coverage across all engineering tickets prior to release.
- Conduct hands-on operational testing in pre-production environments to validate real-world readiness, edge cases, user flows, and system stability.
- Utilise Docker containerised environments to perform environment checks, release verification, and local test reproductions.
Release Cadence, Communications & Client Impact
- Manage and execute recurring release cycles (e.g. weekly production deployments) across PHP/Python web platforms while coordinating mobile release branches alongside product teams.
- Design, establish, and maintain a standardised, repeatable release process across web and mobile app products.
- Mitigate client risk by ensuring all deployment scripts, database migrations, and release steps strictly follow established organisational standards.
- Act as the technical liaison to non-technical stakeholders, Product Owners, and support teams to clearly communicate release schedules, scope, and potential user-impacting changes.
Core Competencies
- Technical & Engineering Mastery: Proven ability to build, debug, and maintain web applications using PHP and/or Python, relational databases (SQL), Git, and Docker containers.
- Flow & Delivery Coordination: Exceptional ability to manage Kanban board flow, clear engineering bottlenecks, and coordinate predictable release cycles.
- Quality & Operational Validation: Pragmatic approach to software quality—combining solid engineering test practices with hands-on pre-production operational validation.
- Release Engineering & Risk Mitigation: Strong understanding of continuous integration, deployment workflows, pre-prod to prod pipelines, and client-impact risk management.
- Cross-Functional Communication: Excellent technical communication skills to liaise smoothly across developers, QA engineers, Product Owners, and management.
Required Experience
- Strong background as a Software Engineer, Web Developer, Technical QA Engineer, or Quality/Delivery Engineer with proven hands-on coding capability.
- Demonstrated proficiency in PHP and/or Python, relational databases (SQL), and Git version control workflows.
- Direct experience orchestrating web and mobile release cycles, executing pre-production deployments, and managing release stability.
- Practical experience working with Docker and containerised development setups.
- Proven track record of actively managing Jira boards using Kanban flow principles to optimise team output.
