Job Description:

App Developer

• Job Title: App Developer (UKMC Career App)
• Salary: £32,000 to £35,000 per annum, depending on qualifications and experience
• Department: Career App
• Location: Manchester, based at one of the College's Manchester campuses (College House, Abarna or Salford), with travel to other UKMC campuses as required
• Reporting Line: Career App Lead Developer
• Proposed Start Date: ASAP
• Employment Type: Full Time
• Contract type: Permanent
• Working Days and Hours: Monday to Friday - 9am to 5pm
• Working Pattern: Office-based, with no hybrid working arrangement available for this role

THE COMPANY

UK Management College (UKMC) is a higher education institution committed to delivering high-quality education and an outstanding student experience.

The College delivers degree programmes in partnership with its awarding universities across campuses in Manchester (College House, Abarna and Salford), Derby, Newcastle (North Shields) and Sunderland and provides a supportive, inclusive and forward-thinking environment for students and staff, with a strong focus on academic excellence, professional development and continuous improvement.

The Career App team designs, builds and operates the UKMC Career App, the College's mobile application for students and staff on Android and iOS. Through the app, students map their skills against the learning outcomes of their modules, plan their semester pathway, build a record of their employability, and message and book appointments with their Personal Academic Tutor and the Wellbeing team. The app is in live use with University of Wolverhampton and Canterbury Christ Church University cohorts and is being extended across the College's campuses and partner programmes, with the capacity to serve the whole student body.

THE ROLE

Purpose of the Role

The App Developer will develop, release and support the UKMC Career App alongside the Career App Lead Developer, ensuring that new programmes, cohorts and campuses are brought onto the service reliably as it grows.

The postholder will also contribute to the next stage of the app's development: artificial intelligence built on the app's own data, including agentic AI assistants for students and staff, the matching of students to jobs and skills, and machine learning models that identify at an early-stage students who may need additional support.

The role spans the mobile application, the server and the live cloud service, and requires the handling of student data to a high standard of care and confidentiality.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the development of the Career App and its AI features and will work closely with the Career App Lead Developer, Course Directors, Personal Academic Tutors, the Wellbeing team, Registry and Academic Services and the IT Department.

THE ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

The postholder will:

• Design, develop and maintain new features across the mobile application (React Native and TypeScript) and the server (Python and Django) in accordance with agreed specifications, coding standards and release timelines.
• Design, implement and evaluate AI features, including agentic AI workflows using large language models, applying appropriate tool use, retrieval and safeguards.
• Prepare and curate data, and train, evaluate and monitor machine learning models, including job and skills matching and the early identification of students who may require additional support.
• Diagnose and resolve reported defects and incidents, and continually improve the performance, accessibility, security and reliability of the service.
• Produce automated tests and clear technical documentation, participate in peer code review and adhere to the College's release and change management process.
• Prepare and publish releases to Android and iOS through the App Store and Google Play, including test builds for staff and students.
• Prepare, validate and load programme content and student data for new cohorts, programmes and campuses, and configure staff access and permissions.
• Support the deployment, monitoring and operational resilience of the live service on Microsoft Azure.
• Process student personal data, including within AI features, in full compliance with UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the College's data protection and information security policies.
• Provide training, onboarding and user support to staff and students across the College's campuses and contribute to user guidance and communications.
• Work collaboratively with the Career App Lead Developer, Course Directors, Personal Academic Tutors, the Wellbeing team, Registry and Academic Services and the IT Department, and contribute to planning, prioritisation and reporting on the development of the service.
• Undertake such other duties, commensurate with the grade of the post, as may reasonably be required by the Career App Lead Developer.

REQUIREMENTS

Essential Qualifications and Experience

The successful candidate must have:

• A degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science or a closely related subject.
• Demonstrable experience of building and releasing mobile applications to Android and iOS.
• Demonstrable experience of building web APIs with Python and Django, or a comparable framework, on a relational database such as PostgreSQL.
• Practical experience of artificial intelligence and machine learning, including building agentic AI applications with large language models and training and evaluating machine learning models.

Desirable Qualifications and Experience

The following would be advantageous:

• A postgraduate qualification in artificial intelligence, machine learning or data science.
• Experience of supporting a live service with real users, ideally in the education sector or involving student data.
• Working knowledge of Django Channels, WebSockets, Redis, Firebase, Docker, GitHub Actions and Microsoft Azure.
• A relevant professional certification, for example in cloud services, mobile development or machine learning.
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Essential Skills and Competencies

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Proficiency in React Native and TypeScript.
• Proficiency in Python, including machine learning libraries such as PyTorch or scikit-learn, and experience of large language model APIs.
• Competence in automated testing (Jest and pytest) and in Git and GitHub, including code review.
• A secure and careful approach to the handling of personal data.
• The ability to work independently, manage competing priorities and meet agreed deadlines.
• Clear written and verbal communication with non-technical colleagues and students.
• A commitment to the College's values and to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Desirable Skills and Competencies

It would be advantageous for the successful candidate to have:

• Experience of evaluating AI systems for accuracy, bias and safety.
• Experience of deploying and monitoring machine learning models in a production environment.
• Experience of publishing applications to the App Store and Google Play.
• Experience of training or supporting users.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS

Right to Work:  The successful candidate must have the right to work in the United Kingdom.

• UKMC does not provide visa sponsorship for this post.

Travel:  The post is based in Manchester at one of the College's Manchester campuses (College House, Abarna or Salford). Travel to the College's other campuses in Derby, Newcastle (North Shields) and Sunderland may be required from time to time in connection with the duties of the post.

Additional Requirements:  The postholder will have access to student personal data and must comply with the College's data protection, information security and confidentiality requirements at all times.

EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

UK Management College is committed to creating an inclusive working environment where everyone is treated with dignity and respect. We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds, skills and experiences.

The requirements of this role will be applied fairly and objectively throughout the recruitment and selection process.