Graduate Software Engineer

Company Profile

Thermoteknix Systems Ltd, founded in 1982 and based in Cambridge, is a world leader in thermal imaging, night vision, and augmented reality systems. Our award-winning technologies are trusted by defence, security, and industrial customers in over 70 countries. With in-house R&D, cutting-edge innovation, and a global reputation for quality, we design and manufacture solutions that perform in the toughest environments.

Due to increasing market opportunities and an ever-growing product range, Thermoteknix is expanding its engineering capacity by expanding the New Product Introduction (NPI) team within R&D.

We are looking for an exceptionally motivated graduate software engineer who is passionate about software and enjoys solving difficult engineering problems. This is a hands-on role for someone who wants to apply strong software engineering skills to real products, working at the intersection of software, electronics, firmware, automation, and manufacturing.

You will have the opportunity to develop software that directly interacts with sophisticated hardware and plays a critical role in bringing new products from development into production. You will work alongside experienced software, electronics, mechanical, manufacturing and quality engineers, while helping to shape the software and automation capability of a new NPI team.

About You

As a member of the NPI team, you will be responsible for developing and supporting the software-driven automation and test systems used to transition products from development into scalable, repeatable manufacturing.

You will work closely with R&D, manufacturing, and quality teams, applying strong software engineering principles to implement comprehensive automated testing and validation processes.

Additionally, you will contribute to the enhancement of existing software to improve production test speed, reliability and capability, ensuring that products are thoroughly tested and validated before reaching customers.

This is an opportunity for a graduate who wants to become an outstanding software engineer while working on real-world products and complex hardware/software systems.

Key Responsibilities

• Support software and test design processes, ensuring DFT principles are applied throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Support software and test workstreams within NPI projects, ensuring readiness for build and scale, and supporting the transition of products through to customer delivery.
• Define and implement robust processes for firmware programming, product configuration, calibration data handling and version control in production builds.
• Define, develop, and document automated test processes during product development for new products and assemblies.
• Work with mechanical and electronics engineers within the NPI team to design automated electromechanical test systems that optimise production throughput and ensure product quality.
• Drive improvements in manufacturing readiness by identifying and implementing opportunities to streamline production test and build times.
• Provide hands-on support during NPI builds, troubleshooting software, automation, and hardware-integrated system issues within the ECN framework.
• Work with the quality department to support non-conformance investigations and product quality improvements during NPI phases.
• Contribute to the development of the new NPI team’s standards and processes.
• Continuously look for opportunities to improve software quality, automation, test coverage, reliability and development processes.

Required Skills & Experience

We are looking for a strong software engineering graduate with excellent fundamentals, curiosity and a genuine enthusiasm for building software.

• Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science or a related discipline.
• Strong software engineering fundamentals and an ability to understand and solve complex technical problems.
• Strong experience developing software in C#, with knowledge of WPF and MVVM methodologies.
• Experience developing software tools, applications or automation projects, ideally involving interaction with hardware or real-world systems, through academic, personal or professional projects.
• Understanding of software development practices including source control, testing, debugging, release processes and configuration control.
• Ability to troubleshoot software issues and communicate effectively with embedded hardware-integrated systems.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong documentation skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to create technical documentation and work within controlled software development and change management processes.
• Ability to work cross-functionally in a fast-paced engineering environment.

Commercial industry experience is not required. We are more interested in strong software engineering ability, technical curiosity and the drive to learn than years of industry experience. Academic, personal, placement and internship projects are all relevant.

Desirable Skills & Experience

• Familiarity with embedded firmware programming tools.
• Knowledge of manufacturing test systems, calibration workflows, and automation frameworks.
• Knowledge of additional programming languages such as LabVIEW and C/C++.
• Experience or academic/personal project exposure developing software that communicates with hardware, instruments, sensors or embedded systems.
• Understanding of engineering change control, ISO 9001 environments, and traceability requirements
• Exposure to thermal imaging products, or real-time embedded systems.
• Exposure to the design or use of jigs, fixtures, tooling, or electronic test equipment through academic, personal or project-based work.

Personal Attributes

• Passionate about software and genuinely enjoys writing code.
• Naturally curious and keen to understand how things work, from software through to electronics and hardware.
• Hands-on, proactive, and solution-focused.
• Enjoys tackling difficult technical problems and finding practical solutions.
• Strong communication skills with engineering and production stakeholders.
• Comfortable working across both software development and physical engineering environments.
• Driven to improve processes and software quality and deliver manufacturing excellence.
• Self-motivated and keen to learn from experienced engineers while contributing ideas of your own.

Who We Are Looking For

This role would suit a graduate who has gone beyond simply completing their degree and has demonstrated a genuine passion for software engineering.

Perhaps you have built software projects during university or in your own time, contributed to open-source projects, developed tools for yourself or others, competed in programming or engineering challenges, or simply spend your free time learning new technologies and understanding how things work.

You do not need to have years of manufacturing experience. What matters is that you have strong software fundamentals, intellectual curiosity, a high level of technical ability and a desire to become an exceptional engineer.

If you love software, enjoy solving problems and want to see your code interact with real products and hardware, we would like to hear from you.

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK at the time of application. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship for this role.

Why us?

• Opportunity to join and shape the developing NPI Team
• A key software engineering role bridging cutting-edge R&D and real-world manufacturing
• Develop software that directly interacts with advanced hardware and products.
• Work alongside experienced software, electronics, mechanical, manufacturing and quality engineers.
• Collaborative environment working on advanced thermal imaging technologies
• Significant opportunity for learning, responsibility and career development.
• Training and development opportunities
• Career development and growth within a high-technology engineering organisation
• Competitive salary and benefits package