Graduate - Software Engineer (Java) - London - 2026

Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to earn while you learn? This is a great opportunity for graduate engineers to learn and apply their skills in an ambitious, driven and high-performing team and environment. You'll join our product team to learn, develop, grow and have a great impact towards the outputs, outcomes and value the team delivers.

The product team operates within our Retail division, delivering critical and strategic capability for the business to help us achieve our ambitious growth plans.

You'll be working with experienced Engineers, Quality Engineers and Analysts, operating as a valuable and contributing member of our product team, with all the support you need to develop and grow personally.

The role will form part of a product team consisting of 14 people (across Engineering, Testing, Analysis, Product Ownership and Scrum Master skill domains) who are autonomous and empowered to define their roadmap and deliver their target outcomes.

The graduate will be an active team member, helping design, develop and implement solutions with their colleagues. They will be building on modern CI/CD pipelines with high quality automation and tooling available. They will partner with various Senior Engineers within the team over the 2 years who will support and guide them in their development and delivery.

The successful candidate will have the opportunity to attain professional and industry recognised qualifications such as AWS certifications (to be agreed with the successful candidate once they've joined). Access and involvement with wider communities of practice across L&G is also encouraged to support personal development and growth., The successful candidate will work primarily with Java, contributing to the design, development, testing, and maintenance of backend services and APIs., * Develop backend services and APIs using Java

• Write clean, maintainable, and testable code
• Use Git for version control following team branching strategies
• Contribute via GitHub pull requests and participate in code reviews
• Fix bugs and improve existing services
• Write unit tests and contribute to improving test coverage
• Participate in Agile ceremonies (stand-ups, sprint planning, retrospectives)
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, and QA

We're looking for someone who's passionate about coding as this role is hands-on from day one. They will write production code, use Git and GitHub in a professional workflow, and collaborate within an Agile engineering team. They are not expected to know everything - but they are expected to learn fast, take ownership, and care about clean engineering practices., * Solid understanding of Java fundamentals (OOP, collections, exceptions, streams)

• Understanding of REST APIs and HTTP basics
• Basic knowledge of Git (branching, merging, pull requests)
• Familiarity with GitHub workflows
• Understanding of basic software engineering principles

Technical Skills (Desirable)

• Some exposure to Java frameworks such as Spring Boot (e.g. through university projects or personal learning)
• A basic understanding of how code is built, tested, and deployed (CI/CD concepts)
• Awareness of containerisation or cloud platforms, such as Docker or AWS
• Experience writing basic unit tests and understanding why testing matters (e.g. JUnit, Mockito)
• Familiarity with databases, either relational (SQL) or NoSQL, and how applications interact with them, * A 2:1 degree or above in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a closely related technical discipline - Equivalent practical experience will also be considered (e.g., strong portfolio, internships, open-source contributions)
• A strong academic foundation in data structures, algorithms, and object-oriented programming
• Is driven to achieve positive outcomes for themselves and their team
• Is ambitious and wants to grow and develop themselves
• Has a growth mindset to continually improve whilst remaining remain humble
• Is a team player who works well with others to achieve outcomes
• Is intrinsically motivated to do the best for themselves and their team
• Is proactive and continually seeks to support/ help/ own/ deliver, regularly putting their hand-up to drive things forward

Legal & General (L&G) is a leading UK financial services group and major global investor. We've been safeguarding people's financial futures since 1836, and strive to build a better society, while improving the lives of our customers and creating value for shareholders. We are one of the world's largest asset managers and provide powerful asset origination capabilities. Together, these underpin our retirement and protection solutions: we are an international player in pension risk transfer, in UK and US life insurance, and in UK workplace pensions and retirement income. Our Retail business supports customers throughout their lives, to help them save, plan, protect and enjoy retirement. We're a leading provider of retirement and protection solutions. We aim to support our c.12.8 million policyholders and workplace members throughout their lifelong financial journeys. We focus on helping the customers of today and tomorrow achieve better long-term outcomes. We either talk with them directly or work with intermediaries and employers to meet their needs. We use the latest technology to connect with them quickly, efficiently and wherever possible in highly personalised ways. Joining us means helping to improve the lives of our customers and contributing to the success of the business every day., At L&G, we believe it's possible to generate positive returns today while helping to build a better future for all. If you join us, you'll be part of a welcoming, inclusive culture, with opportunities to collaborate with people of diverse backgrounds, views, and experiences. Guided by leaders with integrity who care about your future and wellbeing. Empowered through initiatives which support people to develop their careers and excel. We care passionately about outcomes rather than attendance and are therefore open to discussing all kinds of flexible working options including part-time, term-time and job shares. Although some roles have limited flexibility due to customer demand, we accommodate requests when we can.