Backend Developer

If you want to disappear into a large development team and simply work through tickets, this probably isn’t for you.

If you want ownership, trust and the freedom to question, challenge and improve how things are done, keep reading.

What we build

We build data-intensive software for UK Business Rates and commercial property professionals.

Helix Insights transforms millions of Rating List and property records into fast search, analysis and geospatial intelligence. Helix Pulse supports the operational side of the profession, helping surveyors manage casework, calculations, documents, reporting and client portfolios.

At the heart of both products is intelligent automation, augmented by AI. We continually process and connect new data, identify changes affecting client portfolios and generate live reports as relevant information becomes available. Rather than waiting for users to find something, Helix proactively surfaces what matters and delivers it directly into their workflow.

Our products are used throughout the working day, so they must be fast, reliable and genuinely useful. We are building software that reduces repetitive work, reveals intelligence that would otherwise be difficult to find and helps professionals make better-informed decisions.

The role

This is primarily a backend development role, with around 80-90% of your time spent programming and 10-20% supporting CI/CD and deployments.

• Build and maintain backend features, mainly using TypeScript and SQL.
• Write unit, integration and end-to-end tests.
• Build reliable systems that handle timeouts, retries and dropped connections properly.
• Find and fix frontend and database performance issues.
• Add logging, monitoring and alerting so problems can be identified quickly.
• Build and maintain data-processing jobs, primarily in Python.
• Review code and contribute to GitLab CI pipelines, AWS hosting and deployments.

Within your first six months, we’d expect you to have shipped customer-facing features, improved test coverage and delivered measurable improvements to performance or reliability.

You won’t disappear into the background here. We need someone who is self-disciplined, motivated and comfortable taking ownership of their work.

You should be willing to ask questions, share ideas and challenge decisions constructively when you believe something could be better.

We’re friendly, upbeat and ambitious, with lightweight processes and code reviews before anything reaches production. We use AI coding tools every day, thoughtfully, and always check their output.

The role is fully remote within the UK, but we meet in person approximately every six weeks and occasionally more often when it would be useful.

What we’re looking for

• One to three years’ development experience, mainly in backend development.
• Production experience with TypeScript or JavaScript on Node.js.
• Good SQL knowledge, including joins, indexes and reading query plans.
• Experience writing tests and handling failures in production code.
• Experience with Git, Docker and CI pipelines.
• Confidence using the Linux command line.
• A willingness to work with Python.

Experience with SQL Server and T-SQL, Next.js, React, AWS, Playwright, performance profiling or Python data processing would be useful, but we don’t expect you to have done everything.

Knowledge of business rates or property is welcome, but not essential. We’ll teach you what you need to know.

We value people who measure the effect of their work and record what they changed. “It feels faster” isn’t enough, we want to know that it is.

What you’ll get

• A genuine voice within the team.
• 25 days’ holiday plus bank holidays.
• Workplace pension through NEST.
• Equipment provided
• Fully remote role

Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. Unfortunately, we cannot provide visa sponsorship.

Interview process:

A initial 30-minute conversation, a 90-minute technical session based around a practical problem & a final conversation with the wider team.

Pay: £35,000.00-£45,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Work from home