UI ownership across real-time defence systems used by operators making live decisions. Hands-on engineering with leadership responsibility.
The role
This is a specialist defence engineering business building complex, high-performance systems deployed into live operational environments. These aren't dashboards — the software is used by skilled operators making real-time decisions, where good UI means clarity under pressure rather than visual polish.
You'd take ownership of UI design and development across those systems. It stays hands-on — you'll write plenty of code — but you'd also shape direction, guide standards, lead code reviews and mentor other engineers.
The work requires understanding how the interface sits within the wider system: performance constraints, hardware architecture, networking considerations. This isn't front-end in isolation. There's occasional UK travel to customer and integration sites.
The team is small and highly capable, and decisions are made by engineers rather than committees. The role is five days on-site in Guildford — the systems, labs and secure environment require physical presence and close collaboration across software, hardware and systems teams.
What we need to see
- 6+ years building production-grade Java applications
- Strong experience with JavaFX and/or Swing
- A track record of delivering data-heavy, operator-focused interfaces
- Solid understanding of structured development processes
- Experience with code reviews, revision control and unit testing
- Linux development and deployment experience
- Experience mentoring engineers and leading development activity
- A relevant technical degree, or equivalent depth of experience
Useful, not essential
- Real-time systems
- Networking and IP-based systems
- Low-level Linux or driver interaction
- Strong C/C++ capability
- MATLAB or Python for scientific and technical computing
- Formal project leadership experience