Apprentice Software Developer

Summary

As an Academy Software Engineer, you will work as a part of a team, working alongside skilled and experienced individuals who are motivated to train and coach you on coding standards, learn the tools, techniques and approaches used by engineering professionals and apply them in a controlled environment.

Wage

£25,000 a year

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Training course

Software developer (level 4)

Hours

Monday - Friday, 9.00am - 5.30pm, half hour lunch break.

37 hours 30 minutes a week

Start date

Monday 15 September 2025

Duration

1 year 6 months

Positions available

2

Work

Most of your apprenticeship is spent working. You’ll learn on the job by getting hands-on experience.

What you'll do at work

About the role:

The MHR Software Academy programme is designed to give you ownership of your career aspirations, supported by training and practical experience to help you succeed. You will be part of our People First Software team and be assigned a Mentor who will support and guide you throughout your career with us. All of this is designed to complement your career development, fuel your ambition, and give depth to your training and career.

We expect you to be ready to tackle (and enjoy!) programming tasks from the outset, but we will take the time to mentor you through small packages of work and enhancements to our People First product. You will get the exposure to all our technology stacks these include C# .NET, and an Angular front end. But don’t worry whatever you may choose now doesn’t set the rest of your career we would love to see you grow in all our technology stack as you develop. The Academy program is set up to help and support you for the first stages of your programming career before moving on to work in our product teams looking after the key modules of our People First Software offering which includes HR, Talent, and Payroll.

The programme

If you are not already a graduate then the programme has been design to allow you to be supported from Level 4, all the the way to gaining a BSc Digital and Technology Solutions Professional.

You will complete your Level 4 Software Developer Apprenticeship with our apprenticeship partner, Digital Native and if progression through to the degree is right for you, then you will join our university partner, Nottingham Trent University, directly on year two of their Digital and Technology Solutions Professional degree programme.

This means you can join MHR, gain valuable industry experience with our highly skilled people and be paid to gain a degree, all without any student fees!

Expected Competencies you will have:

A proven interest in coding through your A Level / college course or online platforms like Code Academy and are seeking a Level 4 Software Developer apprenticeship.
A passionate individual who is excited about software development, a desire to learn and who wants to forge a long-standing career with MHR.
A passion for technology, programming, and problem solving.
An awareness of the Software Delivery Lifecycle and Agile methodologies.

Due to the highly skilled teams our apprentices work in, our experience has shown that apprentices who thrive at MHR have typically been coding for more than 12 months.

What will your day-to-day role look like?

You will be taken on a fully planned onboarding program welcoming you to MHR and our products/services.
Based on your skillset we will tailor a training program just for you based on a phased approach to build you up to working in our product delivery teams.

Key areas we will focus on throughout your time with us in the Software Academy are:

How to write good quality code using defined coding standards and guardrails.
How to test any changes that are made and the process we go through.
Understanding build processes and deployments of the People First software.
How to write performant and secure code.
Giving you the chance to learn from attending talks, pair programming, watching tutorials and writing of code.
In the later phases of the Academy, we will identify product improvements from the Product Design and Research teams and ways for you to deliver value stream work into the product.

Where you'll work

Britannia House
Mere Way
Ruddington
Nottingham
NG11 6JS

Training

Apprenticeships include time away from working for specialist training. You’ll study to gain professional knowledge and skills.

College or training organisation

DIGITAL NATIVE (UK) LIMITED

Your training course

Software developer (level 4)

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What you'll learn

Course contents

create logical and maintainable code
develop effective user interfaces
link code to data sets
test code and analyse results to correct errors found using unit testing
conduct a range of test types, such as Integration, System, User Acceptance, Non-Functional, Performance and Security testing.
identify and create test scenarios
apply structured techniques to problem solving, debug code and understand the structure of programmes in order to identify and resolve issues
create simple software designs to effectively communicate understanding of the program
create analysis artefacts, such as use cases and/or user stories
build, manage and deploy code into the relevant environment
apply an appropriate software development approach according to the relevant paradigm (for example object oriented, event driven or procedural)
follow software designs and functional or technical specifications
follow testing frameworks and methodologies
follow company, team or client approaches to continuous integration, version and source control
communicate software solutions and ideas to technical and non-technical stakeholders
apply algorithms, logic and data structures
interpret and implement a given design whist remaining compliant with security and maintainability requirements
create logical and maintainable code
develop effective user interfaces
link code to data sets
test code and analyse results to correct errors found using unit testing
conduct a range of test types, such as Integration, System, User Acceptance, Non-Functional, Performance and Security testing.
identify and create test scenarios
apply structured techniques to problem solving, debug code and understand the structure of programmes in order to identify and resolve issues
create simple software designs to effectively communicate understanding of the program
create analysis artefacts, such as use cases and/or user stories
build, manage and deploy code into the relevant environment
apply an appropriate software development approach according to the relevant paradigm (for example object oriented, event driven or procedural)
follow software designs and functional or technical specifications
follow testing frameworks and methodologies
follow company, team or client approaches to continuous integration, version and source control
communicate software solutions and ideas to technical and non-technical stakeholders
apply algorithms, logic and data structures
interpret and implement a given design whist remaining compliant with security and maintainability requirements

Your training plan

As part of the Level 4 Software Developer apprenticeship standard, you’ll be registered as a member with the British Computer Society and be on a fast track to an industry recognised qualification and your dedicated industry coach will support you through a blended approach that will include remote, in person, 1-2-1 and group learning.

Requirements

Essential qualifications

GCSE or equivalent in:

7 GCSE's including Maths and English (grade Grade A*-C/9-4 (or equivalent)

A Level or equivalent in:

Maths, Science, Computer Science or similar (grade A - C)

Let the company know about other relevant qualifications and industry experience you have. They can adjust the apprenticeship to reflect what you already know.

Skills

Communication skills
IT skills
Attention to detail
Organisation skills
Problem solving skills
Number skills
Analytical skills
Logical
Team working
Initiative
Patience

About this company

MHR is an specialist provider of HR, payroll, analytics and engagement software and services and extremely proud to have the unique accolade that everything from research to delivery is carried out in-house. Founded in the 1980s, MHR thrives on helping organisations of all shapes and sizes to strengthen their core – their people. MHR combines the stability, expertise and proven methodologies of a established provider, with the innovative forward-thinking vision of an agile growing business.

https://mhrglobal.com (opens in new tab)

After this apprenticeship

Continued employment and career progression within the business.

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