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Autotrader

Senior Software Engineer, Backend - Full or Part Time

Manchester
Salary
£50,000 - £70,000
Level
Senior
Work type
Hybrid · Manchester

Not stated in the posting: visa.

Open. First seen 3 October 2026.

Apply on the company's site →

About the role

Autotrader's standard text

About Autotrader

You've probably heard of Autotrader, but do you know what we're all about? We're the most trusted, most visited automotive marketplace in the UK. A heritage brand and a tech innovator.

We bring together vehicle buyers and sellers to give them real choices. Cars may be what we're best known for but we’re also the place for pretty much everything else on wheels, from e-bikes to caravans.

In the automotive world, change is a constant, that’s why we take our job of untangling the complex car-buying journey very seriously.

At our core, we’re all about people. We go our own way while embracing diversity and celebrating our differences. We dedicate ourselves to the idea that we work better together.

Autotrader is a beautiful, surprising and vibrant place to work. We might not be for everyone, but we could be perfect for you.

About the role

We're looking for Senior Software Engineers to help us build a technology platform for more than just the needs of Autotrader.co.uk.

Utilising our public-facing web services and additional external data sources means that we'll be able to power businesses across the automotive industry.

Spring Boot, Apache Solr, Cloud SQL and Apache Kafka power our platform and process millions of events per day. As a team, our software developers are responsible for ensuring service availability and responsiveness continue to improve. They work on systems that handle thousands of requests per second, with sub-100 millisecond response times, servicing requests from over 50 client applications.

Our tech community value collaboration and teamwork. Interactions like pairing, code reviews and regular stand-ups mean our software developers stay connected. We actively encourage AI-assisted workflows. Whether it's using GitHub Copilot to eliminate boilerplate or LLMs to bounce ideas around, we give you the tools to move faster and focus on the hard engineering problems.

You might assume that our name, "Autotrader," means you need to be a car enthusiast to work here. But that's not the case. We're looking for people who are passionate about their work and thrive in a collaborative environment.

What We're Looking For

  • In depth understanding of Java and the JVM
  • Knowledge of server-side frameworks such as Spring
  • Web application design and RESTful API know-how
  • A structured approach to programming and testing, such as TDD
  • Passionate about mentoring and coaching and sharing technical expertise

Although not a requirement, helpful experience includes:

  • Google Cloud
  • SQL/Relational databases
  • Document/Map based storage (eg: MongoDB)
  • Working with Kafka messaging/streaming
Autotrader's standard text

During our application process, you will be asked two questions to help us learn more about you and how you align with our values. These will be used as part of our selection criteria, to determine if we progress your application further

Benefits and more

We’re offering a salary of £50,000 - £70,000, plus an additional 10% of your salary awarded to you in shares each year. These awarded shares will become yours in yearly instalments over the next three years, and you can choose to either sell them or keep them as shares. And you'll receive 28 days holiday, plus bank holidays and comprehensive private medical cover.

That’s not all. You'll be enrolled in our pension scheme, where our standard contributions are 7% and employee contributions are 5%. We also have comprehensive private medical cover, enhanced family leave provisions, a car salary sacrifice scheme, share-save options, and much more.

Autotrader's standard text

We always want to give you the support you need and help prioritise your wellbeing, that’s why we provide access to 24/7 online GP and dentist, as well as specialist support for assisted fertility, gender dysphoria, menopause, period care plans and lots more.

On top of all that, our hybrid model, Connected Working, combines the best of both worlds – office and home working. You'll spend a minimum of 3 days a week in the office with your team, focused on collaboration and connection.

Additionally, we have our remote-first periods at set times during summer and winter. During these periods, you can work remotely anywhere in the UK and from certain locations abroad.

Autotrader's standard text

Discover more about our hiring process and explore our Engineering Blog.

#LI-EC1

#LI-Hybrid

What this role asks for

Standard for backend roles

Java

Common in backend postings at any company.

In most of Autotrader's ads

SQL

Named in most of its open postings, whatever the role.

65% of this description is written for the role. The rest is Autotrader's standard text, folded away below.

Read against Autotrader's other open postings on this site.

The team: Engineering

This role is one of 6 open in Engineering.

WHAT THE TEAM WORKS WITH, ACROSS ITS POSTINGS

REST (6 of 6), GitHub (5 of 6), LLM (5 of 6), Spring (5 of 6), SQL (5 of 6), Java (4 of 6), Kafka (4 of 6)

OTHER ROLES ON THIS TEAM

From the team and dates on Autotrader's own job board.

See Software Engineer salaries in the UK →

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