Senior C++ Developer (High-Performance Scientific Software)

Overview

We are supporting a globally recognised scientific software organisation that develops cutting-edge, high-performance desktop applications used within advanced microscopy, materials science, and research-driven environments. Their software platforms are widely adopted by leading laboratories, research institutes, and industrial R&D teams to support critical analysis, imaging workflows, and precision measurement tasks.

As demand for their platform continues to grow-driven by increased adoption across both academic and commercial sectors-the team is investing heavily in the evolution, optimisation, and long-term scalability of its core product suite.

To support this growth, they are looking to engage an experienced C++ Developer with strong expertise in modern C++ and desktop application development. This individual will play a key role in contributing to both the forward roadmap of the product (feature innovation, scalability improvements) as well as the stabilisation and optimisation of an existing, complex, long-lifecycle codebase.

You will join a highly skilled but currently capacity-constrained core engineering team. This creates an opportunity for immediate impact, ownership, and technical influence-particularly in improving delivery velocity, code quality, and maintainability standards across the platform.

This role is ideally suited to engineers who enjoy working at the intersection of performance-critical systems, deep technical problem solving, and high-quality software engineering practices, within a structured and intellectually stimulating environment.

Role Context & Impact

The core product you will be working on has evolved over many years and represents a highly sophisticated system used in mission-critical scientific workflows. As such, the engineering challenges are unique and multifaceted, including:

• Maintaining and evolving a mature codebase with a long operational lifespan
• Balancing feature innovation with system stability and reliability
• Supporting high-performance requirements in data processing and rendering
• Ensuring software quality in environments where precision and correctness are essential
• Collaborating across distributed teams with shared ownership of complex systems

Given the reduced team size, the successful candidate will quickly become a key contributor, helping to:

• Accelerate delivery timelines
• Strengthen engineering best practices
• Improve system robustness and maintainability
• Reduce technical debt
• Enhance developer workflows and tooling

Key Responsibilities

Software Development & Engineering

• Design, develop, and maintain desktop applications using Modern C++ (C++20)
• Implement new features aligned with product and customer requirements
• Enhance and refactor existing code to improve performance, readability, and maintainability
• Work across the full software development lifecycle, from requirements through to deployment and support
• Contribute to performance optimisation, including memory management and efficient algorithm design
• Identify and resolve defects, bottlenecks, and stability issues in a complex system

Architecture & System Design

• Collaborate with senior engineers and architects to define and evolve system architecture
• Contribute to design decisions that balance scalability, maintainability, and performance
• Ensure adherence to strong software design principles (e.g., SOLID, modularity, separation of concerns)
• Evaluate and propose improvements to existing architectural approaches
• Participate in technical discussions, design reviews, and code reviews

Quality & Testing

• Develop and maintain robust unit tests and automated testing frameworks
• Ensure high standards of code quality through testing, documentation, and peer review
• Contribute to improving overall test coverage and reliability of the application
• Support integration testing and validation processes across components
• Advocate for best practices in quality engineering and continuous improvement

Build Systems & Tooling

• Work within structured build environments using CMake and Conan
• Maintain and improve build pipelines to ensure consistency and reliability
• Troubleshoot and resolve build-related issues across different environments
• Contribute to dependency management and packaging strategies

CI/CD & DevOps Collaboration

• Support and enhance CI/CD pipelines to enable efficient and reliable software delivery
• Collaborate with DevOps teams to improve automation, build stability, and deployment workflows
• Participate in efforts to reduce cycle times and improve release cadence
• Ensure consistent development practices across distributed teams

Cross-Team Collaboration

• Work closely with distributed engineering teams across Europe
• Collaborate with product managers, QA engineers, and domain experts
• Communicate effectively in a cross-functional, international environment
• Share knowledge and mentor less experienced engineers where appropriate

Technical Environment

The team operates within a modern and structured development ecosystem, including:

• Programming Language: C++20 (Modern C++)
• IDE/Platform: Visual Studio
• UI Framework: Qt (desktop application development)
• Build Systems: CMake, Conan
• Testing: Unit testing frameworks and automated integration testing
• DevOps: CI/CD pipelines, automated builds, and deployment workflows
• Version Control: Git-based workflows (or equivalent)

This environment emphasises engineering discipline, code quality, and long-term maintainability, making it ideal for developers who value structured, methodical development practices.

Requirements

Core Experience

• 5-10+ years of commercial experience in C++ software development
• Proven track record of working with Modern C++ (C++11/14/17/20) in production environments
• Strong experience in developing desktop applications, ideally with Qt
• Experience working on complex, large-scale, or long-lifecycle software systems
• Demonstrated ability to contribute within structured, quality-driven engineering environments

Technical Skills

• Deep understanding of C++ fundamentals, including memory management, concurrency, and performance optimisation
• Hands-on experience with Qt for UI development (desirable but not essential)
• Familiarity with CMake and/or Conan for build and dependency management
• Experience implementing and maintaining unit tests and automated testing frameworks
• Understanding of CI/CD practices and modern DevOps workflows
• Strong debugging and problem-solving capabilities

Software Engineering Practices

• Solid understanding of software design principles and patterns
• Experience writing clean, maintainable, and well-documented code
• Strong appreciation for testing, code quality, and technical debt management
• Experience working in environments with defined standards and processes

Domain Experience (Advantageous)

• Experience within scientific software, imaging systems, or data-intensive applications
• Exposure to regulated or quality-controlled environments (e.g., medical devices, engineering, scientific tools)
• Experience working with performance-critical or hardware-integrated applications

Soft Skills & Attributes

• Strong analytical and problem-solving mindset
• Ability to work independently while contributing to a collaborative team
• Excellent communication skills in English (written and spoken)
• Comfortable working in distributed, cross-border teams
• Proactive approach to identifying issues and driving improvements
• Detail-oriented with a strong focus on quality and precision

Why Join

This is an opportunity to work on a highly specialised, technically challenging product that has real-world impact in scientific and research domains.

Key benefits of the role include:

• Ownership and influence within a critical, understaffed engineering team
• Exposure to complex, high-performance software systems
• Opportunity to shape architecture and engineering standards
• Work in a domain where precision, quality, and innovation truly matter
• Collaborative environment with highly skilled technical professionals
• Long-term product lifecycle offering stability and depth of engineering challenges

Ideal Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate is a seasoned C++ engineer who:

• Thrives in complex, mature systems rather than greenfield-only environments
• Enjoys balancing feature development with system stabilisation
• Has strong opinions on code quality, testing, and maintainability
• Is comfortable navigating large codebases and improving them incrementally
• Can operate effectively in environments where impact is immediate and visible

Summary

This role represents a compelling opportunity for an experienced C++ developer to step into a high-impact position within a globally respected scientific software environment. You will contribute to both the immediate needs of a stretched engineering team and the long-term evolution of a sophisticated product.

If you are passionate about modern C++, performance engineering, and building robust, long-lived software systems, this position offers both the technical challenge and the strategic influence to take your career to the next level.