IT Computer Officer Apprentice

**Employer description**:
Churchill College is one of the thirty-one Colleges of the University of Cambridge and was founded in 1958 as a national memorial to Sir Winston Churchill.

The College has about 250 Fellows and By-Fellows, 375 postgraduates working for a higher degree or diploma, 485 undergraduates working for a first degree and around 170 non-academic staff. Out of term, the College provides accommodation and other facilitiesfor residential and non-residential conferences.

The College is strengthening its Computing Department to accommodate the increasing needs of its users.

**Overview:**

You will have the opportunity to gain valuable skills, knowledge and experience as you complete a Level 3 Software Developer Apprenticeship.

**The Role**:
To further increase the skills and resources of the team, the College is creating a new role of Junior Developer Level 3 apprentice. In this role you will develop the digital skills and technical grounding needed to become a well-rounded, entry-level programmer.

Working as part of a small development team you will learn to build simple software components on web or standalone apps to be used by other members of the College.

**Main Duties and Responsibilities**:

- Provide first line software and development support and provide initial support to classify severity and priority of issues and schedule bug fixes where necessary.
- Handling and triaging end-user bug reports.
- Providing support throughout the development lifecycle, including user acceptance testing and final release to production.
- Assist in maintaining the College’s in-house software and web systems (primarily Visual Basic, and PHP-based frontends to SQL Server databases).
- Perform selected database development duties on the database servers.
- Requirements gathering (elicitation) from all stakeholders.
- Converting customer requirements into technical requirements.
- Identifying non-functional requirements (i.e. what maintenance of the software would be needed, how secure it is, how usable it is, how will it perform etc ).
- Writing logical and maintainable software solutions in line with given specifications to meet design. requirements and organisational coding standards.
- Assist in the problem analysis, research, design of system architecture, user interface design, testing, and management of software roll-outs.
- Identify and reporting any impediments to progress in development.
- Maintaining appropriate project documentation throughout development tasks.
- Reporting progress against metrics on software development activities accurately throughout the stages of the software development lifecycle.
- Communicate outcomes from development activities to team members and other stakeholders.
- Undertake the testing of solutions to meet guidelines.

**What we are looking for**:
**Essential skills**:

- Ability to work to deadlines and prioritise workloads independently
- Ability to follow defined procedures
- Ability to work on own initiative and as part of a team
- Remains calm under pressure
- Able to maintain confidentiality
- Willingness to work flexibly
- Excellent written and verbal communication skills
- IT skills (which can be demonstrated through an aptitude test or through relevant qualifications)

**Desirable skills**:

- Proficient in at least one programming language such as VBA, VB.Net or C++/C#
- Knowledge of Microsoft SQL, and the various pieces of functionality provided within it
- Knowledge of Microsoft Power Platform (Power Apps, Power BI, Power Automate)
- Knowledge of OS X and Linux systems
- Ability to use standard scripting languages - PowerShell, VB Script, Linux shell scripts etc.

**Entry requirements**:

- Other relevant qualifications and experience
- Or an aptitude test with a focus on IT skills

You may also have a combination of qualifications and experience which demonstrate the minimum foundation needed for the programme. In this instance you could still be considered for the programme.

**Find out more here:**

**Salary:**

£20,408 per annum.

**Benefits**:

- The College provides a generous pension scheme with maximum employer contributions of 14%.
- A healthcare cash-plan, which includes cover for dental and optical treatment and access to wellbeing services
- 33.5 days of annual leave (including public holidays per annum)
- A meal on duty
- Free parking
- Social and sporting facilities, including free us of the College gym.

**Future prospects**:
Upon completion of the apprenticeship there may be opportunity to progress into a permanent role within the college.

**Important Information:**

QA’s apprenticeships are funded by the Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), an executive agency of the Department for Education.

To be eligible for a Government funded apprenticeship you must have lived in the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) for the last 3 consecutive years.