Job Description

About us

aXcelerate is a leading SaaS provider, with our Student and Learning Management System powering millions of learners' course and competency records nationwide. As an industry leader, we're on an exciting growth journey, transforming the way training providers and employers manage and support their learners.

Recognised as a Great Place to Work for three years running, we have a culture where people feel valued and supported to thrive. With ambitious growth plans and countless opportunities to develop your career, there's never been a better time to join our team and help us shape the future of education technology.

The opportunity

As a Backend Software Engineer, you'll join our Engineering – SMS (Global Squad) team, working on the back-end systems that power our core products. This role has a strong focus on Node.js and microservices development — building and maintaining robust APIs, designing event-driven and message-queuing architectures, and evolving our platform using modern engineering practices.

Your squad is predominantly front-end Engineers who work closely together with design and product. You'll be the back-end voice in the squad, advancing key new products through scalable microservices and well-designed APIs, while also contributing to the modernisation of existing systems.

You'll collaborate closely with Product Managers and fellow engineers to design scalable solutions, contribute to architectural decisions, and continuously improve how we deliver reliable, secure software. Your expertise will play a key role in shaping the future of our platform.

All candidates are considered who are based in Australia and have unrestricted work rights.

What you'll do

• Event-driven architecture ⚡ Implement and maintain eventing and message-queuing patterns (e.g.AWS Lambda, EventBridge, SNS, SQS, RabbitMQ or Kafka) to support scalable, decoupled systems
• API-first engineering 🔗 Develop and maintain secure, scalable APIs aligned with OpenAPI standards
• Data & SQL 🗄️ Design and optimise relational database schemas and queries to support web-scale applications
• Performance & scalability ⚡ Improve application performance, reliability and maintainability across core systems
• Code quality 🧪 Write clean, well-structured code supported by automated tests
• Technical collaboration 🤝 Work with Product Managers and engineers on system design and architecture
• Agile delivery 🚀 Contribute to sprint planning, stand-ups, retrospectives and technical design sessions
• AI-enabled engineering 🤖 Leverage modern AI tools and practices to improve development workflows, enhance productivity and support intelligent features within the platform where appropriate
• Engineering standards 📐 Participate in code reviews, QA processes and shared engineering metrics
• Continuous improvement 💡 Identify opportunities to modernise tooling, architecture and practices across the platform

About you

You're an experienced back-end or full-stack engineer who enjoys working on meaningful, long-lived systems and takes pride in well-designed, scalable solutions.

You'll bring:

• Minimum 5 years' experience in software development
• Strong commercial experience with Node.js in production environments
• Solid experience designing microservices and event-driven / message-queuing architectures
• Proven experience building API-first applications using OpenAPI
• Strong experience designing and working with relational databases for web applications
• Relevant tertiary qualifications in Computer Science, Information Technology or similar
• Strong interest in applying AI to improve engineering workflows
• Experience working within agile software engineering teams
• Familiarity with Git version control and Jira (or similar tools)
• Strong problem-solving skills, attention to detail and a collaborative mindset

Nice to have:

• Exposure to ColdFusion or other long-lived server-side languages (you don't need to know it coming in, but an openness to work with legacy systems is a plus)
• Working knowledge of HTML, CSS and JavaScript front-end development
• Exposure to JavaScript frameworks such as React

What we offer

• A vibrant, supportive and team-oriented culture, with regular team activities and social events
• Opportunities for flexible and hybrid/remote working
• A focus on professional development and learning, with access to our LMS, external and internal training opportunities and your own personal annual PD budget
• Access for you and your family to an Employee Assistance Program and resources
• Cashback offers and discounts on popular brands through our Employment Hero app
• Discounted gym membership and Pilates Class offers to support your health and wellbeing
• Opportunities for career development with well-defined career pathways across the business
• Proud members of Women in Technology with access to networking events, professional development opportunities and resources

How to apply

Please submit an up-to-date resume outlining your suitability for the role. You are encouraged to share any portfolio showcasing your skills and experience.

We're looking for individuals who resonate with our values — H.E.A.R.T.: Honesty, Empathy, Acceptance, Respect, and Trust — whilst also bringing a unique perspective to their work.

We are committed to promoting diversity in the workplace and encourage people from all backgrounds to apply.

If you require any reasonable adjustments during the application process, please let us know by emailing careers@axcelerate.com.

aXcelerate acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land where we work, live and learn and we pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We celebrate the stories, culture and traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders of all communities who also work and live on this land. We are committed to fostering learning and development in the communities that we serve.