Software Development Graduate

This role is now closed for 2025 intake. Register your interest for 2026.

How long: 1 year

Where: London/Hybrid
Up to 50% of time can be spent working from home over a 4-week period. Hybrid working arrangements may alter subject to business requirements.

Salary: £31,000

What you'll need

A minimum of 2:2 in a computing related degree, including Computer Science, Computing, Computer Games Programming, Software Engineering, Web Development, Web Technologies.

"As a graduate on the Software Development programme I've been able to develop my skills as a software developer and as a person. I've had opportunities to work on projects ranging from backend to full-stack and to interact with stakeholders from many different parts of the organisation. All of this has happened in one of the most inspiring, supportive and inclusive working environments I've ever experienced."
Ben Hewett
Software Development Graduate

What you'll be doing

As a graduate, this one-year development programme will consist of initial training followed by two placement rotations. Our aim is to equip you with the range of skills and experience you need for your successful career.  We also understand that everyone's career is different, so every graduate's journey is unique. Here's an idea of what yours could look like;

C# Software Development

Initial training - 1 month

You meet fellow graduates and apprentices who are starting their software development scheme at the same time as you. Over four weeks you are introduced to the fundamentals of writing object-orientated C#, learn how to test your code and use cloud services.  This informal training is led by current developers from our teams, including recent graduates, and equips with you the knowledge and confidence to start your first placement.

C# Software Development Placements - You will be expected to do two placements during your time on the graduate scheme and an example of those placements could look something like this:

Placement 1 - Full-stack Web Application - 5 months 

Working in a team, under the guidance of an experienced developer, you create a responsive React web application, which allows London Underground staff to view train timetable information relevant to their station.  You speak to the end users to understand their requirements and demonstrate the product, as it evolves, to get their feedback.  Your team also creates a C# API, running in Microsoft Azure, which feeds data to the web application.  Using pair programming, within a Scrum team, you'll learn how to deliver high quality, clean code with extensive automated tests.

Placement 2 - Revenue Systems Developer - 6 months

Using a microservices architecture with C# and Azure, your team delivers a highly scalable platform for calculating the charges related to road usage.  With guidance directly from Microsoft engineers, you learn how to select the right technology from their ever-changing range of products.  Extend your knowledge of testing and learn how to optimise the performance of components before they're released and then how to monitor the live systems for any issues.

Your first placement will be fixed, and your following placements will usually be mutually agreed to ensure you gain experience with the widest possible range of technologies, tools and teams.

During the scheme, we encourage you to become a TfL STEM Ambassador and help with our schools' outreach programme which delivers engaging and interactive workshops to primary and secondary schools on topics such as coding & big data.

Where this career can take you

Upon completing the scheme, we would expect you to roll off into a Junior Software Developer position, responsible for delivering software stories within a Scrum team, which meet business requirements, are fully tested and meet our standards for code quality.

Within five years, you could expect to be a Technical Lead, accountable for a team's software design and implementation, or a Software Development Manager, accountable for delivery teams, strategic architecture decisions and budgeting multi-million-pound projects.