ALTEN is a global engineering and technology consultancy operating across over 35 countries worldwide. We partner with industry leaders across sectors including Aeronautics, Aerospace, Defence, Naval, Automotive, Energy, Rail, IT and many more to deliver innovative engineering solutions that drive technological advancement & support sustainable transformation.

Our teams of passionate and agile engineers work on cutting-edge projects that shape the future of technology and sustainability. At ALTEN, we empower talented engineers to innovate, solve complex challenges, and deliver impactful solutions that build tomorrow’s world—today.

Join us and start building tomorrow’s world today!

As a Software Architect, you will join our Guildford team to support our activities. 

About the Role:

We are seeking an experienced Software Architect (Python) to lead the design and development of a structured, scalable, and modular software platform supporting the testing and validation of consumer products. This is an excellent opportunity to take ownership of software architecture decisions, establish development standards, and work closely with multidisciplinary engineering teams to deliver robust testing solutions.

Working alongside a Software Lead, a team of developers, and engineers responsible for testing and validation activities, you will play a key role in shaping the technical direction of the project while ensuring long-term maintainability, scalability, and knowledge continuity across the team.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the architectural design and implementation of a modular, scalable Python codebase.
• Define software development standards, coding practices, and architectural frameworks to ensure maintainable and high-quality solutions.
• Collaborate closely with the Software Lead, developers, and engineering stakeholders to translate technical requirements into robust software architectures.
• Provide technical leadership and guidance to development teams, supporting best practices and continuous improvement.
• Oversee the integration of software drivers used to communicate with testing equipment and laboratory instrumentation.
• Design solutions that support effective data capture, processing, analysis, and reporting.
• Ensure the software architecture supports future enhancements, technology upgrades, and seamless handovers between team members.
• Optimise data processing and communication workflows between hardware devices, test equipment, and networked systems.
• Support troubleshooting and resolution of complex software and system integration challenges.
• Contribute to technical planning, risk management, and architectural reviews throughout the project lifecycle.

Required Skills:

• Extensive professional experience developing software in Python.
• Proven experience designing and implementing scalable, modular software architectures.
• Strong understanding of software engineering principles, including maintainability, extensibility, testability, and code quality.
• Experience defining development standards, coding guidelines, and software frameworks.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to bridge technical and non-technical teams.
• Experience mentoring developers and providing technical leadership within engineering teams.
• Understanding of software integration, data acquisition, and data processing systems.
• Experience working within Agile or similar collaborative development environments.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant engineering field, or relevant technical military background with equivalent hands-on experience.

Desirable Skills:

• Experience integrating software with laboratory, testing, or measurement equipment.
• Knowledge of communication protocols and interfacing with hardware devices.
• Experience supporting data-driven applications and automated testing environments.
• Familiarity with software used to control and acquire data from test equipment such as oscilloscopes, analysers, or similar instrumentation.
• Background working within engineering, testing, validation, or product development environments.

Why join us? 

We bring together entrepreneurial, tech-driven people to deliver innovative solutions for leading companies.

At ALTEN, you’ll work on exciting projects, supported by ongoing learning, mentoring, and clear career development tailored to your goals.

Join a passionate team and help build tomorrow, today.

In short you get: 

• A personalised career path and a rewarding management style 
• A huge diversity of engineering projects and industries
• Private Medical Insurance
• Cycle & Tech Scheme 
• Employee assistance programme
• Life insurance & Pension Scheme
• Social atmosphere, regular gatherings & team buildings
• Flexible way of working (role dependent)

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant & actively encourage applications from members of the Armed Forces community, including veterans, reservists, service leavers, and military spouses/partners. We recognise the value of military skills and experience and are committed to ensuring that no applicant is unfairly disadvantaged during our recruitment and selection processes. 

ALTEN is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and values the strength that comes from a global mix of backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of background or protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. 

This role may require you to have or be willing to go through Security Clearance. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard; details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website Gov.UK. If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria, then your employment may be delayed, or rejected . Details of this will be discussed with you at interview.