Junior / Graduate Software Engineer (Testing-First)

About the Company

This is a small, fast-moving technology company building a simulated trading and prediction-market platform. Its users browse live markets, build their own automated trading agents, and explore real market data using virtual funds, so they can learn, experiment, and compete without putting real money at risk.

Behind the product sits a real, production-grade system: a multi-service backend that ingests live data from several market providers, an agent runner that executes user-built strategies, an in-product AI copilot, and a polished web application. The team holds a high bar for correctness, because when you are simulating trading, a small rounding error or a stale data feed is the difference between a platform people trust and one they do not.

This is a genuinely small team, which means real ownership from week one. The person who joins will see how every layer fits together, work directly alongside experienced engineers, and grow quickly through mentorship and review on everything they ship.

Job Overview

This is a broad junior engineering role where testing is the on-ramp into the wider codebase. For the first few months, most of the work will be testing: exercising new features end to end, hunting regressions, and writing acceptance scripts that drive the real system. Testing is the fastest way to learn how everything works, because to test a feature well you first have to understand what it is meant to do and how it is built.

From there, the role opens up. As you find your footing, you will move into the frontend, the backend, the data pipeline, and the operational tooling, picking up real features with mentorship and review throughout. The team is looking for a generalist who is curious about the whole stack, not someone who wants to stay in one lane. The path is simple: start by verifying the system, then grow into building it.

You do not need to know the tools on day one. What matters is being a strong learner who is rigorous, honest about what does and does not work, and genuinely interested in how things fit together end to end. You will work closely with experienced engineers, with review and feedback on everything you produce.

Duties and Responsibilities

Testing and Verification

• Test new features end to end before they reach users, across agent creation, the trading runner, live market data, and the web application, and report clearly on what works and what does not.
• Write acceptance scripts that drive the real system against real data and return a clear pass or fail, so every check is repeatable rather than relying on someone remembering to run it by hand.

Regression Hunting and Debugging

• Reproduce reported bugs, narrow them down to a root cause, and hand engineers a tight, reproducible report, or fix the issue directly once ready.

Data Correctness

• Confirm that data ingested from upstream market providers matches what users see, and that money, prices, and share counts remain exact at all times.

Growing into Building

• Take on small frontend, backend, database, and tooling tasks over time, with mentorship and code review on everything delivered.

Documentation

• Turn ad-hoc testing into runbooks and repeatable checks that the next person, or an automated agent, can re-run.

Minimum Requirements

• A degree in a STEM field (Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics or similar), or equivalent demonstrable ability.
• Genuine comfort with logic, systems and detail, and an interest in taking things apart to understand how they work.
• Some programming exposure through coursework, projects, internships or personal projects, with the ability to read code and write a script (production software experience is not expected).
• Clear written communication, particularly the ability to write a good bug report and a clear summary of what was tested and found.
• Intellectual honesty, saying plainly when something is broken, half-working or untested rather than papering over it.

Nice to Have

• Familiarity with Python and / or TypeScript / JavaScript.
• Exposure to SQL and relational databases.
• Any experience with web apps, APIs, or the command line and Git.
• An interest in markets, trading, data or AI.

Personal Attributes

• Curious about how a whole system fits together, not just one part of it.
• Rigorous and detail-focused, especially where accuracy matters.
• Honest and straightforward about what does and does not work.
• A strong, self-driven learner who is comfortable with autonomy.
• Reliable and clear in written communication.

How to Apply?

This is a rare chance to work shoulder to shoulder with a serial founder and see, first hand, how high-growth businesses are built. If you are exceptionally capable, obsessed with AI tools, and ready to work hard in exchange for an experience that very few people ever get, we would like to hear from you.

Email your CV to charne@skillzpage.com

(If you don’t hear from us within 2 weeks, please consider your application unsuccessful.)