Junior Engineer

Would you like to grow as a software engineer in an environment where technology directly contributes to digital services for education and research? Do you enjoy building applications, APIs, integrations, and automation solutions, while gradually taking on more responsibility? And would you like to learn from experienced colleagues while working on a platform that’s constantly evolving? Then we’re looking for you.

Where you will work

SURF is the ICT cooperative for Dutch educational and research institutions. Together with them, we work on digital services and complex innovation challenges to enhance the quality of education and research.

Working at SURF means working for a unique and open organization. This is evident in everything: the structure of the organization, the setup of the project teams, the culture in our offices, and the atmosphere among colleagues. SURF offers excellent terms of employment and a flexible approach to work/life balance. Employees enjoy working independently. In addition, everyone is given the space and freedom to use and develop their talents as effectively and broadly as possible.

The team you will join

You’ll be working in the Procurement & Delivery department, as part of the SURFspot team.

Within the SURFspot team, we ensure that digital products and services are made available to students, staff, and other end users. The team is responsible for both the day-to-day operations and the ongoing development of the platform, its integrations, and the related services.

SURFspot is rapidly evolving. While the platform was traditionally used primarily as a web store, we are increasingly developing generic capabilities in areas such as product and catalog data, rights, pricing, target audiences, integrations, delivery, and support.

In doing so, we look not only at what SURFspot needs today but also at how existing technology and functionality can be deployed more broadly and reused.

As a Junior Engineer, you’ll work closely with the Technical Lead/Architect and other colleagues on the team. You’ll receive guidance on design, development, testing, and deployment, and as your knowledge and experience grow, you’ll be given more and more autonomy to take on tasks independently.

What you will do

As a Junior Engineer, you’ll contribute to the development, integration, and technical management of applications and services.

In the process, you’ll gain an understanding of the entire technical chain and, step by step, build your knowledge of software development, architecture, security, integrations, and operational management.

Your responsibilities will include:

• developing and maintaining applications and services under supervision;
• building and maintaining APIs and system integrations;
• developing automation and AI-supported applications where they add value;
• developing functionality for product and catalog data, including import, validation, and enrichment;
• building and maintaining integrations with suppliers, SURF services, and SURFspot/Magento;
• writing, executing, and maintaining tests;
• working with Git, branches, pull requests, and code reviews;
• working with CI/CD, logging, monitoring, and controlled deployments;
• analyzing and resolving bugs and technical issues;
• documenting developed solutions and contributing to technical runbooks;
• assisting with technical management, releases, and incident analysis;
• collaborating with external technical partners, including ZEO;
• building knowledge of the architecture, security, and the entire delivery chain.

You’ll work closely with the Technical Lead/Architect. For complex or high-risk changes, you’ll receive active guidance, and a technical review will always be conducted.

This applies, for example, to architectural decisions, complex integrations, security-sensitive solutions, critical production deployments, major changes to existing services, and complex incidents.

You’ll contribute to these decisions and learn how such choices are made, but as a Junior Engineer, you won’t yet be expected to take on this responsibility independently.

As your experience grows, you’ll gain increasing autonomy and responsibility. As such, this role offers a clear career path toward becoming an Engineer and, later, perhaps a Senior Engineer or Capability Owner.

Your skills and experience

For this position, we are primarily looking for someone with a strong technical foundation, a curious mind, and the motivation to continue developing their skills.

For example, you have:

• a college-level education and way of thinking, preferably in a technical field;
• basic knowledge of software development and programming principles;
• some experience developing applications, APIs, or integrations—for example, from your studies, an internship, a traineeship, or a first job;
• basic knowledge of Git and version control;
• an interest in CI/CD, cloud environments, logging, and monitoring;
• an interest in security and secure software development;
• an affinity for analyzing and solving technical problems;
• a willingness to have your code and technical decisions reviewed and to learn from this feedback;
• the ability to work in a structured manner and maintain technical documentation;
• a desire to learn and the motivation to become increasingly independent.

Experience with Magento 2, PHP, API integrations, e-commerce platforms, automation, AI applications, or cloud technology is a plus, but not a requirement.

We definitely do not expect you to be proficient in all of these technologies on your own from the start. This position is specifically designed to help you develop further under guidance.

SURF takes pleasure in doing its recruitment itself; acquisition is therefore not appreciated.