C++ Software Engineer

Glasgow Source: WhatJobs

£60,000–£65,000

Senior C++ Software Engineer - Scientific Software

Location: Glasgow, hybrid WFH (50/50 split between home and office)

Salary: Up to 65,000 DOE

KO2's client develops advanced cheminformatics software. Their software helps scientists understand and work better with chemical data. They're looking for an experienced Senior C++ Software Engineer to join their small, growing team in Glasgow. You'll modernise their core C++ codebase and turn complex scientific algorithms into robust, high-performance code.

The company is international and close-knit. The Glasgow team works closely with colleagues in small offices in Germany and France, so you'll be part of a collaborative, multicultural engineering group.

You'll work closely with chemistry subject-matter experts and implement their algorithms using sound design patterns and modern C++. You'll be one of the main code reviewers, protect the quality and consistency of the architecture, and mentor junior developers as they continue to grow.

Key responsibilities

Maintain and modernise a legacy C++ codebase, migrating it gradually to modern C++
Implement new cheminformatics algorithms specified by the SMEs
Review algorithm specifications for feasibility and clarity before implementation
Act as a primary code reviewer, protecting the team's architectural consistency and code quality
Own the test strategy for your work, covering unit and integration tests, edge cases and regression protection
Maintain the CMake build system and related Linux tooling
Mentor junior developers on clean code, architecture and design patterns
Work with colleagues in Glasgow, Germany and France
Document your implementations clearly

Essential skills and experience

Significant commercial modern C++ experience, 17 onwards ideally.
An architectural mindset, with OOP, SOLID principles and design patterns as part of your everyday work
Confidence applying modern idioms to legacy code you didn't write
Strong code review skills. You give thorough, constructive feedback and can spot subtle logic errors and design drift
A solid understanding of concurrency, including writing, debugging and reasoning about multithreaded code, synchronisation and data races
Experience with the Linux development toolchain: CMake, GCC/Clang, gdb, and dynamic linking (RPATH, SONAME)
Familiarity with static and runtime analysis tools such as clang-tidy, Valgrind and sanitisers

Desirable skills

Experience of AI-assisted development, such as using Claude Code and directing coding agents on architectural decisions
Implementing algorithms from specifications, and reasoning about their efficiency and complexity
Network programming (TCP/IP and sockets)
Python, and testing frameworks such as pytest and Catch2
Docker and containerised build environments
Maintaining CI/CD pipelines

What's on offer