native

Builds software applications, data pipelines, and machine learning models to support a student engagement platform, working across software engineering, data engineering, analytics, and AI-driven solutions.Build Something That Mattersnative has been building for ten years and still runs like a startup: small, fast, and unsentimental about how things get done. We run a managed marketplace that connects students, Students' Unions, universities and advertisers. We increase student engagement, we help Students' Unions fund themselves properly, and we give advertisers a measurable route to a student audience. The closer those three line up, the better the business works.We're looking for graduates who want to do real work immediately, learn at speed, and grow into something bigger.What we're looking forWe value clarity of thought, good judgement when the pressure's on, and the instinct to build structure where there isn't any. You might be right for this if:You think from first principles and build answers from the ground up, not from the borrowed oneYou can decide when there's no map, and you build structure where there isn't anyYou care that things are done properly. That's reason enough to do them properlyYou have range. Not just sharp on paper: you've done things that demanded resilience, judgement or initiativeWe're open to a wide range of degrees. Intellectual sharpness and structured thinking turn up often in engineering, maths, computer science, philosophy, languages or history, but not always, and not only there. If your path is less typical, tell us how it shaped the way you think and why that stands up.What you'll be working onThis is a broad build role. The work runs from the pipelines that move and model our data to the applications that put it in front of people. The mix of software engineering, data engineering, data science and analysis shifts week to week, and we expect you to move between all four. You'll be hands-on with:Shipping production Python services in FastAPI, internal tools and dashboards, and front-end work in Jinja, Tailwind and React, across Heroku and AWSBuilding and maintaining data pipelines in dbt and BigQueryThe models behind our student personas: clustering and scoring students on their interaction data, labelling it (sometimes with LLMs), and turning noisy signals into something commercially usefulIdentity stitching, so a student looks like one person across sources that don't agree out of the boxApplying our pseudonymisation and data minimisation practices as you build. You won't own this, but you'll be trusted to get it rightFinding what's slow, fragile or held together with tape, and fixing it because you were the one who noticedHow the work gets doneWe build with agentic coding tools, and you will too. This is not a perk and not a line about being comfortable with AI. It's how an engineer here ships in an afternoon what used to take a week.That raises the bar rather than lowering it. The model is fast and often wrong in ways that look right, so the job is judgement. You frame the problem and decide what a good answer looks like before you let the model near it. You treat what it gives you as a first draft to be checked, not an answer to be trusted, and you catch the version that compiles cleanly and is quietly broken. When you open a pull request, you own every line in it, including the ones you didn't type, and you can stand behind them with the tool closed.If that sounds like more work than writing it yourself, sometimes it is. The engineers who get the most out of these tools are the ones who were already rigorous. That rigour is what we're hiring for.Required skillsYou've excelled at something, and we're not precious about the form: first-class honours, a Dean's List, a research result, a project you couldn't leave alone. We're reading for rigour and clarity of thoughtYou write proper Python, not only notebook Python. At home exploring data with pandas and numpy, equally at home writing a small service someone else can run without you in the roomYou write SQL with intent. Not just queries that return the right rows, but ones that stay clear when the data's messier than the exampleYou've worked with real, messy data: designing a schema, cleaning a dataset that fought back, checking your results are actually true. Coursework, Kaggle, a personal project, whereverYou teach yourself the tool you need before anyone tells you to. Data side: BigQuery, dbt, Airflow, Docker. Software side: git, a web framework, getting something live on the cloudBonus points if you've built and shipped something end to end that other people used. A tool, an app, an API, a bot. Anything realProgressionThis is a six-month engagement, and we mean it as a proving ground for a permanent hire, not an internship and not a rotation. Do well and you move into a promoted, permanent role at the end of it.The trajectory is the offer here. You drop into live production from week one with real ownership, and the breadth is the point: in six months you'll have shipped across software, data and ML. That's rare this early, and almost impossible to get on a scheme that keeps you in one lane while it decides what to do with you.During the process you'll talk to grads who joined this way, so you hear how it actually went from them rather than from us.

Posted 3 days ago

Supports research projects by designing surveys, writing participant communications and insight reports, and coordinating recruitment, scheduling, and research operations.native has been building for 10 years, but we're still very much a startup: fast-moving, ambitious, and building with intent. We're creating the infrastructure that connects students, Students' Unions, universities, and advertisers through a managed marketplace.Our goal is to increase student engagement while enabling Students' Unions to secure sustainable funding. For advertisers, we offer meaningful, measurable routes to student audiences. The more aligned these incentives are, the more defensible and scalable our business becomes.We're looking for graduates who can do two things well: write properly, and run things properly. The writing side means survey questions that land, emails that get opened, and findings written up so a sales team can actually sell with them. The coordination side means recruitment, scheduling, response monitoring, consent records, and all the operational scaffolding that keeps research moving on time and to standard.What we're looking forWe value clarity of thought, good judgement under pressure, the ability to create structure where none exists, and writing that does work rather than decorates it.You might be right for this if:You think in first principles, not borrowed answers, solving problems from the ground upYou write the way you think: clearly, precisely, and without paddingYou're organised by instinct, the kind of person who notices when a tracker is out of date and fixes it without being askedYou thrive in ambiguity, comfortable making decisions when there isn't a mapYou do the work, not for applause, but because it matters to you that things are done wellYou've got range, you're not just smart on paper, you've done things that demanded resilience, judgement, or initiativeWe are open to a wide range of degree backgrounds, but we look for intellectual sharpness, structured thinking, and a track record of writing well. That often shows up in disciplines like English, History, Philosophy, Classics, Languages, Journalism or Linguistics, but not always. If you've written a thesis, edited a student paper, run a newsletter, ghostwritten for a startup, or built any kind of body of work in prose, we want to hear about it. If your academic path is less typical, help us understand how your thinking and your writing have been shaped and why they stand up.What you'll be working onThis is a hybrid role. Roughly half writing, half coordination, with the balance shifting week to week depending on what's in flight.On the writing side, you'll be:Writing and refining survey questions, ensuring every item is clear, unbiased, and earns its place in the instrumentDrafting recruitment emails, reminders, and follow-up sequences that actually get students to respond, with attention to subject lines, opening hooks, length, and call to actionTurning raw survey responses into narratives, briefs, and sales-ready outputs that commercial teams can take into client conversationsEditing and improving copy across research touchpoints, from participant-facing comms to internal write-ups, holding a consistent voice and standardProviding support for ad-hoc research requests and reportsOn the coordination side, you'll be:Running end-to-end logistics for qualitative and quantitative research, including participant recruitment, scheduling interviews, and organising focus groups and prizes.Deploying surveys, monitoring response rates, and ensuring accurate sampling and timely completionMaintaining meticulous records of participants, consent documentation, and survey responses, with full compliance to data protection standardsKeeping trackers, schedules, and project documentation accurate and up to date so nothing slipsCollaborating closely with the insights team to ensure insights are accurately captured, well written, and actionableThis role provides practical experience in structured, high-quality research, the writing craft that surrounds it, and the operational discipline that makes both possible. It will quickly develop your end-to-end expertise in a fast-paced research environment.Required SkillsYou'll be right for this role if:You've studied a discipline that demands a lot of writing, such as English, History, Philosophy, Classics, Languages, Journalism, Linguistics, or similarYou can show us writing you're proud of, whether published, academic, student journalism, a substack, a newsletter, or work done on the sideYou have an instinct for email copy: you understand why some subject lines get opened and others don't, why some messages get a reply and others get ignoredYou have practical exposure to designing or critiquing survey instruments and understand the basics of question types, ordering effects, and writing for clarity rather than ambiguityYou're familiar with survey software like Qualtrics, Typeform, or similar, and with email tools (Mailchimp, Customer.io, Klaviyo, or equivalent) at least at the level of someone who has used them in a serious contextYou're highly organised, able to manage multiple projects, timelines, datasets, and writing deadlines accurately, and you take pride in keeping things tidyYou enjoy applying rigorous research methods practically and you see writing not as decoration but as the thing that makes the insight usableYou’re comfortable writing for a variety of audiences, adjusting tone and framing while maintaining clarity and precision.Location and ways of workingYou'll be based in our London office, working in person at least four days a week, with one optional day remote. We believe in high-bandwidth collaboration and fast decision-making, so most of the work happens face-to-face.

Posted 3 days ago