Embedded Engineer - DC Cleared

MORELA

Embedded Full Stack Engineer

Contract | Outside IR35 | London, Hybrid | DV Cleared

This is a contract role, 6 months initially on a 2-year programme, Outside IR35 at £650per day. It is hybrid, with 2 to 3 days a week on site in London, and requires active DV clearance. The start is ASAP, and our reference is MOR-FSE-C-001.

About the Client

Morela is proud to be supporting a fast-growing UK technology consultancy delivering secure digital, data and cloud engineering into defence and government. They embed their engineers directly within client teams, working alongside them day to day rather than delivering at arm’s length, and back them with a delivery function that keeps work moving.

This role sits on a DV cleared UK defence programme. Because of the classification, detail on the programme itself is limited at this stage, and the full picture will be shared once you are in the interview process.

The Role

You will be embedded with the client as a full stack engineer, working as part of the team on site and remotely. Alongside hands-on engineering, you will act as the conduit between the engineering team and the client, so leadership and clear communication are as important as technical depth. You will help shape what gets built, keep both sides aligned and make sure delivery stays on track.

The platform is currently cloud hosted and part way through a migration, so you will be building and evolving services through that change. The consultancy’s delivery team will be on hand to help manage priorities and unblock anything when required.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain features top to bottom: Python back-end services and APIs, with React and TypeScript on the front end.
• Act as the main link between the engineering team and the client, turning what they need into something buildable and keeping everyone aligned.
• Own features properly: scope them with the technical lead and the client, then build, test, ship and support them.
• Get software into secure and sensitive environments, including on-site deployment, integration and troubleshooting.
• Containerise services and shape how the platform runs on Kubernetes and Linux.
• Fix production problems calmly, often with limited tooling and someone waiting on you.
• Work alongside data, AI and platform engineers so models, pipelines and infrastructure land as one product.
• Improve the day to day: CI/CD, observability, security hardening and documentation.
• Write code you would be happy to inherit, and hold that same standard in code review.
• Work with the consultancy’s delivery team to manage priorities, raise risks early and remove blockers.

Essential Requirements

• Active DV clearance. You must be UK-based and able to maintain it.
• Python: strong commercial experience building back-end services, APIs and tooling with FastAPI, Django, Flask or similar.
• TypeScript: strong commercial experience on modern front ends with React, Vue or Angular.
• Linux: properly comfortable without a GUI, including shell, networking, processes, permissions, systemd, packages and troubleshooting hosts.
• Full stack delivery: a track record of shipping whole features from database to browser, including relational databases and SQL.
• Containers and CI/CD: Docker plus automated build, test and deploy pipelines.
• Composure: you have delivered against customer deadlines that do not slip, and stay methodical when something breaks.
• Secure environment fit: comfortable following strict security and handling procedures.
• Communication and leadership: clear with engineers and non-technical clients, and confident leading client conversations.

Desirable Experience

• Delivery into defence, national security or another heavily regulated sector.
• Running software in air-gapped or disconnected environments, including offline dependencies and moving artefacts across the boundary.
• Secure development, authentication, authorisation and secrets management.
• Putting AI or ML models into production, including LLM features.
• Infrastructure as code with Terraform, Ansible or similar, plus configuration management.
• Observability and incident response: metrics, logging and tracing.
• Message queues, event-driven architectures or data pipelines.
• Kubernetes: deploying, running or debugging workloads, including K3s, RKE2 or OpenShift.
• Data at scale: Spark, Trino, Parquet, Iceberg or similar columnar and distributed query tooling.
• GPU workloads and serving models on-premise.
• Cloud experience, ideally GCP, and cloud migration experience.
• Mentoring engineers or leading a small delivery team.

Working Environment

You will work hybrid, spending 2 to 3 days a week on site in London and the rest remotely. It is a full working week, though hours may flex depending on what the programme needs. You will be part of an embedded team with a delivery function behind you, on a long-term programme with real responsibility and visibility. It suits an engineer who enjoys building as much as leading, and is comfortable being the person the client turns to.