Graduate Software Developer

ABOUT PETEX

Petex is a global leader in engineering software, trusted by the world's biggest energy operators to model complex systems, optimise production and drive smarter strategic decisions. For over 35 years, we have built the tools that power critical decision-making across the energy sector, and we are now applying that same expertise to unlock value in new industries, from banking, power and utilities to healthcare.

With 500+ client companies across 100+ countries, our software is the industry standard for some of the most technically demanding challenges on the planet. Our product suites, including IPM, DOF and MOVE, give engineers and geologists the tools to model entire production systems and subsurface structures with precision most companies can only aspire to.

Headquartered just outside London, our culture is built on transparency, predictability and mentoring: the foundation behind three and a half decades of innovation, and what is powering our next chapter as we expand beyond oil and gas into mining and new industries.

We offer the stability of an established business with the energy, ambition and perks of a fast-scaling tech company. Join us to build technology that genuinely matters, trusted by the biggest names in global industry.

THE ROLE

We are recruiting talented Graduate Software Developers to join our Development organisation. 

We welcome graduates from software or computer science, as well as engineering, mathematics or physical sciences, with strong programming capability. 

Your initial career pathway will reflect your skills and interests. 

You could work on our Digital Oil Field (DOF) technology, building enterprise software that integrates, manages and analyses large volumes of operational data to support real-time field management. This pathway spans modern application development, including user interfaces, services, APIs, databases, cloud technologies and large-scale software architecture. 

Alternatively, you could join our Integrated Production Modelling (IPM) teams, developing scientifically and mathematically sophisticated engineering applications. Here, you will combine software development with physical modelling, numerical methods, simulation and optimisation, turning complex engineering concepts into robust, high-performance software used by engineers worldwide. These pathways are flexible. As you gain experience, you may work across other parts of Development, including our Innovation and AI Engineering teams, which investigate and prototype next-generation technologies before progressing successful ideas into production software. 

We are looking for graduates excited by software engineering, complex technical challenges and building technology with genuine real-world engineering impact. 

YOU WILL 

• Design, develop, test and maintain high-quality software as part of one of PE Limited's product development teams. 

• Work on substantial commercial software products used by engineers and organisations around the world. 

• Apply strong software engineering principles to develop reliable, maintainable and high-performance applications. 

• Depending on your team, contribute to enterprise software development using technologies such as C++, C#, .NET, APIs and modern user-interface frameworks. 

• Alternatively, contribute to engineering and scientific software development using technologies including C++ and C#, implementing mathematical, numerical and physical models within our IPM applications. 

• Work alongside experienced software developers, engineers, mathematicians and scientists to solve challenging multidisciplinary problems. 

• Participate throughout the software development lifecycle, including design, implementation, testing, debugging, documentation and deployment. 

• Learn how complex engineering workflows are translated into intuitive and commercially deployed software products. 

• Contribute to the continued modernisation and evolution of PE Limited's software architecture and development practices. 

• Have the opportunity to gain exposure to areas including numerical modelling, optimisation, real-time systems, data analytics, cloud technologies and artificial intelligence. 

• Work collaboratively across Development teams as products and technologies increasingly become more integrated. 

• Take ownership of increasingly significant technical problems as your experience and capability develop. 

DIFFERENT DEVELOPMENT PATHWAYS

Enterprise Software & Digital Oil Field 

Graduates with a strong computer science or software engineering background may be particularly suited to our DOF development teams. 

Our DOF technologies support real-time management and optimisation of producing assets, combining engineering information with operational and corporate data systems. 

You may gain experience in areas including: 

• C# and the .NET ecosystem 

• Enterprise application architecture 

• Web and user-interface development 

• REST APIs and service-based architectures 

• Relational and time-series databases 

• Cloud technologies 

• DevOps and CI/CD 

• Deployment and infrastructure technologies 

• High-volume engineering and operational data 

• Real-time systems and data analytics 

This pathway offers the opportunity to develop expertise in building complex, scalable and reliable enterprise software systems. 

Engineering & Scientific Software Development 

Graduates from engineering, mathematics, physics, computer science or related quantitative disciplines may be particularly suited to our IPM development teams. 

Our IPM products model interconnected physical systems spanning reservoirs, wells, production networks and processing facilities. Developing these applications requires a combination of strong programming ability and an interest in understanding the engineering and mathematical principles behind the software. 

You may gain experience in areas including: 

• C++ and C# 

• Numerical methods 

• Physical and mathematical modelling 

• Simulation 

• Optimisation 

• Algorithm development 

• High-performance computation 

• Engineering user-interface development 

• Software architecture for large scientific applications 

You do not need to arrive with extensive knowledge of the energy industry. We provide the technical and engineering training required to understand the problems our software is designed to solve. 

Innovation & AI 

As PE Limited continues to develop new technologies, graduates may also have opportunities during their careers to contribute to our Innovation and AI Engineering activities. 

Our Innovation teams explore new technical capabilities through rapid research, prototyping and experimentation. Successful concepts can progress from early research into commercial product development. 

Our AI Engineering work applies technologies including Python, machine learning, optimisation and advanced data analytics to engineering problems and to the next generation of PE Limited products. 

This creates opportunities for developers interested in areas such as: 

• Artificial intelligence and machine learning 

• Engineering copilots and intelligent software experiences 

• Optimisation and decision-support systems 

• Surrogate and reduced-order modelling 

• Advanced numerical and data-driven methods 

• Automated engineering workflows 

• Research prototyping 

• Translating research concepts into robust commercial software 

Movement between teams can occur as individuals develop their technical strengths and identify the areas in which they can make the greatest contribution. 

CAREER DEVELOPMENT 

We are looking for graduates who want to build a long-term technical career. 

You will initially receive structured support from experienced developers and engineers while working on real product development from the beginning. As your knowledge grows, you will take responsibility for increasingly complex software components, technical problems and product capabilities. 

Career development at PE Limited is driven by individual capability, contribution and interests rather than by a single predetermined route. 

Our broad and highly integrated product portfolio provides opportunities to develop both deep specialist expertise and experience across different areas of software and engineering. 

QUALIFICATIONS 

• A good degree, preferably at Master's level or above, in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Engineering, Mathematics, Physics or another strongly quantitative discipline.

• Strong programming ability and a genuine interest in software development.

• Experience in one or more programming languages. Depending on the intended development pathway, particularly relevant languages include:

  • C++

  • C# / .NET

  • Python, particularly for AI, data science or Innovation activities

• A strong understanding of fundamental programming concepts, algorithms, data structures and software design.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving ability.

• The ability and willingness to understand complex technical and engineering problems rather than treating software development purely as a coding exercise.

• Organised, rigorous and attentive to detail.

• Comfortable working collaboratively and communicating technical ideas with colleagues from different academic and professional backgrounds.

• Motivated to learn new technologies, engineering concepts and development approaches.

• Comfortable working in a deadline-driven commercial development environment.

• Must be willing to work 100% onsite at our Guildford headquarters; there are no hybrid or remote working options for this position.

• Experience with every technology listed in this vacancy is not expected. We are looking for strong underlying ability, intellectual curiosity and the potential to develop into an exceptional software engineer. 

• We particularly welcome applications from graduates and early-career developers who want to work on technically challenging software and contribute meaningfully to commercial engineering products from the beginning of their careers. 

PACKAGE

We offer an exceptional package which includes salary, performance-related bonuses, other benefits and relocation assistance where applicable. 

PE Limited encourages and structure progression and remuneration based on personal performance, technical contribution and contribution to the success of others. 

For graduates with the ability and ambition to develop quickly, PE Limited offers the opportunity to build a career working on complex, internationally deployed software at the intersection of software engineering, physical science, optimisation and artificial intelligence.