Graduate Software Developer

Job Description

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16th September, 2026 \n

Some developers naturally notice the little things.
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\n The button that doesn’t quite sit right. The signin flow that feels clunky. The interface that technically works … but could definitely work better.
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\n If that sounds like you, we might have a seriously good first dev gig on our hands.
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\n We’re teaming up again with our good friends at the Australian Access Federation (AAF), and they’re looking for a Graduate Software Developer to join their engineering team in Brisbane.
\n This isn’t a pure frontend role. And it definitely isn’t a UX Designer role.
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\n It’s a genuine software engineering position with exposure across the stack — but AAF would love to find someone who brings that extra bit of frontend curiosity and an eye for how people actually experience the things they build.
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So, who are the AAF?
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\n AAF sits at the heart of Australia’s research and education ecosystem, providing secure identity and authentication services to more than 1.5 million users across universities, research organisations and government.
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\n In simple terms? They build and operate some pretty important technology.
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\n And because their products are used by real people every day, there’s an opportunity to make those experiences even better.
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The GIG
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\n You’ll join an experienced engineering team and start contributing to real software from early on.
\n There are authentication and sign-in experiences to improve. Client-facing portals that could use some UX love. New products being developed. Existing interfaces where someone with a fresh perspective might look at them and think:
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“Why does it work like that?”
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\n That’s exactly the kind of curiosity they want.
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\n You’ll work closely with AAF’s design capability to help turn ideas into working software- while learning from experienced engineers and gradually spreading your wings across the broader platform.
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\n Because frontend might be part of what gets you excited about this role, but it certainly won’t be where your learning stops.
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\n Depending on your interests, you could get exposure to full-stack development, cloud infrastructure, DevSecOps, identity and security, automated testing and AI-assisted engineering.
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\n The wider environment includes Ruby on Rails, Java, Kotlin, AWS, Kubernetes and Terraform, so there’s plenty here to sink your teeth into as you grow.
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\n What might you actually get involved in?

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• Building and improving frontend experiences across AAF’s products
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• Turning designs into clean, functional interfaces
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• Working within established design systems and patterns
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• Developing secure, production-ready application code
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• Testing, reviewing and shipping your work alongside experienced engineers
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• Getting exposure to AWS, infrastructure and the wider software lifecycle
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• Spotting opportunities to improve UX rather than simply accepting what’s already there
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And over time? Where you take it is largely going to depend on what you’re good at and what grabs your interest.\n
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\nWhat are we looking for?\n
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\nThis is a graduate role, so we're not expecting a finished product.\n
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\nYou might be fresh out of uni, have completed an internship, or have up to roughly 1-1.5 years of commercial experience.\n
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\nWhat matters more is that you’ve got strong technical foundations and genuinely enjoy this stuff.\n
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\nIdeally, you’ll bring:\n
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• A relevant tertiary qualification
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• Good foundations across HTML, CSS and JavaScript
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• Exposure to another programming language
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• An understanding of modern web development, Git and testing
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• A genuine interest in frontend development and UX
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• Strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills
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• Natural curiosity and the motivation to teach yourself new things
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• The confidence to ask questions when you don’t know the answer
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And personal projects absolutely count. \n
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\nBuilt your own website? Show us.\n
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\nMade something for your parents’ business? Cool.\n
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\nSpent your weekends building something completely unnecessary because you wanted to see if you could? We want to hear about that too.\n
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\nWe're much more interested in seeing evidence that you like building things than expecting a graduate CV packed with commercial experience.\n
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Why AAF? \n
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• A proper engineering career starter - real production software, real users and experienced engineers around you.
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• Make things better -bring some frontend flair and help improve how AAF’s products actually feel to use.
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• Go beyond the frontend - AWS, Kubernetes, Terraform, DevSecOps, security, infrastructure and more.
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• Modern engineering environment - including AI-assisted development as part of how the team works.
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• Follow your curiosity - whether that eventually takes you deeper into frontend, full stack, infrastructure, security or somewhere else entirely.
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If you're at the beginning of your career, know your way around the frontend and find yourself naturally noticing how software could look, feel or work better...\n
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\nThis could have your name all over it.\n
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