Engineer volunteer roles in Birmingham

Are you a technically skilled problem-solver ready to contribute to transformative social impact? 

Tell My Truth and Shame the Devil C.I.C. is seeking a pioneering Open-Source Platform Engineer to join our founding volunteer team. This role is central to building and maintaining the digital infrastructure that will power our survivor-led, community-owned membership ecosystem for 2026 and beyond. You will be directly shaping the systems that enable vulnerable and marginalised communities to access resources, engage safely and participate in transformative personal development.

Purpose of the role:

The Volunteer Open-Source Platform Engineer contributes to the development, maintenance and improvement of open-source software platforms that support the organisation’s mission. This role involves collaborating with developers, contributors and stakeholders to build scalable, reliable and efficient solutions while ensuring code quality, security and accessibility.

About the Role:

As our Open-Source Platform Engineer, you will design, develop, and maintain the core technology stack for our membership platform, ensuring it is secure, scalable, and aligned with open-source principles. You will work closely with the Membership Director, Technical Systems Liaison, and other team members to integrate community-facing tools, data systems, and collaborative features that support our anti-capitalist, values-led mission. This is a hands-on, impact-driven role where your technical expertise directly enables social change.

Experience Qualification and Requirements

Essential Technical Competencies:

• Experience designing, integrating and maintaining APIs, as well as managing secure authentication and data practices.
• Familiarity with cloud-hosted and on-premises system environments, including deployment and maintenance.
• Proven experience in open-source development, software engineering or systems architecture.
• Ability to clearly document technical processes, system workflows and platform architecture.
• Skilled at communicating complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.
• Contributing to open-source projects or collaborative software development initiatives.
• Strong problem-solving and troubleshooting abilities to debug code, optimise performance and implement improvements.

Desirable / Can Be Developed:

• Basic understanding of open-source software principles and collaborative development practices. 
• Familiarity with at least one programming or scripting language (e.g. Python, JavaScript, Bash or similar).
• Developing knowledge of system reliability, security best practices and performance monitoring.
• A problem-solving mindset, curiosity and enthusiasm for learning new tools and technologies.

Qualifications:

• Formal qualifications are not required but desirable.
• Practical experience through open-source contributions, personal projects, study or volunteering is valued.
• Willingness to learn and complete required induction or training.

Main Responsibilities/ Key Duties

• Develop, implement and maintain the open-source membership platform and associated tools to support community engagement and organisational objectives.
• Build scalable, secure and accessible systems that facilitate user registration, content management and interactive community features.
• Build robust content management systems (CMS) to enable efficient creation, organisation, publishing and retrieval of digital content for community members and volunteers.
• Integrate third-party tools, APIs and plug-ins to extend platform functionality in alignment with organisational goals and requirements.
• Collaborate with technical and non-technical team members to understand community and organisational needs, translating them into functional and user-friendly systems.
• Provide technical guidance and insights to inform strategic decisions around system architecture, integrations, platform design and development priorities.
• Monitor platform performance and troubleshoot issues, proactively identifying and resolving technical problems to ensure smooth operation.
• Ensure documentation supports compliance and best practices, including data protection, accessibility standards and organisational policies.
• Use documentation as a tool for continuous improvement, identifying gaps, optimising workflows and refining platform usability based on feedback.
• Document technical processes, system architecture and user guides to maintain organisational knowledge, support future development and assist team onboarding.
• Contribute to the ongoing strategy for digital systems development and platform innovation, suggesting improvements, new features and best practices for long-term sustainability.
• Facilitate knowledge transfer by providing documentation that supports onboarding of new volunteers, technical contributors and staff members.

What This Role Offers You:

• The opportunity to shape the digital foundation of a pioneering C.I.C. and directly impact survivor-led and community-driven initiatives.
• Hands-on leadership experience in open-source systems design and platform development.
• Personal growth through working in an innovative, mission-driven environment tackling real-world social challenges.
• The satisfaction of contributing to a platform that empowers marginalised communities, amplifies survivor voices and builds collective culture.​

What This Role Is Not For:

• Individuals seeking traditional corporate structures, hierarchies or purely financial reward.
• Those unwilling to work within an anti-capitalist, collaborative, values-led framework.
• People expecting pre-built systems or rigid processes—this role requires creativity, problem-solving and adaptability.

Next Steps

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to

• A values-led conversation.
• If you are ready to apply your technical skills to a high-impact, community-driven initiative and help build systems that empower survivors and marginalised communities, we want to hear from you. 
• Apply now and be part of creating something truly transformative.

A Final Word
Platforms enable communities to connect.

If you know that: Turn organisational needs into practical. User-friendly digital solutions support communities to connect.