Senior systems engineer volunteer roles in Edinburgh

Are you an experienced Board-level leader passionate about education, social mobility, STEM, and creating opportunities for young people?

The Engineering Development Trust (EDT) is seeking an exceptional Chair of Trustees to provide strategic leadership to its Board. This opportunity would suit an experienced Chair, Trustee, Non-Executive Director (NED), Board Member, CEO, Executive Director, Managing Director or senior leader with expertise in governance, strategy, financial stewardship and organisational leadership who is passionate about education, STEM and social impact.

 We’re looking for someone with senior leadership experience, strong understanding of charity governance and finance, and the ability to support and challenge at Board level.

About EDT

EDT is a UK-wide education charity delivering over 50,000 learning experiences each year through the Industrial Cadets Awards. We bring together employers, educators and young people aged 9–21, helping them explore STEM pathways and access rewarding future careers. EDT plays a critical role in tackling skills gaps, improving social mobility and increasing diversity across STEM industries.

About the Role

This is a high-impact trustee leadership opportunity for someone who wants to shape the future of a national charity. As Chair, you will provide strategic leadership to the Board, ensuring strong governance, financial oversight and organisational effectiveness.

You will work closely with the Chief Executive, acting as a trusted sounding board while maintaining accountability for delivering EDT’s mission and strategy. You will also act as an ambassador, representing EDT to partners, funders and stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic leadership and direction to the Board of Trustees
• Ensure effective charity governance and compliance
• Oversee financial health and sustainability
• Support and challenge the Chief Executive
• Lead Board development and performance
• Act as an external ambassador for EDT

About You

We are seeking a collaborative, strategic and values-driven leader with experience operating at Board, Trustee, Non-Executive Director (NED), Chair, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Executive Director, Managing Director or senior leadership level.

You will bring:

• Significant senior leadership, executive, trustee or non-executive experience
• Strong understanding of charity governance, corporate governance, risk management, financial oversight and organisational strategy
• Experience working with Boards, Trustees, Committees or governing bodies
• The ability to provide both support and constructive challenge to senior executives and leadership teams
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, influencing, partnership-building and ambassadorial skills
• A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, social mobility and creating opportunities for young people
• Strong judgement, integrity and a passion for delivering social impact

Experience gained within the charity, not-for-profit, third sector, education, STEM, skills development, employability, workforce development, youth development, public sector or social enterprise sectors would be particularly valuable, although candidates from the commercial sector with relevant governance experience are equally encouraged to apply.

Commitment

• Approx. 4 Board meetings per year plus committee involvement
• Regular engagement with the Chief Executive
• Attendance at key events and stakeholder meetings

This is a voluntary role with reasonable expenses reimbursed.

Why join EDT?

This is a unique opportunity to make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people across the UK, while helping to address critical skills shortages in STEM. You will join a committed Board and executive team and play a central role in shaping EDT’s future at a time of both challenge and opportunity for the sector.

We welcome applications from experienced trustees, board members, non-executive directors, charity leaders, public sector leaders, education leaders and senior executives who share our commitment to improving outcomes for young people and strengthening the future STEM workforce. We actively welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and are committed to building a diverse and inclusive Board.

About this Role: Lead Full Stack Engineer

Commitment: Part-time (volunteer, unpaid role)

Contribution Requirements: Minimum 10-15 hours a week; minimum 6 months.

Professional Volunteering

Professional volunteering is skills‑based service performed with the same reliability, accountability, and quality expected in a paid professional role. Volunteers are core contributors whose work directly supports our mission of global compassion, collaboration, and action.

Expectations include:

• Consistent weekly availability

• Timely communication and responsiveness

• Ownership of assigned tasks and follow‑through

• Participation in team meetings and workflows

• Alignment with organizational values and processes

About Solution Community:

Solution Community is an international non-profit organization pioneering an innovative social platform dedicated to enabling actionable change. With volunteers from over 70 countries, we are a testament to the power of global collaboration. Our team members bring experiences from some of the world’s most successful companies, including Apple, Toyota, Walmart, Meta, and many others, creating a rich tapestry of knowledge and passion.

Our Mission:

Solution’s mission is to foster a global community of compassion, uniting individuals and organizations to solve the world’s social problems. We are the bridge that connects non-profits, businesses, philanthropists, and volunteers, empowering them to create meaningful change for current and future generations.

Our Vision:

Imagine a world where every person has the opportunity to thrive—a world united by collaboration, compassion, and action. At Solution Community, we are turning that vision into reality, driving transformative change that reshapes the future.

Summary of Role:

As a Lead Full Stack Engineer, you will lead Solution Community’s mission by building, improving, and developing the technical systems that power our global, volunteer‑driven organization. This role contributes directly to leading the creation of accessible, reliable, and scalable tools that enable volunteers to collaborate, deliver services, and support communities worldwide.

Engineers work across both front‑end and back‑end components, participate in technical planning, and collaborate with cross‑functional teams to deliver meaningful, user‑centered solutions. This position is ideal for someone who wants to apply their senior engineering expertise toward social impact while growing within a supportive, mission‑aligned team.

Responsibilities:

• Develop and Maintain Applications: Design, build, and maintain robust and scalable web applications using Firebase for backend and React/Next.js for frontend.

• Collaborate with Cross-Functional Teams: Work closely with product managers, designers, and other developers to understand requirements, provide technical insights, and ensure alignment across the project lifecycle.

• API Development and Integration: Create and integrate RESTful APIs to connect frontend interfaces to backend services, ensuring smooth, efficient data exchange.

• Code Review and Optimization: Participate in code reviews to maintain code quality, enforce best practices, and optimize performance across the application stack.

• Testing and Debugging: Implement automated tests and perform manual testing to identify and fix bugs, ensuring high-quality, reliable software.

• Continuous Improvement: Stay up to date with industry trends and technologies, continuously enhancing your skills and contributing to process improvements within the development team.

• Deployment and Monitoring: Assist with deploying applications to production environments, monitoring their performance, and resolving any post-deployment issues.

• Documentation: Create and maintain comprehensive documentation for new features, codebase, and development processes to support future maintenance and scalability.

Position Requirements

• Proficiency in Firebase: 5-7 years of strong experience in developing backend applications using Firebase (BaaS) Framework, with a solid understanding of Functions, Auth, Storage, Security Rules and Hosting services.

• Expertise in: React and Next.js, in-depth knowledge of React and Next.js for building dynamic and responsive frontend interfaces, with a focus on server-side rendering and static site generation.

• Full Stack Development: Proven ability to work across the entire stack, from designing and implementing backend services to creating interactive and user-friendly frontend applications.

• Version Control and Collaboration: Experience with Git and GitHub/GitLab for version control, with a collaborative approach to working in a team environment.

• Database Management: Familiarity with relational databases (e.g., PostgreSQL, MySQL) and experience in designing efficient database schemas, writing complex queries, and optimizing database performance.

• UI/UX Principles: Understanding of UI/UX principles and ability to translate design mockups into functional and aesthetically pleasing web interfaces.

• Problem-Solving Skills: Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to troubleshoot and resolve complex technical issues.

• Agile Methodologies: Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments, with the ability to adapt to changing requirements and deliver iterative improvements.

• Communication Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders.

• Continuous Learning: A proactive attitude towards learning new technologies and frameworks, staying updated with industry trends, and applying new knowledge to your work.

Recommended Profile:

• Be an open-minded person with healthy values, proactivity, reliability, courtesy, creativity, teamwork, and flexibility

• Commit to your position as a Volunteer. As our company is seeking funding, you will not be paid, and there is no guarantee of success. This project is for volunteers

• Be an expert in your domain, but ready to wear multiple hats

• Our technical stack: Firebase, GCP, JavaScript (React/Next), TypeScript, Node, Tailwind CSS

What We Offer:

• Work with a multinational team experienced in different areas

• Make a difference and contribute to international causes

• Grow professionally and emotionally, and interact with other experts in your domain of work

• Opportunity to work flexibly and remotely from anywhere in the world

Help a growing energy education charity and bring financial rigour to how we manage and grow our impact.

About us

Curieus Games CIC is a UK Community Interest Company, in the process of converting into a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation). Our mission is to raise energy literacy through play. We make energy and climate education fun and accessible. Our vision is to inspire and attract young people to work in the energy sector.

Our flagship programme, Megawatt, consists of an energy-based educational card game supported by a series of workshops. The object of the programme is to engage students on energy and sustainability through gamification and ethical debates. We deliver the programme to primary and secondary schools across the UK, with 30 schools receiving the Megawatt programme in the 25/26 academic year. Schools receive a full day of workshops, the full suite of Megawatt resources, and training to support teachers to integrate Megawatt into curriculum teaching.

We offer our programme to schools for free. We work with energy developers and other organisations to fund our work in schools, delivering community engagement and social value on their behalf. We’ve built partnerships with several high profile energy developers in offshore wind, solar, batteries and nuclear, as well as winning grants from the National Lottery and the Royal Academy of Engineering. We already have funding secured to deliver to 50 schools in the upcoming academic year.

Megawatt has also been translated into French and Polish and is currently being rolled out to schools in France and Poland through partnerships with local institutes.

You can see more about the work we do here - www.megawatt.game

The next chapter

Curieus Games is converting from a Community Interest Company into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). As a charity, we will have access to more sources of funding, giving us an opportunity to grow our impact by reaching more schools and developing more resources to teach about the energy transition.

To lead that next chapter, we're building a founding board of trustees to govern the charity into the next phase of our journey and build on the success we’ve had so far.

The role

As Treasurer, you'll be the person who makes sure the charity grows on solid financial footing — guiding our reporting, risk management and financial strategy as we scale from 30 schools to hundreds. You'll bring:

• Experience in a senior financial role in a charity, not-for-profit or business
• A strong understanding of charity financing, reporting and risk management
• Experience with grants, tenders or philanthropic fundraising is welcome, though not essential

Working arrangements

Six board meetings a year, mostly online with occasional in-person sessions — around 3-5 hours a month in total including meetings. It's a three-year term. The role is voluntary and unpaid, with reasonable expenses reimbursed.

More details are in the attached Trustee Information Pack.