Support Engineer Apprentice
Level 6 – Digital & Technology Solutions Professional, Software Engineering Pathway
Location
Manchester
About the Role
This apprenticeship role is designed for individuals looking to build a career in software engineering and technical support. You will join Mark43’s Support Engineering team, gaining hands-on experience supporting customers, troubleshooting software issues, investigating application behaviour, and contributing to technical fixes and product improvements.
The role combines customer support with practical software engineering. You will learn how to investigate issues in production software, reproduce and diagnose problems, work with application logs, APIs and data, and develop small remediation scripts or technical fixes under the guidance of experienced engineers.
You will also build strong customer support skills, helping users resolve issues and communicating technical information clearly and professionally. As your knowledge develops, you will take increasing ownership of more complex technical support cases and contribute to improvements across our products, tools and support processes.
Alongside your day-to-day role, you will complete a Level 6 apprenticeship with Ada, The National College for Digital Skills, developing your skills in software development, systems thinking and problem-solving.
What You’ll Do
With support and training, you will:
- Provide first-line technical support to customers through channels including email, phone and our ticketing system
- Triage and manage incoming support requests, helping assess severity, priority and appropriate next steps
- Troubleshoot and investigate software issues, escalating more complex problems where appropriate
- Reproduce reported issues and gather the information required to help diagnose their underlying cause
- Communicate clearly with customers about progress, findings, workarounds and next steps
- Develop detailed knowledge of the Mark43 product suite and how customers use it
- Use application logs, internal tools and other diagnostic information to investigate software behaviour
- Build an understanding of APIs, integrations, databases and the interaction between frontend and backend systems
- Assist with data-related investigation using SQL and other appropriate tools
- Develop and run small remediation scripts or utilities, with appropriate review and guidance, to help resolve customer or product issues
- Assist with testing fixes, new features and product updates
- Contribute to internal knowledge bases, troubleshooting guides and technical documentation
- Translate technical information into clear guidance for customers and non-technical stakeholders
- Work collaboratively with Support, Engineering, Product and customer-facing teams
- Escalate complex technical issues with clear reproduction steps, evidence and documentation
- Support continuous improvement of support processes, tooling and documentation
As you progress, you will begin to:
- Take ownership of increasingly complex technical support cases from investigation through resolution
- Write and execute SQL queries to support troubleshooting and remediation activities
- Develop small scripts, automation or technical fixes to resolve recurring or well-understood issues
- Debug application behaviour using logs, APIs, browser tools and other engineering resources
- Investigate frontend, backend, API, integration and data-related issues
- Propose and, where appropriate, implement fixes for simpler software issues under engineering guidance
- Participate in root-cause analysis and help identify opportunities to prevent issues recurring
- Contribute to technical improvements, automation and process enhancements
- Assist with monitoring, incident investigation and response activities
- Build practical coding, debugging and software engineering skills while working with production-scale software
What You’ll Learn
As part of the apprenticeship and your work within the Support Engineering team, you will develop skills in:
- Software development fundamentals
- JavaScript and/or TypeScript
- Debugging and structured problem-solving techniques
- SQL and relational databases
- APIs, HTTP and system integrations
- Frontend and backend application concepts
- Reading and interpreting application logs and diagnostic information
- Writing scripts and simple automation or remediation tools
- Working safely with production systems and customer data
- Root-cause analysis and incident investigation
- Testing and validating software fixes
- Version control and software development workflows
- Working with issue-tracking and customer-support tools such as Jira and Zendesk
- Communicating with technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Balancing technical investigation with high-quality customer support
- Agile ways of working
What We’re Looking For
We are not expecting prior professional software engineering or technical support experience. Instead, we’re looking for:
- A strong interest in technology, software and understanding how systems work
- Curiosity and a willingness to investigate problems and learn new technologies
- A logical and structured approach to troubleshooting
- Good written and verbal communication skills
- A customer-focused mindset and an interest in helping users solve problems
- Attention to detail and a willingness to follow issues through to resolution
- The ability to stay organised and manage multiple tasks or support requests
- The ability to work collaboratively and ask for support when needed
- An interest in developing coding, scripting and debugging skills
- Basic familiarity with computers, software applications and common productivity tools
- A willingness to learn about APIs, databases, web technologies and production software systems
Any previous exposure to programming, SQL, APIs, Git/version control, scripting or web development is helpful but is not expected to be professional-level experience.
Entry Requirements
- Eligibility for a Level 6 apprenticeship
- Typically A-levels (or equivalent) or relevant prior study/experience
- Right to work in the UK
- A resident of the UK for at least the last 5 consecutive years, to meet background-check and security-vetting requirements applicable to the role and the customers supported by Mark43
Support & Development
- Structured Level 6 apprenticeship programme, including dedicated off-the-job learning
- Dedicated line manager and support from experienced Support and Engineering colleagues
- Hands-on experience working with real customer issues and production-scale software
- Structured onboarding and technical training
- Opportunities to develop practical software engineering skills alongside customer support expertise
- Exposure to experienced software engineers, Support Engineers and product specialists
- Ongoing training and development opportunities
- Opportunities to contribute to real technical fixes, scripts, automation and product improvements as your skills develop
- Clear progression opportunities into Support Engineering, Software Engineering, Site Reliability Engineering or other specialist technical roles
Pay: From £24,000.00 per year
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Manchester (Greater Manchester)
