VB6 Engineer

VB6 Engineer
Clearance Required: BPSS
Duration: 6 months
Location: Telford with 2 days/week in office
IR35 Status: Mandated PAYE only

We are heading up a recruitment drive for a global consultancy that require a VB6 Engineer to join them on a major government project that's based in Telford.

Job Description:

As a VB6 Engineer, you will remediate, stabilise, and modernise VB6 applications participating in the Ingres only Pathway-decoupling data from Ingres to target relational platforms (eg, Oracle/SQL Server) and implementing secure, supportable fixes that reduce risk ahead of March 2027. You'll collaborate with architects, DB specialists, testers, and delivery leads to plan and execute safe change in line with HMRC standards.

Key Outcomes
Risk reduction & compliance: Identify and remediate vulnerabilities, unsupported dependencies, and non compliant VB6 patterns to meet HMRC security and data protection expectations.
Decoupling from Ingres: Refactor data access; support migration from Ingres to the agreed target RDBMS while retaining VB6 UI where required.
Quality & Release readiness: Deliver thoroughly tested fixes and enhancements that are verifiable in SIT, E2E/UAT and OAT/NFR phases, supporting traceability and sign off.
Knowledge transfer: Produce clear documentation and handover notes to HMRC live support teams.

Responsibilities
Analyse VB6 applications (forms, modules, class libraries, COM components) to map dependencies (ADO, ODBC, custom DLLs/OCXs) and Ingres touchpoints.
Design and implement low risk remediation: data access abstraction, connection string/driver changes, error handling hardening, and performance fixes aligned to target databases.
Collaborate with DB engineers to plan and validate schema/data migration and to optimise SQL (procs/queries) post migration.
Build and execute test plans with QA: unit/functional/regression, non functional (reliability, performance), and defect life cycle management across SIT, E2E/UAT and OAT.
Contribute to release documentation and change approvals; support rehearsals and cutovers where needed.
Work within HMRC MU governance for security, data protection, and auditability; keep artefacts current (design notes, runbooks, KT packs).
Participate in agile ceremonies; coordinate with the Actian Exit streams (ETMP, Data Retention, Low Code, Ingres only) and Model Office activities.
Guide engineering best practices across squads, including code quality, security, and performance.

Essential Skills & Experience
Strong VB6: forms, modules, class modules, COM/ActiveX, API calls, ADO/ODBC.
Legacy remediation in regulated environments: diagnosing runtime faults, dependency drift, and security gaps; implementing safe, minimal change fixes.
Database fluency: experience moving away from Ingres or similar RDBMS; comfort working with DBAs on schema, queries, and performance while preserving behaviour.
Quality engineering: practical test design, defect triage, and readiness for multi phase test models (SIT/E2E/UAT/OAT).
Delivery habits: version control (Git/TFS), lightweight design documentation, and effective stakeholder communication.

Desirable
Familiarity with AI assisted upgrade accelerators (eg, Retrofit/GitHub Copilot) and technical proving approaches used in the programme.
Experience with HMRC MU governance, SD&T/implementation forums, or Model Office validation