Founding Backend Engineer (Java/Kotlin) for Scalable Platform

Stanford Black Limited; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Stanford Black Limited in London is seeking a Backend Developer to join as a Founding Engineer, delivering a greenfield platform with Java and Kotlin. You will own core architecture, lead design decisions, and drive the project from the ground up.

You will design scalable backend systems, ensure high availability, and work on distributed architectures with significant ownership and impact in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Strong backend engineering experience with Java and/or Kotlin, building production-grade systems.
• Proven experience working at significant scale, building platforms used by a large number of end users.
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, scalability, reliability, and system design.
• Pragmatic, high-ownership mindset with the ability to make decisions and solve complex problems.
• Team-first engineer who shares knowledge and raises the technical bar across the team.

Responsibilities

• Architect and build at scale — design highly scalable, distributed systems for a growing user base.
• Own the engineering from the ground up — make high-impact decisions on architecture, technology and direction.
• Build for resilience — ensure fault-tolerance, security, high availability and performance under pressure.
• Solve genuinely hard engineering problems — identify bottlenecks, tackle production issues, and improve the platform.
• Raise the engineering bar — champion modern technologies, design patterns and best practices across the lifecycle.
• Ideal opportunity for an engineer who wants genuine 0→1 ownership.

Skills

Java

Kotlin

Job description

Stanford Black Limited in London is seeking a Backend Developer to join as a Founding Engineer, delivering a greenfield platform with Java and Kotlin. You will own core architecture, lead design decisions, and drive the project from the ground up.

You will design scalable backend systems, ensure high availability, and work on distributed architectures with significant ownership and impact in a fast-paced environment.