Infrastructure Engineer

Starling; Cardiff; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private Medical Insurance with Vitalty

Life insurance 4x salary

Pension scheme

Job summary

Starling Bank is seeking an Infrastructure Engineer to join our hybrid engineering team. You will design, build and operate multi-cloud infrastructure spanning AWS, GCP and on‑prem data centres, while embedding security and reliability into every system.

In this role you’ll work with software engineers to deliver scalable, maintainable infrastructure and tooling, embracing automation and modern development practices to support Starling’s rapid growth.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and operating data centre networks and secure traffic isolation.
• Hands-on firewall experience and Linux administration.
• Proven ability to use infrastructure as code and provisioning tools.
• System architecture and design skills across multi-cloud environments.
• Experience with modern development practices using Golang or scripting (Python/bash).
• Building and maintaining containerised services in production.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with delivery teams to translate requirements into infrastructure implementations.
• Modify critical physical infrastructure supporting the bank and ensure reliability.
• Develop patterns and frameworks for reuse across engineering teams.
• Introduce automation to reduce toil and improve efficiency.
• Take ownership of projects and ensure timely delivery.
• Diagnose system and network failures under pressure and recover quickly.
• Stay current with new technologies and security best practices.
• Work with Security and Developer Experience teams to strengthen the stack.

Skills

Data centre networking

BGP routing

VRF configuration

Linux administration

Scripting (bash)

Golang programming

Python programming

Containerisation

Tools

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

PCI-DSS compliance

Job description

Starling is the UK’s first and leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking! We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way.

We’re a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We’re a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,000 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

Our technologists are at the very heart of Starling and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment that is all about building things, creating new stuff, and disruptive technology that keeps us on the cutting edge of fintech. We operate a flat structure to empower you to make decisions regardless of what your primary responsibilities may be, innovation and collaboration will be at the core of everything you do. Help is never far away in our open culture, you will find support in your team and from across the business, we are in this together!

The way to thrive and shine within Starling is to be a self-driven individual and be able to take full ownership of everything around you: From building things, designing, discovering, to sharing knowledge with your colleagues and making sure all processes are efficient and productive to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Our purpose is underpinned by five Starling values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness.

Hybrid Working

We have a Hybrid approach to working here at Starling - our preference is that you’re located within a commutable distance of one of our offices so that we’re able to interact and collaborate in person.

Our Engineering Environment

Starling engineers are excited about helping us deliver new features, regardless of what their primary tech stack may be. Hear from the team in our latest blogs or our case studies with Women in Tech.

We are looking for engineers at all levels to join the team. We value people being engaged and caring about customers, caring about the code they write and the contribution they make to Starling. People with a broad ability to apply themselves to a multitude of problems and challenges, who can work across teams do great things here at Starling, to continue changing banking for good.

As an Infrastructure Engineer at Starling, you’ll be building and supporting infrastructure that spans across physical data centres and also our cloud estates. We have a presence in both AWS and GCP. Your focus will be on supporting our internal operations and interfacing with our software engineering teams to deliver the infrastructure that drives our business, all while building security in. This role is ideal for someone who has experience of working in physical data centres who is looking to gather enterprise multi cloud experience

• Strong background in data centre network topologies, BGP routing, and VRF configuration for secure traffic isolation.
• Experience of working with firewalls
• Working knowledge of Linux administration
• Experience or awareness Infrastructure as Code and infrastructure provisioning tools
• System architecture and design
• Experience with modern development practices and using Python/Golang or scripting languages like bash
• Experience in building and maintaining containers

What skills are desirable:

• Knowledge of core cloud services
• Experience running services in Kubernetes
• Track record of maintaining compliant environments e.g. PCI-DSS
• Experience of developing clean and highly maintainable code: creating and improving existing infrastructure services and tooling - primarily in Golang

Duties of the role will entail:

• Working with functional delivery teams to translate business requirements into technical implementations
• Making changes to critical physical infrastructure that supports the bank
• Designing and building patterns and frameworks to be used by other engineering teams
• Introducing automation where appropriate to stop unnecessary toil
• Taking ownership of projects and ensuring timely delivery
• Diagnosing system and network failures under pressure
• Familiarity with distributed systems and immutable infrastructure
• Keeping abreast of new technologies and changes in the industry
• Working with other teams, like our Security team, Developer Experience teams

Our process:

Interviewing is a two way process and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you! Our interviews are conversational and we want to get the best from you, so come with questions and be curious. In general you can expect the below, following a chat with one of our Talent Team:

• Initial phone call - ~45 minutes

• Take home technical test to be discussed and extended during the technical interview - ~3 hours

• Technical interview - ~1.5 hours

• Final Interview - ~40 minutes

• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever works best for you)

• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday

• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off

• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year

• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme

• Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection

• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton

• Generous family-friendly policies

• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks

• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

You may be put off applying for a role because you don’t tick every box. Forget that! While we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we’re always open to discussion. So, if you’re excited about working with us, but aren’t sure if you’re 100% there yet, get in touch anyway. We’re on a mission to radically reshape banking – and that starts with our brilliant team. Whatever came before, we’re proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

Starling Bank is an equal opportunity employer, and we’re proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Starling Bank are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

When you provide us with this information, you are doing so at your own consent, with full knowledge that we will process this personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice. By submitting your application, you agree that Starling Bank will collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we will process, where we will process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal data, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal data.