Lead Backend Engineer (JVM) - Startup - £100k + Equity

ZipRecruiter; London; Hybrid; GBP 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading B2B FinTech startup seeks a Lead Backend Engineer to lead architecture and a team of engineers. This role involves building scalable backend systems while staying involved in the coding process. Ideal candidates will have 5+ years in backend JVM engineering, experience in startups, and a strong understanding of DevOps tools.

Qualifications

• 5+ years in Backend-focused JVM Engineering (Kotlin, Java, or Scala).
• 1+ year leading engineering teams of 4+ people.
• Experience in a startup environment and hands-on DevOps.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture to build scalable, event-driven backend systems.
• Line manage and mentor 4 Engineers, hiring more later in 2025.
• Own and evolve the cloud and infrastructure stack (Terraform, Kubernetes, GCP).

Skills

Backend-focused JVM Engineering

Event-driven architecture

Microservices

DevOps

Tools

Terraform

Kubernetes

GCP

Job description

Job Description

Lead Backend Engineer (Kotlin/JVM) in a B2B FinTech startup

Hands-on, leading a team of 4

Up to £100,000 + Equity + Benefits

Hybrid Remote: 3 Days in Central London office, 2 days working from home

Join a B2B FinTech startup backed by a global bank, that is transforming the financial advisory space. They’ve created a unified, scalable, AI-driven platform that’s moving the industry away from using outdated data storage and communication systems like spreadsheets

As Lead Backend Engineer, you’ll be the technical authority for all backend, architectural and infrastructure decisions. Reporting directly to the CEO, you'll lead and grow a high-performing engineering function, while staying deep in the code as an Engineer.

In this role you will:

• Lead architecture to build scalable, event-driven backend systems
• Own and evolve the cloud and infrastructure stack (Terraform, Kubernetes, GCP)
• Line manage and mentor 4 Engineers, hiring more later in 2025
• Lead daily standups, drive delivery, and maintain a high bar for code quality
• Partner with the CEO on roadmap priorities and hiring strategy
• Be comfortable switching hats. Player/coach, architect, hands-on builder

This isn’t a greenfield 0→1, the foundations are in place. Your challenge is 1→10, 1→100. You’ll be building a system that unlocks the product roadmap, allowing the business to scale with confidence. Think: backend overhaul, introducing messaging layers (Kafka or PubSub), scaling infra, and embedding clean Engineering practices

Tech Stack: Kotlin, Grails, Vert.x, gRPC, microservices, event-driven architecture, GCP, Kubernetes, Terraform, Kafka, BigQuery, PostgreSQL

Ideal Candidates will have:

• 5+ years in Backend-focused JVM Engineering (Kotlin, Java, or Scala)
• 1+ year leading engineering teams of 4+ people
• Experience designing event-driven systems, microservices and using gRPC
• Experience in a startup environment: building fast, wearing many hats
• Hands-on DevOps experience: Terraform, GCP, Kubernetes
• Experience building data-heavy products (e.g. CRMs, forms, internal tools)
• AI / FinTech experience a bonus

No Visa Sponsorship Available

4-stage Interview Process

Please apply with an updated CV displaying your impact & we’ll be in touch!