Lead Software Engineer - Identity & FinCrime

Starling Bank; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading digital bank in the UK is seeking experienced engineers to join their Identity & Account Access Group. This role involves leading technical initiatives, mentoring team members, and developing robust systems to protect customers and ensure security. Strong experience with AWS and Postgres is highly desirable. The position offers a hybrid working environment, aiming to reshape banking with a diverse team focused on innovation.

Benefits

25 days holiday (+ public holiday allowance)

An extra day’s holiday for your birthday

Annual leave increase with length of service

16 hours paid volunteering time a year

Company enhanced pension scheme

Life insurance at 4x salary

Private Medical Insurance with mental health support

Generous family-friendly policies

Perkbox membership for retail discounts

Access to Cycle to Work initiative

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of delivering robust and scalable code.
• Proven track record of delivering high-quality software.
• Interest in leading people and taking on technical leadership.

Responsibilities

• Play a key role in the Identity & Account Access Group.
• Develop and maintain critical systems to verify identities.
• Ensure seamless and secure customer experience.

Skills

Leading technical initiatives

Mentoring

Delivering robust and scalable code

Best practices in software delivery

Experience with AWS

Experience with Postgres

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 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.

Responsibilities and Qualifications

We’re seeking highly motivated and experienced engineers to play a key role in our Identity & Account Access Group. We’re looking for engineers that are capable of leading technical initiatives across multiple teams, mentoring others and taking on a product mindset to solve the next set of challenges we face as a bank. You should have a strong understanding of delivering robust and scalable code, applying best practices, and a proven track record of delivering high‑quality software. Experience with AWS and Postgres is highly desirable. An interest in leading people is also a plus; we’re looking for engineers who want to take on technical leadership in multiple forms.

The team

The Identity and Account Access group is at the forefront of understanding who our customers are and protecting them and the company from financial crime while ensuring a seamless and secure customer experience. We build and maintain critical systems that verify identities, open new accounts and products as well as protecting our customers. We work with cutting‑edge technologies in a fast‑paced environment, offering a unique opportunity to learn and grow within the exciting world of FinTech.

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 in the technical interview - ~3 hours
• Technical interview - ~1.5 hours
• Final Interview - ~40 minutes

Benefits

• 25 days holiday (+ public holiday allowance)
• An extra day’s holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave increased with length of service; 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, MrMrs 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

About us

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 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 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 may collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we may process, where we may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.