Principal Engineer - Offers

iwoca; London; Hybrid; GBP 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading fintech company in London seeks a Principal Engineer to lead the design and development of innovative loan offer systems. This role involves collaboration with cross-functional teams and requires expertise in systems architecture and software development. Candidates should have a strong technical background and demonstrate leadership abilities. The position offers a salary ranging from £100,000 to £140,000 and various employee benefits including flexible working hours and medical insurance.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Medical insurance including gym discounts

25 days' holiday plus additional benefits

Emotional and mental health support

Pension and share options

Paid volunteering days

Biannual company retreats

Qualifications

• Experience owning technical systems that deliver business outcomes.
• Ability to mentor juniors and inspire teams.
• Proficiency in balancing hands-on coding with strategic planning.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of systems for tailored loan offers.
• Optimize systems architecture to enhance customer journeys.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to align strategies.

Skills

Expertise in systems architecture

Advanced proficiency in software development

Business-oriented collaboration

Demonstrable leadership skills

Experience with complex systems

Education

Degree in math, physics, computer science, or related field

Tools

Python

Django

PostgreSQL

Job description

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Principal Engineer - Offers Team

Hybrid in London / Remote within the UK

We're hiring a Principal Engineer

Lead the evolution of our offers generating systems and associated architecture. You'll build and improve critical systems, shape iwoca's technical vision, and collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver innovative, data-driven solutions.

The company

Imagine a world where every small business has the power to thrive. That's the world we're building at iwoca. Small businesses aren't just statistics - they're the heartbeat of our communities, the character of our high streets, and the engine of our economy. Since 2012, we've revolutionised how these businesses access finance, turning what was once a lengthy, frustrating process into something remarkable: funding that's fast, flexible, and actually works for modern businesses.

Our impact speaks for itself: we've provided billions in funding to over 150,000 businesses across Europe, making us one of the continent's leading fintech innovators. But we're just getting started. Our mission? To empower one million businesses with the financial tools they deserve.

We combine cutting-edge technology and data science with genuine human understanding to make finance feel less like a barrier and more like a superpower. Whether it's managing cash flow or seizing unexpected opportunities, we ensure businesses get the funds they need - often within minutes.

The team

The Offers team owns our offer generation engine. They're responsible for designing and optimising the systems that determine the most relevant loan offers for new customers - including features like pricing, credit limits, and other offer terms. The team continuously experiments with new product ideas and ensures these are delivered through an intuitive, high-performing digital experience. This involves close collaboration across engineering, product, data, and design to align offer strategy with customer needs and business goals.

The role

You'll play a key role in realising iwoca's long-term vision for a dynamic, data-driven offer strategy. You'll lead the design and development of systems that intelligently tailor loan offers - including pricing, amounts, and other offer terms - to each customer based on their unique profile and needs. This means moving beyond static rules to build scalable, adaptive systems that integrate real-time data and business logic. Your work will be central to how we deliver the right product, to the right customer, at the right time - a capability that's critical to iwoca's future growth.

Technical autonomy

• Re-architect the team's code to meet an ambitious set of ever-changing challenges, collaborating with other principal engineers to design and deliver a coherent system.
• Conceive projects for continuous improvement of systems and processes.

Leadership and influence

• Lead the evolution of our system architecture to optimise customer journeys and enhance offer generation processes.
• Build strong stakeholder relationships, mentor junior developers, and foster a culture of learning and innovation.
• Share a clear technical vision aligned with long-term goals, working closely with tech, product, and analytics teams.

Startup culture in a scale-up environment

• Enjoy open communication and access to leadership without layers of bureaucracy.
• Embrace the energy and adaptability of a startup, where decisions are made quickly, and every day brings new opportunities and challenges.
• Collaborate with teams that use shared systems and infrastructure, supported by resources like a DevOps team.

The requirements

Essential

• Expertise in systems architecture, including designing and managing complex domain models.
• Advanced proficiency in software development using an object-oriented language.
• Business-oriented: ability to collaborate with stakeholders to translate complex challenges into scalable solutions. Experience owning technical systems that deliver business outcomes in fast-paced environments.
• Demonstrable leadership skills: mentoring juniors, inspiring teams, balancing hands-on coding with strategic planning.
• Experience building and shaping large systems in complex business domains.

Bonus

• Experience with Python, Django, or PostgreSQL.
• Familiarity with data analytics and Machine Learning processes.
• Understanding of complex data systems, including event-sourced data models.
• A strong numerical or technical background, ideally with a degree in maths, physics, computer science, engineering, or a related field.
• Front-end development experience.

The salary

We expect to pay from £100,000 - £140,000 for this role. Please include your salary goals with your application. We benchmark salaries regularly and conduct quarterly reviews.

The culture

At iwoca, we prioritize a culture of learning, growth, and support, investing in our team members' professional development. We value diversity and encourage exploration of new areas to improve our products and services.

The offices

• Offices in London, Leeds, and Frankfurt with drinks and snacks
• Events and clubs like bingo, movie nights, yoga, football, etc.

The benefits

• Flexible working hours
• Medical insurance from Vitality, including gym discounts and private GP services for you and your dependents
• 25 days' holiday, plus extra days off for your birthday, options to buy or sell holiday, unlimited unpaid leave, and a paid sabbatical after 4 years
• Emotional and mental health support via Spill
• Pension and share options
• Parental leave and nursery benefits
• Paid volunteering days
• Cycle-to-work and electric car schemes
• Biannual company retreats in various locations

We also offer a learning and development budget and access to platforms like Treehouse.