Principal Software Engineer - Unified Client Experience (UCX)

Hargreaves Lansdown; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial service company is seeking an experienced software developer for a role focused on building a modern frontend for investment platforms. The ideal candidate will have 8-10 years in software development, particularly in React, and will work collaboratively in an innovative environment. This role offers a hybrid working model, competitive salary, and an array of benefits designed to inspire and support employees.

Benefits

Up to 19% pension contribution

Private medical insurance

Wellness benefits including fitness sessions

Generous bonus scheme

Qualifications

• Experience in large-scale regulated environments.
• Solid experience in React or React Native.
• Capable of writing clean and maintainable code.

Responsibilities

• Build and deploy scalable, secure software.
• Integrate web and mobile apps with systems.
• Deliver value iteratively focused on customer outcomes.

Skills

Software Development Experience

Frontend Applications in React

API Design and Authentication

Java and Spring Boot

Clean Code Practices

AWS Services Familiarity

CI/CD Pipelines

Education

8-10 years in regulated environments

Tools

React

JavaScript

AWS

Docker

CI/CD

Job description

Excited to grow your career? Our purpose is to make it easy for people to save and invest for a better future. We are looking for great people to join us, so please come and invest in YOUR future at Hargreaves Lansdown.

We know that sometimes people can be put off applying for a job if they don't tick every box. If you're excited about working for us and have most of the skills or experience we're looking for, please go ahead and apply. We’d love to hear from you!

About the role

About HL and the opportunity.

We’re building the next generation platform for one of the UK’s largest financial services companies, trusted by over 2 million clients and managing c.£150 billion in assets. This is your opportunity to shape technology that will redefine how people invest and achieve financial freedom.

You will build our next generation Unified Client Experience (UCX) frontend that will streamline client journeys across a range of products and services, in both web and mobile domains. It’s an opportunity to design, architect and build a modern frontend using latest technologies and best practices to transform our savings and investment platform.

The UCX team consolidates the efforts of the whole organisation, transforming client journeys and delivering on HL’s vision to give people financial freedom. You will work with like-minded people from business, product and engineering functions to develop and refine client journeys covering onboarding, KYC, account management and investment workflows in a secure and compliant environment.

By joining us, you’ll help deliver innovative and scalable solutions that make investing easier and more accessible to millions of users across the UK.

Be part of HL’s future. Be part of the future of investing. Shape it with us.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Building and deploying scalable, secure, and compliant software at pace.
• Integrating HL web and mobile apps with existing and new systems to deliver a seamless client experience across a range of products and services.
• Delivering value iteratively, always focused on customer outcomes and short feedback loops.
• Creating and visualising application metrics to help understand usage patterns and anomalies.
• Reviewing code with peers, collaborating across teams to solve problems, with an eye for both quality and velocity.
• Innovating, bringing new ideas to the table for adoption throughout HL Digital.
• Driving technical decisions and shaping how we build our services.
• Working closely with Product Managers and business stakeholders to align engineering outcomes with HL’s mission and client value.
• Championing a culture of continuous learning, cross-functional collaboration, and inclusivity with a growth mindset.

About You

• 8-10 years of software development experience within large-scale, regulated environments - ideally in Investment, Asset or Wealth Management.
• Solid experience in building and deploying frontend applications in React or React Native with hands‑on knowledge of secure API design and authentication services.
• Experience in Java and Spring Boot, or iOS (Swift) or Android (Kotlin) along with exposure to Figma and Vercel is a big plus.
• Capable of writing clean, maintainable and well‑tested code.
• Comfortable working in on‑prem and cloud‑native environments with an interest in observability, using tools like Prometheus and Grafana to keep services healthy and maintainable.
• Familiarity with AWS services and how to integrate them into modern applications.
• A keen focus on quality and security, combining testing and scanning into CI/CD pipelines.
• Passionate about mentoring, reviewing code and sharing knowledge across the team to help engineers thrive.
• Energised by fast paced, regulated environments where we ship at speed, embrace change, and never stop evolving.

Your Technical Toolkit

• React / React Native / TypeScript
• JavaScript / iOS (Swift) or Android (Kotlin)
• RDBMS (Oracle/Sybase) / NoSQL databases (Document DB)
• AWS and cloud‑native microservices containerised architecture (e.g. K8s, Docker)
• Modern software engineering practices with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps principles
• TDD / BDD testing frameworks

Desirable

• Java (21) and Spring Boot

Interview Process

Stage 1 – Discussion with our Hiring Manager (30mins):

A chance to talk with our Hiring Manager in more detail about the role, our tech stack and some of the problems we solve every day. Here, we’ll dig a bit more into some of your experiences, understand the processes you’re familiar with and the technologies you’ve used to deliver end user value.

Stage 2 – Technical (70mins):

For the technical part, we’d like you to sit down with some of your potential peers to work through a technical solution or a coding problem. We’ll be looking together at where a sample piece of technology / code has issues and how we might address them.

Stage 3 - Culture Fit (30mins):

In our Cultural Fit interview, we’ll be looking to learn more about your past experiences, what keeps you motivated, where we may be able to help you improve further, key decisions you’ve helped to make and issues you’ve resolved.

Salary & Package

We offer a competitive salary of up to £115,000, depending on experience, alongside a generous performance‑based bonus scheme.

Your total reward package includes:

• ?Up to 19% pension contribution- helping you plan confidently for the future
• ?Private medical insurance- giving you peace of mind and access to top‑tier healthcare
• ?wide range of excellent benefits, from lifestyle perks to wellbeing support, designed to help you thrive both in and out of work

We believe in recognising and rewarding the impact you make - and ensuring you feel valued every step of the way.

Working Schedule

We’re based in the stunning Paddington Central offices at 4 Kingdom Street, a modern workspace designed to energise your day and elevate collaboration.

What Makes It Special?

• ?Landscaped rooftop gardens- perfect for a breath of fresh air or informal catch‑ups.
• ?London’s highest rooftop basketball court- yes, really!
• ?♀️Wellness amenitiesincluding showers, lockers, hairdryers, and fresh towels.
• ?Cyclist‑friendlywith secure bike storage and drying rooms.
• ?️Stylish lounge areas, booths, and breakout spacesfor focused work or relaxed chats.
• ?Canalside locationnear Little Venice, with floating restaurants, coffee shops, and a seasonal pop‑up garden bar.
• ?Unbeatable transport links- just steps from Paddington Station and the Elizabeth Line.

We embrace ahybrid working modelthat gives you the best of both worlds:

• 2–3 days a week in the officeto connect, collaborate, and enjoy everything the space has to offer.
• Remote flexibilityfor deep focus, work‑life balance, and personal productivity.

This is afull‑time role, working37.5 hours per week, Monday to Friday.

Why us?

Here at HL, we’re the UK’s number 1 investment platform for private investors, based in Bristol. For more than 40 years we’ve helped investors save time, tax and money on their investments.

To achieve our mission, we believe we have a workplace like no other, with constant learning, dynamic teams, and a great ethos. We're steered by core values that promote service, quality, innovation, and opportunity in everything we do.

What's on offer?

• Discretionary annual bonus and annual pay review
• 25 days holiday plus bank holidays and 1‑day additional Christmas closure
• Option to purchase an additional 5 days holiday
• Flexible working options available, including hybrid working
• Enhanced parental leave
• Pension scheme up to 11% employer contribution
• Income Protection and Life insurance (4× salary core level of cover)
• Private medical insurance
• Health care cash plans - including optical, dental, and out‑patient care
• Health screening programme
• Help@hand - confidential support including mental health counselling and remote GP
• Wellhub - unlimited access to fitness provider and wellness coach sessions
• Variety of travel to work schemes with bike storage and shower facilities
• In‑house barista and deli serving subsidised coffee and sandwiches
• Two paid volunteering days per year

Hargreaves Lansdown is an inclusive employer that values diversity in its workforce. We encourage applications from all individuals without regard to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, disability or age.

This role may also be available on a flexible working or part time basis – please ask the Recruitment & Onboarding team for more information.

Please note, we are unable to provide employment sponsorship to candidates.