Python Backend Developer

Mustard Systems; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work

Health insurance

Life assurance

Sabbatical after 5 years

33 days leave

Job summary

Mustard Systems in the United Kingdom is building data-driven sports analytics and trading tools. We are seeking a software engineer with strong Python experience to join a fast-moving team that values practical impact over perfect code.

You'll own features from design to production, work on low-latency data pipelines, and collaborate with traders and quants to solve real business problems. Hybrid working model offered, with in-office presence and remote days.

Qualifications

• Strong background in software development with Python expertise.
• Degree in Computer Science or numerical subject from a top university.
• Exceptional communication skills to convey complex technical ideas clearly.
• Strong decision-making with balanced trade-offs in implementation and architecture.
• Experience with web scraping and reverse engineering against bot protection tooling.
• At least 3 years of software development experience.

Responsibilities

• Expand access to liquidity providers via web scraping and reverse engineering.
• Develop low-latency real-time data feeds for trading strategies.
• Enhance system visibility and diagnose integration issues.
• Design and build features aligned with business goals delivering measurable value.
• Review and test code for functionality, maintainability and performance.
• Support production and participate in out-of-hours for software systems.
• Collaborate with traders and quants on cross-team projects.

Skills

Python

Web scraping

Reverse engineering

Communication

Decision making

Education

CS or numerical degree

Tools

RabbitMQ

Kafka

PostgreSQL

Redis

Linux

Job description

At Mustard Systems, we leverage statistical modeling to dive into sports events and help us make informed predictions about future outcomes. By utilising our unique datasets, advanced statistical models, and custom-built software, we strive to accurately forecast sports results.

We value quick delivery and real-world impact over perfect code. If you’re an engineer who thrives on solving problems quickly and enjoys a flexible, outcome-focused culture, you’ll fit right in.

What You’ll Work On:

• Expand our access to new liquidity providers, through advanced web scraping and reverse engineering techniques.
• Develop and maintain low-latency real-time data feeds, based on the data extracted, to support trading strategies
• Enhance system visibility for our teams to provide insight into integration issues and improvements.

We work with an agile approach, following a flexible plan that adapts to new information and opportunities as they arise. Developers are a core part of this process, taking full ownership of their software throughout its lifecycle—from design and development to testing, review, and production support.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and Build Impactful Features: Develop new features that align with and drive our business goals, delivering high-quality code that brings measurable value.
• Collaborate on Code Quality: Review and test code from teammates to ensure functionality, maintainability, performance, and quality standards.
• Support in Production: Take ownership of your team’s software in production, ensuring stability and quickly addressing any issues that arise.
• Cross-Team Collaboration: Work closely with other development teams on cross-functional projects, and partner with traders and quants to design and implement the best solutions to real business problems.
• Participate in Out of Hours Support for our Software Systems.

Core Tech Stack:

• Languages: Python (Python 3.10+), JavaScript/TypeScript for frontend work, and Go for select infrastructure
• Tools: RabbitMQ and Kafka for messaging, PostgreSQL and Redis for data storage
• Environment: Linux servers
• Observability: OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, Grafana and Zabbix

Must-Haves:

• Strong background in software development, with strong experience with Python.
• A degree in Computer Science or a numerical subject from a top university.
• Exceptional communication skills, enabling you to convey complex technical ideas clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong decision-making abilities, with a knack for making thoughtful trade-offs in both implementation and architectural choices, balancing innovation and practicality.
• Experience with web scraping and reverse engineering techniques, including working against bot protection tooling.
• At least 3 years experience in software development

Nice-to-Haves:

• Familiarity with building event-driven systems
• Comfort with Linux/Unix environments
• Track record of driving successful cloud migrations, ideally to AWS, including setting up secure, scalable account and access structures.

Why join Mustard Systems?

• Hybrid working environment. We're in the office every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, and work from home every Wednesday and Friday
• Work on cutting-edge systems in a competitive and innovative field.
• Collaborate with a smart, driven team, where your contributions directly impact business performance.
• Opportunity to drive the company’s technical direction and double its revenue in the next three years.

Comprehensive benefits, including:

• Competitive salary and significant bonus potential

• Enhanced pension match with salary sacrifice option.

• Health insurance and life assurance.

• Sabbatical leave after five years.

• 33 days of annual leave (including bank holidays).