Senior Backend Engineer (Investment Platform)

St. James’s Place; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual leave 28 days

Private Medical Insurance

Generous Pension

Enhanced Parental Leave

Life Assurance

EV salary sacrifice

Job summary

St. James’s Place is seeking a Senior Backend Engineer for the Investment Platform to design, build and operate scalable backend services, data repositories and integrations.

You will lead the development and maintenance of backend systems, collaborating with DevOps and full-stack engineers to support investment operations. You will shape engineering standards, automation, and modern practices while enabling data-driven decisions and platform performance.

Qualifications

• Experience designing scalable data and backend platform solutions using Python and SQL.
• Experience in Asset Management or Financial Services environments.
• End-to-end ownership of Airflow and dbt DAGs projects.
• Cloud-native data and integration solutions on AWS.
• Strong data architecture, ETL/ELT design patterns for business needs.
• Experience implementing Infrastructure as Code, automated testing and CI/CD.
• Proven leadership in engineering standards, mentoring, and delivery outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, and evolution of Investment Platform services and data pipelines.
• Promote engineering standards, best practices, and architectural principles across the platform.
• Provide technical leadership across the software development lifecycle from design to deployment.
• Design scalable, secure backend services and data pipelines to support growth.
• Act as technical lead on major platform initiatives and cross-functional projects.
• Mentor engineers on software design, cloud engineering, and architecture.

Skills

Python

SQL

Airflow

dbt

Snowflake

AWS

CI/CD

Tools

Airflow

dbt

Snowflake

AWS

Job description

Are you ready to chart your own career path? With our refreshed strategy, we’re building on our rich heritage and transforming our business to be more scalable and efficient, unlocking the capabilities needed for future success.This includes significantly investing in technology, streamlining the way we work and creating an environment where colleagues feel engaged, empowered and accountable; where they can show up, speak up and perform - because we believe in the difference our work makes.

At a glance:

Location: London - Lombard Street Office

Workplace Type: On-Site

Employment Type: Permanent

Seniority: Mid-Senior Level

About the role:

The Investment Platforms team bridges the gap between Investments and Technology, partnering closely with the Investment Directorate and Investment Operations teams to deliver technology change and operate platform systems that underpin our Investment Proposition. They manage a diverse and specialist technology landscape, including discrete applications, platform technologies, underlying data stores, market data solutions, and 3rd party managed services. The team works with the broader technology community to ensure Investment systems are scalable, secure, and aligned with business priorities, enabling innovation and operational excellence across the investment lifecycle.

As a Senior Backend Engineer (Investment Platform), you will play a key role in designing, building and enhancing the technology that underpins our Investment Platform. You'll lead the development, ongoing maintenance and operations of scalable, secure and resilient backend systems, data repositories and integrations, working closely with DevOps and Full Stack engineers to ensure backend services support the needs of our investment teams and wider business.

Working closely with architects, engineers and business stakeholders, you will provide technical leadership across the platform, defining engineering standards & best practices, automation and continuous improvement. You'll help shape the future direction of the platform, delivering innovative solutions that enhance investment operations, support data-driven decision-making and maintain the highest standards of performance, stability and compliance.

What you'll be doing:

• Leading the technical design, development, and evolution of Investment Platform services, integrations, data platforms, and cloud-native solutions.
• Defining, promoting and enforcing engineering standards, best practices, and architectural principles across the Investment Platform.
• Providing technical leadership throughout the software development lifecycle, from solution design through deployment and operational support.
• Designing scalable, resilient, and secure backend services, APIs, and data pipelines capable of supporting business growth and increasing platform complexity.
• Acting as the technical lead for significant platform initiatives, ensuring successful delivery of complex cross-functional projects.
• Mentoring and coaching engineers, providing guidance on software design, quality engineering, cloud engineering, and platform architecture.
• Partnering with Platform and Enterprise Architects to define future-state architectures and technology roadmaps.
• Driving adoption of modern engineering practices including DevSecOps, Infrastructure as Code, observability, automated testing, and CI/CD.
• Leading investigation and resolution of critical production incidents, identifying root causes and implementing preventative improvements.
• Evaluating emerging technologies and provide recommendations on their adoption to improve platform capability, performance, scalability, and risk management.
• Ensuring platform solutions meet regulatory, security, governance, and operational resilience requirements.
• Acting as the senior technical SME for Investment Platform backend technologies across Technology, Data, Architecture, and Vendor Management teams.
• Influencing technical decision-making, balancing business priorities, technical debt, operational risk, and long-term platform sustainability.
• Championing automation, innovation, and continuous improvement initiatives, particularly through an SRE lens, across the Investment Technology estate.

About you:

We're looking for a highly skilled Backend Engineer with a strong background in data engineering, integrations and backend cloud platform services. You'll be passionate about building scalable, resilient solutions and defining standards and procedures to solve complex technical challenges. You'll bring experience from an asset management environment, with the ability to work closely with both investment teams, platform engineers, and broader technology teams to deliver high-quality data and integration solutions.

• Strong experience designing, building and supporting scalable data and backend platform solutions using Python and SQL
• Experience working within Asset Management, Investment Management or a closely related Financial Services organisation, with an understanding of the data, operational and regulatory challenges that underpin investment platforms.
• Proven hands on experience owning Airflow and dbt end-to-end, including designing DAGs and dbt projects, setting standards, and running, upgrading and supporting them end to end.
• Proven experience delivering cloud native data and integration solutions on AWS.
• Strong understanding of data architecture, integration and ETL/ELT design patterns, with the ability to select and implement approaches appropriate to business, operational and technical requirements.
• Experience implementing modern software engineering practices, including Infrastructure as Code, automated testing and CI/CD pipelines.
• Demonstrable experience establishing engineering standards, providing technical leadership and mentoring engineers to improve engineering quality, consistency and delivery outcomes.
• Strong experience operating production platforms, including monitoring, observability, incident management and root cause analysis, with a focus on automation and continuous improvement.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with the ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear and actionable recommendations for business and investment stakeholders.
• Experience working with investment data domains such as portfolio holdings, securities, pricing, benchmarks, transactions or market data, and an understanding of how this information is consumed across the investment lifecycle.
• Experience working with Snowflake and an appreciation of its capabilities as a modern cloud data platform.
• Experience integrating with third-party investment technology platforms and market data providers such as Bloomberg, FactSet, Aladdin or similar vendor ecosystems.
• Experience contributing to platform architecture roadmaps, engineering governance or long-term technology strategy within a large-scale enterprise environment.
• Familiarity with Linux-based development environments and the tools commonly used to support modern cloud engineering practices.
• Knowledge of Domain-Driven Design, software design patterns and architectural principles that support the development of maintainable and scalable platforms.

What's in it for you?

Whatever stage of life you're in, our benefits are designed to provide the support, flexibility, and peace of mind you need to thrive both at work and beyond.

In addition to our discretionary annual bonus scheme, which reflects both individual and company performance, you'll benefit from a market-leading benefits package tailored to support your wellbeing, financial security, and family life.

Our benefits include:

• 28 days' annual leave plus bank holidays, with the option to purchase up to 5 additional days.
• Private Medical Insurance – company-funded cover for you and your immediate family
• Generous Pension Scheme – a non-contributory employer contribution of 10%, increasing with length of service up to 15%, plus the opportunity to increase this through salary sacrifice
• Enhanced Parental Leave – up to 26 weeks' full pay to support growing families.
• Protection Benefits – company-funded critical illness cover, income protection, and life assurance
• EV salary sacrifice scheme through Tusker

Reasonable Adjustments
We're an equalopportunities employer and want to ensure our recruitment process is accessibleand inclusive for all, if you require reasonable adjustment(s) at any stageplease let us know by emailing us at [e-mail]
Research tells usthat applicants (especially those from underrepresented groups) can be put offfrom applying for a role if they do not meet all the criteria or have been onan extended career-break. If you think you would be a good match for this role andcan demonstrate some transferable experience please apply, regardless ofwhether you tick every box.

As a businessregulated by the FCA we would advise you to familiarise yourself with theconduct regulations and in particular consumer duty obligations prior to aninterview with SJP.