Senior Java/Kotlin Software Engineer - London

Zopa; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work in London

Work from abroad up to 120 days/year

Job summary

Zopa is seeking a Software Engineer to join our engineering team in London. You’ll work on distributed systems that process thousands of transactions weekly, using Kotlin, Kafka, Kubernetes and other modern technologies.

This role is hybrid, requiring 2-3 days at our London office, with an option to work from abroad up to 120 days a year. You’ll collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver value, emphasize product-focused engineering, and contribute to quality through test-driven and

Qualifications

• Experience shipping software in distributed systems.
• Strong problem-solving mindset and product focus.
• Ability to collaborate with stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
• Comfort with fast-moving environments and rapid learning.

Responsibilities

• Build and maintain distributed services handling financial transactions.
• Write clean, testable code and ensure platform reliability.
• Collaborate with product, design and data teams to deliver value.
• Participate in architecture discussions and drive quality improvements.

Skills

Kotlin

Kafka

Kubernetes

Docker

AWS Aurora Postgres

Test-driven development

Behaviour-driven development

Distributed systems

Stakeholder communication

Team collaboration

Job description

Our Story

Hello there. We’re Zopa.

We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don’t like about finance and does the opposite. We’re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre — we’ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com!

We’re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It’s not just industry awards we’re winning, we’ve also been named in the top three UK’s Most Loved Workplaces.

If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us, and make it count.Want to see us in action? Follow us on Instagram @zopalife

The engineering challenge

Our Software Engineers don't just write code, they solve real financial problems for millions of customers. You'll work on distributed systems processing thousands of transactions daily, build resilient services that handle people's money, and create experiences that make traditionally complex financial products feel simple.

• You love shipping great products, not just writing superb code
• As an Engineer, you’re interested in the problem, not just the requirements
• You feel comfortable in a fast-moving environment and are ambitious about the speed and quality of your code. We ship our code multiple times a week with the impact measured in the result for the customer, not lines of code
• An advocate of test-driven development or, even better, behaviour-driven development. A strong commitment to quality is essential
• You’ve worked on large scale distributed software systems that have proven scalability and complex topologies
• Enjoy talking to key stakeholders and understand and show passion for the business objectives of the company
• You are comfortable with a fair bit of uncertainty, fast change, and love solving hard problems collaboratively
• You are a team player who thrives working in an honest and friendly working atmosphere. We have a flat hierarchy and give you the opportunity to make a real impact
• You'll work with Kotlin, Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, AWS Aurora Postgres, and other modern technologies. If you haven't worked with all of these, we value skilled engineers with a willingness to learn.
• A product-focused engineering mindset
• Experience building distributed systems at scale
• Test-driven development practices
• Comfort operating in uncertainty and rapid change
• Collaborative problem-solving skills
• Customer impact over unnecessary complexity
• Team success over individual heroics
• Operational ownership, not just feature delivery
• Continuous improvement through honest feedback
• Experience with fintech or banking is a plus, but we value problem-solvers from all backgrounds

#LI-JH1

At Zopa we value flexible ways of working.

We value face-to-face collaboration and a good work-life balance. This hybrid role requires you to come to our London office 2-3 days a week.

You’ll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year!* But no matter where you are, we’ll make sure you’ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one.

*Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice

Diversity Statement

Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&​I forum made up of Zopians wanting to make a difference and we are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&​I is reflected in our hiring process so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Our approach to AI in interviews

At Zopa, AI isn't something we're testing out — it's part of how we work every day. As a proud partner of Jobs 2030,we'recommitted to building AI fluency across our workforce, and we expectZopiansto use AI as part of how they do their jobs.

Because of that, we want to be transparent about how we think about AI use during our hiring process.

Behavioural and competency-based interviews pleasedon'tuse AI These conversations are designed to understandyou— your experiences, your judgment, and howyou'veapproached real situations. An AI-generated answercan'ttell us that. What it can do is get in the way of us finding out whetherwe'rethe right fit for each other.

Technical interviews: it depends on the role.Some technical stages actively welcome AI use,othersdon't. Your Talent Partner will let you knowwhat'sexpected at each stage.Where AI is part of the assessment,we'llbe interested not just in the outcome, but in how you used it – the tools you chose, your reasoning, and the decisions you made along the way.