Senior Python Engineer

Explore Group; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 108,000 - 132,000; Full time

Job summary

Explore Group is seeking a Senior Python Engineer to join a high-growth FinTech backend team. You will own architectural components, drive reliability, and mentor engineers as the platform scales to handle real-time data flows.

The role requires 6+ years in software engineering with 4+ years in Python production, strong skills in distributed systems, and experience with CI/CD. Hybrid work in the UK is supported, with cloud experience (GCP advantageous).

Qualifications

• 6+ years of commercial software engineering experience, with 4+ years in Python in production environments.
• FastAPI experience strongly desired.
• Proven track record architecting and scaling resilient backend systems in FinTech/regulatory contexts.
• Mentoring and technical leadership with emphasis on code quality and CI/CD.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of key architectural components and deliver resilient backend services.
• Act as a technical mentor across the team, upholding clean architecture and robust testing standards.
• Collaborate with product, operations and commercial teams to translate domain requirements into scalable services.
• Identify bottlenecks, optimise throughput and troubleshoot distributed production systems.

Skills

Python

FastAPI

Distributed systems

Mentoring

CI/CD

GCP

Education

Bachelor's in CS/Engineering

Tools

Git

CI/CD

Kubernetes

Cloud platforms (GCP/AWS)

Job description

Senior Python Engineer - £120k + Benefits - Hybrid - FinTech / Distributed Systems

Explore Group has partnered with a high-growth UK FinTech scaling a proprietary, cloud-native financial platform. Backed by solid commercial growth and strong market adoption, they are modernising core transaction and workflow infrastructure-building high-throughput, automated, and secure distributed backend systems designed to handle complex, real-time data flows.

To support the next phase of their technical evolution, they are seeking a Senior Python Engineer to step into a high-impact technical role, helping drive backend reliability and mentoring engineers as the platform scales.

The Role:

• Take ownership of key architectural components, delivering resilient backend services that meet strict performance, security, and low-latency standards.
• Act as a technical mentor across the engineering team, championing clean architecture, rigorous testing, and robust engineering standards.
• Collaborate closely with cross-functional product, operational, and commercial teams to translate complex domain requirements into elegant, scalable services.
• Identify performance bottlenecks, optimise system throughput, and troubleshoot distributed production challenges.

Key Requirements:

• 6+ years of commercial software engineering experience, with 4+ years dedicated to Python in production environments. FastAPI exp strongly desired.
• Proven track record architecting and scaling resilient backend systems within FinTech, banking, or similarly regulated, data-intensive domains.
• Strong mentoring and technical leadership capabilities, with deep experience elevating code quality via rigorous peer reviews and automated CI/CD pipelines.
• GCP experience in a commercial capacity is advantageous, but other clouds are welcome.
• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a relevant quantitative discipline (or equivalent practical experience).