Senior Software Engineer

Abound; London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job description

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About the role

We're on a mission to make affordable loans available to more people. Using the power of Open Banking, we have built state-of-the-art technology that allows us to look beyond traditional credit scores and offer fairer credit to people ignored by traditional lenders.

We have two parts of our business. On the consumer side, we have Abound. Abound has proven that our approach works at scale, with over £300 million lent to-date. While other lenders only look at your credit score, we use Open Banking to look at the full picture - what you earn, how you spend, and what's left at the end.

On the B2B side, we have Render. Render is our award-winning software-as-a-service platform that allows Abound to make better, less risky lending decisions. And less risky decisions mean we can offer customers better rates than they can usually find elsewhere. We're taking Render global so that more companies, from high-street banks to other fintechs, can offer affordable credit to their customers.

We're looking for an experienced individual to join us in the role of Senior Java Engineer. This position requires an enthusiasm for exploring and understanding new business areas. We maintain a culture of ownership and value engineers who are excited about the business and are willing to work alongside stakeholders to continually improve both business processes and customer experience.

You will spend at least four months each year in Shenzhen, leading local teams and coordinating closely with stakeholders to deliver impactful solutions for our customers. Fluency in both Chinese and English is essential to facilitate seamless communication and collaboration.

Candidates must have experience working directly with internal stakeholders to establish requirements, designing technical solutions, and owning the delivery of significant functionality - ideally having worked with peers of different levels to complete projects collaboratively. A strong focus on logging, monitoring, and data-driven product improvements is required to ensure the stability and evolution of our platforms.

Our Technology Stack: Java (primarily using Spring Boot), MySQL, Postgres (with Liquibase), Docker, AWS (e.g., ECS, S3, CloudWatch), Retool, Jenkins or GitHub Actions for CI/CD pipelines, Python for certain microservices or data-related tasks.

Who You Are

• Seven or more years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong background in Java
• 2-3 years of professional Python experience (e.g., building microservices, data-related tasks)
• Proven experience leading the development of significant new functionality in a production environment
• Proficiency in writing well-structured, testable Java code, following best practices for maintainability
• Experience maintaining business-critical systems, ensuring uptime, reliability, and smooth operations
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with a focus on logging, monitoring, and data-driven improvements
• Effective communication skills in both English and Chinese, able to work with global and local stakeholders
• Proficiency with Git for version control and familiarity with modern CI/CD workflows
• Basic knowledge of cloud infrastructure, with experience in at least one major platform (AWS, GCP, or Azure)
• Strong SQL skills for efficient data management and retrieval (MySQL, Postgres)
• Knowledge of lending products and business processes will be a major advantage
• Willingness to work at least four months each year in Shenzhen, leading the local engineering team

What You'll Be Doing

• Developing and maintaining Java-based backend services for the B2C lending lifecycle - from onboarding new customers and assessing affordability to loan disbursement and repayment
• Participating in the entire SDLC, collaborating on solution design, reviewing code, building tests, and coordinating deployments
• Owning a part of the platform, ensuring smooth operation of business processes and related KPIs
• Leading and mentoring the Shenzhen engineering team, ensuring clear communication and successful project delivery
• Working closely with Product, Design, QA, and other stakeholders to understand, challenge, and refine requirements
• Providing second-line support within business hours, troubleshooting and resolving system issues that impact customers
• Applying strong SQL skills to optimize data management and improve performance across our databases
• Implementing robust logging and monitoring strategies to gather insights, drive data-informed decisions, and continuously enhance the product

What we offer

• Everyone owns a piece of the company - equity
• 25 days' holiday a year, plus 8 bank holidays
• 2 paid volunteering days per year
• One month paid sabbatical after 4 years
• Employee loan
• Free gym membership
• Save up to 60% on an electric vehicle through our salary sacrifice scheme with Loveelectric
• Team wellness budget to be active together - set up a yoga class, a tennis lesson or go bouldering