Senior Software Engineer & Banking Services

LHV Bank; Leeds; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A UK-licensed bank is seeking a Senior Software Engineer for their Banking Services platform in Leeds. The role involves designing and maintaining scalable backend systems, influencing technical direction, and mentoring engineers. Ideal candidates will have strong Kotlin or Java skills, experience with AWS and containerized environments, and an ownership mindset. This position offers a competitive salary along with a range of benefits, including health insurance and flexible work arrangements.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Private health insurance

Life assurance

Income protection

28 days holiday

Family-friendly policies

Retail discounts

Team socials

Qualifications

• Strong experience in backend software engineering focusing on distributed systems.
• Proficient in Kotlin or Java, preferably using Kotlin.
• Familiarity with cloud-native solutions, ideally AWS.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop large-scale backend services in the Banking Services platform.
• Mentor mid-level and junior engineers.
• Lead code reviews ensuring adherence to best practices.

Skills

Backend software engineering

Kotlin or Java proficiency

Cloud-native architectures

Kubernetes experience

System design and performance

Code review experience

gRPC or similar frameworks

AWS services exposure

AI-assisted tools

Financial services background

Job description

Senior Software Engineer – Banking Services

Location: Leeds

LHV Bank Limited is a UK‑licensed bank operating across three core business segments: Retail Banking, SME Lending, and Banking Services (BaaS). The bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of LHV Group, a listed financial services provider headquartered in Estonia. LHV Bank operates under a full UK banking licence granted in May 2023.

Our platform supports over 200 fintech clients with embedded financial infrastructure, provides retail savings products via digital channels, and offers SME credit solutions across the UK.

We are now enhancing personal banking solutions, delivering current accounts, fixed‑rate bonds, and debit cards through the LHV App.

About the Role
As a Senior Software Engineer at LHV, you’ll play a key role in shaping and delivering the systems that power our Banking Services platform. You’ll take ownership of complex backend services, influence technical direction, and mentor other engineers, while building secure, scalable, cloud‑native systems in a regulated environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and maintain large‑scale backend services and integrations within the Banking Services platform.
• Take ownership of complex features and initiatives from design through to production and ongoing improvement.
• Write high‑quality, well‑tested, and performant code, setting standards for engineering quality.
• Participate in and lead code reviews, ensuring alignment with best practices and agreed engineering principles.
• Promote the responsible use of AI‑assisted development tools to improve delivery, quality, and developer experience.
• Make and contribute to architectural decisions that balance scalability, resilience, security, and maintainability.
• Identify and address technical debt, performance bottlenecks, and scalability constraints.
• Contribute to the evolution of our engineering standards, deployment practices, and service design.
• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Platform Engineers, and other teams to deliver solutions aligned with business needs.
• Mentor mid‑level and junior engineers, supporting their technical growth and decision‑making.
• Act as a senior technical voice in team and cross‑team discussions.

Reliability & Operations

• Design and build services with production readiness, observability, and resilience in mind.
• Support systems in production, contributing to incident resolution and continuous improvement.
• Ensure solutions meet security, compliance, and reliability expectations.

Required Skills

• Strong experience as a backend software engineer, working on distributed systems.
• Proficiency in Kotlin or Java, with a willingness to work primarily in Kotlin.
• Solid understanding of cloud‑native architectures, ideally on AWS.
• Experience with containerised environments such as Kubernetes.
• Strong understanding of system design, performance, and reliability.
• Experience reviewing code and influencing engineering standards.
• Clear communication skills and a collaborative mindset.
• Experience with gRPC or other service‑to‑service communication frameworks.
• Exposure to AWS services such as SQS, EventBridge, Step Functions, DynamoDB, or Lambda.
• Experience using AI‑assisted development tools in a professional environment.
• Background in financial services or other regulated industries.
• Interest in system scalability, operability, and continuous improvement.

What We’re Looking For

• Ownership mindset – you take responsibility for outcomes, not just tasks.
• Technical leadership – you raise the bar through your decisions, code, and mentorship.
• Pragmatic and curious – you choose the right tools for the problem, including AI where it adds value.
• Team‑first – you value collaboration, shared ownership, and continuous improvement.

Some of our benefits

• Competitive salary and numerous opportunities to learn, grow and progress professionally.
• Open and inclusive culture.
• Great working environment.
• Vitality Health Plan (includes private health insurance, travel insurance, gym discounts).
• Life assurance – four times salary.
• Income protection insurance – 75 %.
• 28 days holiday plus three additional days, and further days for key life events; the option to sell up to five days per calendar year.
• Alternative days off in lieu of public holidays each year.
• Family‑friendly and family‑forming policies.
• Access to a wide range of retail discounts.
• Team socials.

We ask that you be based in Leeds 2‑3 days a week as a hybrid role. If you can commit to this, please apply.