Senior Software Engineer I - Backend (Java) London, UK

Rightmove; Greater London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Cash plan for dental, optical and physio treatments

Private Medical Insurance

27 days holiday plus two paid volunteering days

Travel Loans

Employee Assistance Plan

Charitable contributions through Payroll Giving

Job summary

Rightmove is looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to join their team in London. This role involves designing innovative solutions and integrating third-party platforms to enhance our service delivery. The successful candidate will engage in meaningful projects that impact users significantly.

You should be well-versed in Java 17+, Spring Boot, and Kafka, and possess experience in leading complex projects. Rightmove offers a competitive compensation package and a hybrid work environment with opportunities for professional growth.

Qualifications

• Strong commercial experience with Java 17+, Spring Boot, and Kafka.
• Experience leading complex projects and coordinating engineers.
• Passionate about performance, scalability, and user behavior.

Responsibilities

• Design and build new features using various technologies.
• Collaborate with teams to shape solutions.
• Mentor junior engineers and promote continuous improvement.

Skills

Java 17+

Spring Boot

Kafka

TDD practices

Collaboration

Tools

Elasticsearch

Gradle

Hibernate

Couchbase

SQL

Docker

Job description

Location: London (Hybrid - 2 days in the London Office)

Reports to: Engineering Manager - Customer Tooling

The role

At Rightmove, we’re on a mission to make home moving easier and simpler for everyone. Every month, millions of people spend over a billion minutes on our platform, with more than 140 million visits across our website and apps. Behind that experience is a team of passionate engineers building the tools and services that power how we operate. We’re looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to help shape and deliver innovative solutions for our internal users. You’ll work on in‑house applications and microservices, integrating with third‑party platforms to support our core business. This is an opportunity to solve meaningful problems at scale, with real impact across the organisation. Our teams are autonomous and cross‑functional, combining design, product, engineering and testing expertise. You’ll collaborate closely with others to deliver high‑quality, reliable solutions that support millions of users, thousands of agents, and hundreds of Rightmovers. You’ll play a key role in defining scalable, maintainable, and high‑performance solutions to both business and technical challenges.

What you’ll be doing

• Designing and building new features and enhancements using Java 17+, Spring Boot, Elasticsearch, Kafka, Gradle, Hibernate, Couchbase, SQL, and Docker.
• Collaborating with cross‑functional teams and stakeholders to shape solutions and align on priorities.
• Taking ownership of key technical decisions and delivering projects end‑to‑end.
• Balancing new feature development with technical debt, making thoughtful, pragmatic trade‑offs.
• Writing high‑quality, secure, and extensible code that supports both current needs and future growth.
• Communicating effectively with stakeholders and third parties to ensure solutions meet business objectives.
• Championing new and emerging technologies that add value and align with our roadmap.
• Mentoring and supporting junior engineers, helping to build a culture of growth, ownership, and continuous improvement.

We’re looking for someone who

• Brings strong commercial experience with Java 17+, Spring Boot, and Kafka.
• Has successfully led complex projects, including coordinating work across multiple engineers.
• Is highly collaborative, organised, and solution‑focused in their approach.
• Has a deep understanding of TDD practices and pipeline optimisation, including left‑shifting.
• Can balance technical priorities with business OKRs through pragmatic decision‑making.
• Is passionate about performance, scalability, and understanding user behaviour.
• Proactively introduces new ideas, technologies, and ways of working to improve team outcomes.
• Is committed to sharing knowledge, fostering team ownership, and contributing to a psychologically safe and inclusive environment.

What we offer

• Cash plan for dental, optical and physio treatments.
• Private Medical Insurance, Pension and Life Insurance, Employee Assistance Plan.
• 27 days holiday plus two (paid) volunteering days a year to give back, and holiday buy schemes.
• Contributory stakeholder pension.
• Life assurance at 4x your basic salary to a spouse, family member or other nominated person in your life.
• Competitive compensation package.
• Paid leave for maternity, paternity, adoption & fertility.
• Travel Loans, Bike to Work scheme, Rental Deposit Loan.
• Charitable contributions through Payroll Giving and donation matching.
• Access deals and discounts on things like travel, electronics, fashion, gym memberships, cinema discounts and more.
• We offer hybrid working with a minimum of 2 days in the office. For our roles, such as Field or Home‑based positions, different working arrangements apply – full details will be shared during the recruitment process.

Equal Opportunity Employer

As an Equal Opportunity Employer, Rightmove will never discriminate based on age, disability, sex, race, religion or belief, gender reassignment, marriage / civil partnership, pregnancy/maternity or sexual orientation. At Rightmove, we believe that a diverse and inclusive workforce leads to better innovation, productivity, and overall success. We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment for all employees, regardless of their background or identity, to develop and promote a diverse culture that reflects the communities we serve.