Software Engineer

Formula.; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Hybrid work

Ownership of architecture

Leadership pathway

AI tooling sessions

Job summary

Formula. in London is building a consumer platform and seeks a Software Engineer to shape architecture, own components of the system, and contribute to product decisions within a small founding team. This backend-weighted role emphasizes fast, low-latency systems with React frontends and JVM services.

You will have autonomy and a clear path to technical leadership as the team grows. Hybrid setup with around one day per week in a central London workspace; real equity is included, aligning your

Qualifications

• Strong JVM experience, ideally Java.
• Mid-level engineer who seeks ownership and can lead.
• Track record in performance-sensitive or low-latency work.
• Solid DevOps, IaC and deployment pipeline understanding.
• Able to lead in an early, ambiguous startup and iterate.

Responsibilities

• Build systems that hold up under load, fast and stable.
• Write and maintain backend services on the JVM, mainly in Java.
• Create clean, responsive frontends with React.
• Deliver live, continuously updating user experiences.
• Take ownership over infrastructure and production deployment.
• Influence architecture and product direction.
• Leverage AI tooling throughout design, coding and shipping.

Skills

JVM

Java

React

DevOps

Performance-sensitive

Leadership

Job description

Hybrid | London (remote considered for the right person)

We're working with a well-funded early-stage startup building a consumer platform in a fast-moving, regulated market. Funding is in place, the product is coming together, and they're ready to bring in their first engineering hires.

As a Software Engineer, you'll take on real problems immediately, helping set the architecture, feeding into product calls, and choosing how things get built rather than picking up decisions already made. It's a backend-weighted Software Engineer role centered on systems that have to stay fast and dependable when traffic spikes, so responsiveness and stability are the interesting parts of the job. You'll sit in a small founding group with real autonomy and a clear route into technical leadership as headcount grows.

Responsibilities as a Software Engineer:

• Build systems that need to hold up under load, where keeping things quick and stable is the genuine challenge
• Write and maintain backend services on the JVM, mainly in Java
• Create clean, responsive interfaces on the front end using React
• Deliver live, continuously updating experiences for users
• Take a share of ownership over infrastructure and the route to production
• Influence the wider architecture and weigh in on product direction
• Make heavy use of AI tooling across how you design, write and ship code

Requirements:

• Strong commercial time on the JVM stack, ideally in Java
• A mid-level engineer who wants ownership and doesn't need close management
• Track record with performance-sensitive or low-latency work
• Sound on DevOps, infrastructure-as-code and deployment pipelines
• At home in an early, ambiguous startup where you take the lead and iterate

The Package:

• Starting salary between £60,000 - £80,000
• Real equity, so you benefit from what you help create
• First-engineer ownership across architecture, tooling and direction
• Hybrid setup, around a day a week in a central London workspace, with real give
• A clear path into leadership as the team builds out
• A genuine investment in AI tooling, with regular internal AI sessions

This is a rare chance to be the first Software Engineer somewhere the early technical calls still shape everything, with a real challenge attached and equity that actually counts.

*Due to the high volume of applications, not all applicants will receive individual feedback*