Staff Software Engineer - Engine by Starling

Starling Bank; City of Westminster; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading banking technology firm in Westminster is seeking a skilled Software Engineer to drive innovation in banking technology. You will work with a cloud-native architecture using Java and mentor your team while delivering technical solutions for complex projects. This role offers a collaborative environment where you can contribute to both backend development and team growth. If you are passionate about delivering high standards of coding and want to reshape the banking industry, we would love to hear from you.

Benefits

33 days holiday including public holidays

Annual leave increases with service

Private Medical Insurance

Pension scheme

Wellness platforms and discounts

Qualifications

• Strong proficiency in Java with clean coding practices.
• Experience in cloud environments like AWS or GCP.
• Ability to lead complex projects and mentor team members.

Responsibilities

• Delivering changes to critical systems in a distributed environment.
• Leading technical delivery on large-scale projects.
• Collaborating with clients and cross-functional teams.

Skills

Java

DevOps practices

Microservice architecture

TeamCity for CI/CD

Terraform

Tools

AWS

GCP

Kubernetes

Grafana

Job description

Overview

At Engine by Starling, we are on a mission to find and work with leading banks all around the world who have the ambition to build rapid growth businesses, on our technology. Engine is Starling's software‑as‑a‑service (SaaS) business, the technology that was built to power Starling, and two years ago we split out as a separate business. Starling has seen exceptional growth and success, and a large part of that is down to the fact that we have built our own modern technology from the ground up. This SaaS technology platform is now available to banks and financial institutions all around the world, enabling them to benefit from the innovative digital features, and efficient back office processes that have helped achieve Starling's success. As a company, everyone is expected to roll up their sleeves to help deliver great outcomes for our clients. We are an engineering‑led company and we're looking for people who are excited by the potential for Engine's technology to transform banking in different markets around the world. Our purpose is underpinned by five values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness.

Responsibilities

• Delivering change to critical systems in a distributed environment
• Be a highly proficient developer, maintaining a high standard for technical and coding excellence in the collective, through your own work
• Good understanding of DevOps practices
• Delivering complex outcomes across multiple domains and teams
• Working cross functionally with technologists from other specialties, and non‑technical stakeholders across the business
• Coaching and mentoring members of a team to upskill and develop them in their career
• Leading the technical delivery on large‑scale projects to successful completion

Tech Stack

• Java, which makes up the majority of our backend codebase
• AWS & GCP – we're cloud native
• Microservice based architecture
• Kubernetes (EKS)
• TeamCity for CI / CD (with multiple production releases per day)
• Terraform and Grafana

Day in the Life

Day in the Life of a Software Engineer

Running a Backend Team

Running a Backend Team

Staff Engineer Path

• Have the opportunity to lead multiple complex projects from inception through to run
• Be a Technical Leader, whether that be with a team to manage or without
• Take ownership of technical challenges critical to the success of the business
• Identify where existing tooling, applications, or processes can be enhanced and deliver innovative change
• Collaborate with clients, solution architects, product owners, and other engineers to help meet the client goals
• Obtain a wide and understanding of how banks operate around the world
• Shape the future capabilities of Engine, including our approach, tooling, automation and architecture.
• Lead by example in your contributions to the codebase, setting a high bar for others to aim for

Engineering at Engine

As an Engineer you will:

• Contribute to our award‑winning platform and internal tooling
• Build new features and products from scratch in a configurable way
• Share your knowledge with those around you, contributing to our learning culture
• Own your projects, working in small teams across the bank to collaboratively deliver
• Aim for greatness in everything you do, staying curious and inquisitive
• Be part of a scaling team and organisation as we change banking for good

Hiring Philosophy

We're open‑minded when it comes to hiring and we care more about aptitude and attitude than specific experience or qualifications. We are very open about how we deliver software. For the most part we code in Java, but you need not be an expert when you join us! We believe in clean coding, simple solutions, automated testing and continuous deployment. If you care enough to find elegant solutions to difficult technical problems, we'd love to hear from you. We have built our entire banking platform in house and mostly in Java. We are looking for people who want to work on building the tooling that is used by our engineers on a daily basis. You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can't accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren't sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway. We're on a mission to radically reshape banking – and that starts with our brilliant team.

Interview Process

• Initial interview with an engineer – 45 minutes
• Take‑home technical test to be discussed in the next interview
• Technical interview with some engineers – 1.5 hours
• Final interview with our CTO / deputy CTO – 45 minutes

Benefits

• 33 days holiday (including public holidays, which you can take when it works best for you)
• An extra day's holiday for your birthday
• Annual leave is increased with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off
• 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
• Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme
• Life insurance at 4× your salary & group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, MrMrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family friendly policies
• Incentives refer a friend scheme
• Perkbox membership giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
• Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing

Equal Opportunity & Data Privacy

Engine by Starling is an equal opportunity employer, and we're proud of our ongoing efforts to foster diversity & inclusion in the workplace. Individuals seeking employment at Engine by Starling are considered without regard to race, religion, national origin, age, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, medical condition, ancestry, physical or mental disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. When you provide us with this information, you are doing so at your own consent, with full knowledge that we will process this personal data in accordance with our Privacy Notice. By submitting your application, you agree that Engine by Starling and Starling will collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we will process, where we will process your personal data, its purposes for processing your personal data, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal data.