Senior Software Engineer (Ember)

Job Description

Starling is the UK’s first and leading digital bank on a mission to fix banking! We built a new kind of bank because we knew technology had the power to help people save, spend and manage their money in a new and transformative way.

We’re a fully licensed UK bank with the culture and spirit of a fast-moving, disruptive tech company. We’re a bank, but better: fairer, easier to use and designed to demystify money for everyone. We employ more than 3,000 people across our London, Southampton, Cardiff and Manchester offices.

Our technologists are at the very heart of Starling and enjoy working in a fast-paced environment that is all about building things, creating new stuff, and disruptive technology that keeps us on the cutting edge of fintech. We operate a flat structure to empower you to make decisions regardless of what your primary responsibilities may be, innovation and collaboration will be at the core of everything you do. Help is never far away in our open culture, you will find support in your team and from across the business, we are in this together!

The way to thrive and shine within Starling is to be a self-driven individual and be able to take full ownership of everything around you: From building things, designing, discovering, to sharing knowledge with your colleagues and making sure all processes are efficient and productive to deliver the best possible results for our customers. Our purpose is underpinned by five Starling values: Listen, Keep It Simple, Do The Right Thing, Own It, and Aim For Greatness.

We recently welcomed Ember into the Starling family - an app for business owners that removes the burden of accounting and tax by taking care of it for them. Over the next 12 months, we’re integrating Ember’s best-in-class tools into the Starling ecosystem to provide a seamless, all-in-one financial solution from the first bank transaction through to the final tax submission. You can learn more about how we're helping our customers navigate Making Tax Digital and how your work on the Ember team will directly support this mission.

We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to join the Ember team and help us build the robust backend systems and APIs that power these product experiences, while also contributing to fullstack development when needed. This is a hands-on role for someone who enjoys writing high-quality code and contributing to reliable, well-observed systems in production.

Our Engineering Environment

Starling engineers are excited about helping us deliver new features, regardless of what their primary tech stack may be. Hear from the team in our latest blogs or our case studies with Women in Tech.

We value people being engaged and caring about customers, caring about the code they write and the contribution they make to Starling. People with a broad ability to apply themselves to a multitude of problems and challenges, who can work across teams do great things here at Starling, to continue changing banking for good.

Requirements

• Strong experience building backend systems and APIs in production environments.
• Experience writing software in TypeScript, Java.
• Proficiency with GCP and Terraform.
• A track record of owning work from initial design through to production support.
• Experience working cross-functionally with engineers, product owners, and designers to deliver valuable outcomes.
• Experience in regulated/security-sensitive environments or building financial/accounting systems is a plus.
• Frontend experience (React, TypeScript) is a plus. We're backend-focused but appreciate engineers who can work across the entire stack.

What You’ll Do

You’ll join one of our engineering squads, working closely with product managers and designers to solve real customer problems. As a Senior Software Engineer, you will:

• Own the design, implementation, and maintenance of backend services and product functionality.
• Contribute to the design of scalable, reliable systems with a strong focus on simplicity and maintainability.
• Build and improve services running in GCP, using Terraform to support infrastructure changes.
• Improve observability across our systems, including monitoring, alerting, and logging.
• Support high engineering standards through code review, technical discussion, and mentoring other engineers.

Our Tech Stack

We’re open-minded when it comes to hiring. We care more about aptitude and attitude than specific qualifications. However, the Ember team primarily works with:

• Back End: Node.js, TypeScript, Java, PostgreSQL.
• Infrastructure: GCP, Terraform, Kubernetes, GitHub, CircleCI.
• Front End: React, Next.js, TypeScript.
• Testing: Jest, Playwright.

Our Process

Interviewing is a two-way process; we want you to get to know us as much as we get to know you. You can generally expect:

• Initial Chat: A short introductory call with a member of our Talent Team to discuss your background, what you’re looking for in your next role, and all things Starling.
• Engineering Manager Chat: A more in-depth conversation with an Engineering Manager to dive into your technical experience, your approach to problem-solving, and how you’ll fit into the Ember squad.
• Technical Assessment: A take-home coding exercise that you'll complete in your own time.
• Technical interview: We'll review your solution together in a collaborative code review format followed by an interactive system design discussion.
• Final Interview: A conversation with our leadership team to talk about the bigger picture, our mission, and how you’ll help us reshape the world of business accounting.

Benefits

• 25 days holiday (plus take your public holiday allowance whenever 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 4x your salary & group income protection
• Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner benefits include discounts with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peloton
• Generous family-friendly policies
• 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

About us

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. Whatever came before, we’re proud to bring together people of all backgrounds and experiences who love working together to solve problems.

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 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 Starling may collect your personal data for recruiting and related purposes. Our Privacy Notice explains what personal information we may process, where we may process your personal information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.