Principal Back End Engineer - Core Systems

Hybrid in London or Remote within the UK

The company

Fast, flexible finance empowers small businesses to manage their cash flow better and seize opportunities - making their business and the economy stronger as a whole. At iwoca, we do just that. We help businesses get the funds they need, when they need it, often within minutes. We’ve already made several billion in funding available to over 100,000 businesses since we launched in 2012, and positioned ourselves as a leading Fintech in Europe. 

Our mission is to finance one million businesses. We’ll get there by continuing to make our finance ever more relevant and accessible to more businesses by combining cutting-edge technology, data science and a 5-star customer service.

The team

You’ll join the Core Systems team, who are responsible for driving innovation across the business by optimising development, building data systems, and continuously improving iwoca products. We follow Agile-inspired processes, using continuous integration and delivery, so that features go live in days or weeks, not months or years. 

The role

As the Principal Back-End Engineer, you'll shape our tech strategy, inspire the adoption of new technologies, and ensure technical initiatives align with company goals. This role combines vision and leadership with hands-on coding to push the organisation towards smarter and more efficient ways of working.

The projects

You’ll identify and lead a range of strategic technology projects, driving improvements across our systems, platforms, and infrastructure to support innovation, efficiency, and growth, such as:

• Enhance our modelling platform: Lead the evolution of our modelling platform to make it simpler for teams to define, discover, and manage model features. You will improve data transformation and visualisation capabilities to enable more intuitive use of data.

• Optimise our data warehouse: Improve our data warehouse, and make it a more effective resource for the business, ensuring teams can access data easily.

• Improve our Python codebases: Lead initiatives such as adding static typing to our Python codebase, increasing its reliability, security, and maintainability.

• Accelerate our deployment speed: Work with the back-end team to increase the deployment speed of our Django monolith. This may involve breaking the monolith into microservices or implementing other innovative approaches to improve efficiency.

• Upgrade our systems: Proactively identify weaknesses in our infrastructure and systems. You will lead efforts to strengthen and optimise our technology stack, ensuring it is scalable, secure, and future-proof.

• Research emerging technology: Stay ahead of the curve by researching emerging trends and tools. You will recommend and lead the adoption of new technologies that provide a competitive edge and improve operations across the business.

The requirements

Essential (at least one):

• Expertise with a variety of back end technologies. We primarily work with Python, SQL, Bash, and Rust, but we value your breadth of problem-solving abilities with various languages such as Go (Golang), Elixir, C++, Java, or similar.

• Experience designing, building, and managing data systems, preferably with Kubernetes, Postgres, Kafka, and Snowflake.

• A track record of leading large-scale technical transformation projects, such as migrating from monolith to microservices (or vice versa) or modernising system architecture.

Bonus:

• A strong numerical or technical background, ideally with a degree in maths, physics, computer science, engineering, or a related field.

• Active participation in tech or open-source communities, with a passion for sharing knowledge and inspiring others.

• An open mind and the flexibility to approach challenges from different perspectives.

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to translate complex business needs into effective technical solutions.

The salary

We expect to pay from £100,000 - £140,000 for this role. But, we’re open-minded, so definitely include your salary goals with your application. We routinely benchmark salaries against market rates, and run quarterly performance and salary reviews. 

The culture

At iwoca, we prioritise a culture of learning, growth, and support, and invest in the professional development of our team members. We value thought and skill diversity, and encourage you to explore new areas of interest to help us innovate and improve our products and services.

The offices

We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a brilliant place to work:

• Offices in London, Leeds, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks

• Events and clubs, like bingo, comedy nights, yoga classes, football, etc.

The benefits

• Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership 

• A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents.

• 25 days’ holiday, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave 

• A one-month, fully paid sabbatical after four years.

• Instant access to emotional and mental health support.

• 3% Pension contributions and share options.

• Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money.

• Cycle-to-work scheme and electric car scheme.

• Two company retreats a year, we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield.

And to make sure we all keep learning, we offer:

• A learning and development budget for everyone.

• Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers.

• Access to learning platforms like Treehouse.

Useful links:

• iwoca benefits & policies

• Interview welcome pack