At Starling, we’ve spent the last decade proving that banking can be fair, transparent, and driven by world-class technology. After becoming the first digital bank in the UK to turn a profit and consistently winning "Britain’s Best Current Account," we realised that the technology we built—the very "engine" of Starling—was a solution that banks around the world were crying out for.
This led to the creation of Engine by Starling. Engine is our global SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) business that takes our cloud-native, proprietary technology and offers it to other financial institutions worldwide. It allows them to modernise legacy systems, launch new digital products in record time, and provide their customers with the same seamless experience Starling users love. For our Engineering team, this means the work has a global footprint. You’re not just maintaining a banking app, you’re building a modular, scalable blueprint for the future of international finance.
Our engineering culture is built on the idea that great developers do more than just write code. Whether you’re working in Backend (Java), Web (JS/TS), or Platform Infrastructure, you are given the autonomy to shape solutions from end to end.
Career Map
We believe in a human-centric approach to growth, which is why we’ve built a transparent Career Map with five distinct levels:
- Engineer I - An engineer who is able to deliver well-defined tasks within a technology team, supported by their team. Engineers at this level are still honing their skills, asking lots of questions, and building their foundational engineering knowledge.
- Engineer II - A productive engineer working within a team. May be responsible for an individual project or feature.
- Senior Engineer - An experienced individual contributor. Engineers at this level will lead projects and functional areas/domains within the platform.
- Staff Engineer - A very experienced individual contributor and technical leader. Engineers at this level are capable of running multiple complex projects from inception through to run.
- Principal Engineer - A highly experienced engineer, capable of leading large complex projects at a company level and actively contributing to foundational-level code.
We define these levels using four key pillars:
- Scope -the scale of problems you solve
- Impact - how your work affects the business
- Behavior - communication and "doing the right thing"
- Expertise - your technical knowledge
Importantly, we offer dual tracks for both Individual Contributors and Managers, ensuring you don’t have to move away from the code to progress your career.
Interview Process
We know that applying for a new role is a big decision, so we’ve designed an interview process that is as transparent as our banking.
- Application Review - We’ll take a close look at your skills and experience to see how they align with what we’re looking for.
- Recruiter Call - A call with the Talent team to introduce the role, Engine, and get a basic understanding of you and your background.
- First Interview - An interview with one of our engineers to get to know you, discuss the role, your skills, and how we work at Engine.
- Tech Challenge - A task for you to do at home in your own time, then share with us for review.
- Tech Interview - An interview with two of our engineers to learn more about your technical skills, do some systems design thinking, and discuss the tech challenge.
- Final interview - A chat with either the CTO, Deputy CTO or Engineering Director, along with a senior member of the team to ask any final questions and answer anything else you might want to know about Engine or the role.
- Offer - We’ll extend a verbal and written offer to you, and hopefully you’ll agree to join us!
We value aptitude and potential over a perfect CV, and we’re looking for people who want to be at the intersection of high-growth fintech and global SaaS, all while enjoying a culture that prioritises sustainability and genuine technical excellence.
