Infrastructure Engineer

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, and is the technology that was built to power Starling Bank. Engine split out as a separate business in early 2024.

Starling Bank 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 has helped achieve Starling's success.

We draw upon our experience as knowledgeable bankers, and best in class technologists to become the chosen option for these banks, and preferred partners for leading consultancies.

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 someone who will be excited by the potential for Engine’s technology to transform banking in different markets around the world.

Hybrid Working

We have a Hybrid approach to working here at Engine - our preference is that you're located within a commutable distance of one of our offices so that we're able to interact and collaborate in person. We don't like to mandate how much you visit the office and work from home, that's to be agreed upon between you and your manager, but as a guide we would like to see you in at least once or twice per week..

About Engineering at Engine by Starling

Platform engineering is something we are passionate about, we pride ourselves on delivering software in a reliable, scalable and maintainable manner. Our platform is expanding and with that brings new challenges to how we deliver software. All engineers are responsible for owning features from inception, through deployment, to running in production. Using a first principles approach, we aim to break down problems and implement solutions across every stage of that lifecycle.

As an Engineer at Engine, you’ll be working on helping to build, scale and deploy our first in class cloud native banking platform to multiple cloud providers and regions globally. You will be encouraged to get involved in all areas of our platform. We value a multi-discipline approach to engineering and a culture that supports that. Some of the disciplines you will be exposed to include:

• Toolchain Development
• Build and Deployment Systems
• Observability and Reliability
• Runtime Orchestration; Control and Data Planes
• Global Multi-Cloud Architectures
• SaaS API Management and Security
• Core Java Platform

We do not expect you to have any experience in all of the above - we’re looking for curious individuals who like to work across multiple disciplines and see this as an opportunity to grow and learn about other areas.

Engine by 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 Blog or our case studies with Women in Tech.

Requirements

Ideally, you will be an inquisitive Infrastructure Engineer, with an aptitude for finding clean and simple solutions to technical problems. You will be passionate about building observable and reliable systems that impact the wider engineering organisation. The ideal candidate will have:

• Experience with AWS services including EKS, VPC, RDS, EC2, S3, Load Balancing and IAM
• Experience of service oriented architecture with containers, distributed systems and immutable infrastructure
• Experience with Infrastructure as Code and infrastructure provisioning tools, particularly terraform
• Experience with observability software
• Experience with automation using a scripting language such as Golang or Python
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines
• Understanding concepts of RESTful APIs and web technologies such as API gateways
• Excellent communication and problem-solving skills

You will

• Design, document, build and maintain secure, reliable & scalable infrastructure on AWS
• Work with stakeholders to design hybrid-cloud systems - we use AWS and also co-locate Payment HSMs in physical data centres around the world
• Ensure the performance and reliability of cloud environments whilst measuring cost-effectiveness
• Embrace automation and be reluctant for manual implementation
• Implement security best practices
• Ensure platform compliance with ISO27001, SOC2 and PCI-DSS
• Address infrastructure related remarks and issues raised by clients
• Share knowledge with colleagues by writing technical documentation and leading training sessions
• Take on a variety of projects and tasks covering multiple areas of engineering
• Demonstrate knowledge of new technologies and changes in the industry

Ideally you have

• Understanding of database monitoring, analysis, disaster recovery and performance tuning
• Knowledge of security and compliance frameworks like ISO270001, SOC2 and PCI-DSS
• Understanding of networking and routing concepts (TCP/IP, VLANs, VPNs, BGP, etc) and preferably experience designing and establishing connectivity between AWS and on-premise locations
• The ability to collaborate effectively in a cross-functional team
• Interest in learning new technologies

Our Interview process

Interviewing is a two way process and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you! Our interviews are conversational and we want to get the best from you, so come with questions and be curious. In general you can expect the below, following a chat with one of our Talent Team:

• 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 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
• 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

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.

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 Bank 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 information, its purposes for processing your personal information, and the rights you can exercise over our use of your personal information.