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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Join our founding team as a backend engineer, shaping our platform and tackling financial crime.
- Company: Diligent is revolutionising fraud detection for fintechs and banks using AI-driven insights.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, equity options, and the chance to work in a dynamic startup environment.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in fighting fraud while collaborating with top industry leaders and innovative thinkers.
- Qualifications: We seek curious, driven individuals ready to take ownership and solve complex problems.
- Other info: Experience an engaging interview process with meet-and-greets and a focus on collaboration.
The predicted salary is between 68000 - 88000 ÂŁ per year.
About us
At Diligent, we are on a mission to help fintechs and banks catch fraudulent businesses. We build LLM agents to automate risk investigations during business onboarding and monitoring. For example, we can help investigate the online presence of businesses to detect high-risk activities, identify reputation-compromising signals, comb through news articles to extract new risk insights etc. By turning scattered and unstructured data points into structured, actionable insights, we enable risk teams to make better and faster decisions.
Our founders have built fraud and credit risk models protecting billions in transactions at Europe’s top fintechs, and we’re taking that experience to revolutionize how financial institutions verify the legitimacy of businesses. We already work with leading fintech unicorns and banks, are growing fast and we’re looking for ambitious problem-solvers who are excited about using AI to tackle financial crime at a global scale. If you’re passionate about making a real impact in the fight against fraud, we’d love to have you on our team!
The role
You are part of the founding team. You’ll play a crucial role in shaping the future of our company - from hands-on engineering and product work, to high-level strategic decisions. As a Software Engineer at Diligent AI, you’ll be responsible for the development and scaling of our core platform, working closely with enterprise customers, as well as building new zero-to-one initiatives.
What we expect
- Within days: Translate novel LLM capabilities into understandable, intuitive and performant end-user experiences. Release your first code, we believe in the “You Build It, You Run It” principle. Work directly with customers to solve their problems. We need someone who has high empathy and is excited by working side-by-side with financial crime teams to solve critical problems. Build integration and product infrastructure for LLMs. Give Diligent AI agents the infrastructure, data sources and tools they need to automate workflows for financial compliance teams.
- Within weeks: Evolve schemas and bring structure to non-deterministic outputs. Lead customer calls and own customer outcomes. Work directly with the CEO, CTO, and other founding members and mature our engineering practice.
- Within months: Tackle technical and non-technical scaling problems that come with high growth. Hire, onboard, and nurture future teammates.
Our tech stack: NodeJS, Python, Typescript, React, AWS Serverless
About you
- Extremely Curious: We think curious people run the world. We love those who have an insatiable hunger for more knowledge about the customer problems, domain knowledge, technical innovations or new ways to approaches to challenges.
- Hungry and driven: We are an early stage startup; this is hard and intense work that requires you to be ready to move fast, take bets and find solutions to problems that haven’t really been solved before. It will be tough but extremely rewarding.
- A true owner: We don’t expect you to be just an employee, you will be part of the founding team. A strong sense of ownership and autonomy is essential - you’ll take full responsibility for your projects from start to finish and you’ll be expected to deal with ambiguity getting things done without overcomplicating solutions.
- Humble: You listen actively, embrace feedback and foster a collaborative environment where ideas are shared openly. You are confident in your expertise while recognizing the value of learning from others and adapting to change.
Budget: Base salary ÂŁ80k-ÂŁ110k
Equity: 0.5-2.0%
The interview process
- Initial application (<2>
- CTO meet-and-greet (30 mins): Introductory call with Ahmed – get to know each other a little
- Technical interview (60-90 mins): Deepdive interview with Ahmed focusing on problem solving, coding proficiency, systems design and architecture.
- CEO meet-and-greet (30 mins): Introductory call with Edo – get to know each other
- References and offer: Ideally over dinner!
Founding backend engineer employer: Diligent (YC W24)
Contact Detail:
Diligent (YC W24) Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Founding backend engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Familiarise yourself with the latest trends in AI and LLM technologies. Understanding how these tools can be applied to financial crime detection will not only impress the interviewers but also show your genuine interest in the role.
✨Tip Number 2
Prepare to discuss your previous experiences where you've demonstrated ownership and problem-solving skills. Since this is a founding role, showcasing your ability to take initiative and drive projects from start to finish will be crucial.
✨Tip Number 3
Engage with the fintech community online. Join forums or social media groups related to financial technology and fraud prevention. This will help you gain insights into current challenges and solutions, which you can bring up during your interviews.
✨Tip Number 4
Be ready to demonstrate your technical skills in real-time. The interview process includes a technical deep dive, so practice coding problems and system design scenarios that are relevant to the tech stack mentioned in the job description.
We think you need these skills to ace Founding backend engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Understand the Company Mission: Before applying, take some time to understand Diligent's mission and how they aim to combat financial crime using AI. This will help you tailor your application to reflect your alignment with their goals.
Highlight Relevant Experience: In your CV and cover letter, emphasise any experience you have with backend engineering, particularly in fintech or related fields. Mention specific projects where you've used NodeJS, Python, or AWS, as these are part of their tech stack.
Showcase Problem-Solving Skills: Diligent is looking for ambitious problem-solvers. Use your application to provide examples of how you've tackled complex challenges in previous roles, especially those that required innovative thinking or collaboration with clients.
Express Your Curiosity and Drive: Make sure to convey your curiosity and eagerness to learn in your application. Diligent values candidates who are hungry for knowledge and ready to take on the challenges of a fast-paced startup environment.
How to prepare for a job interview at Diligent (YC W24)
✨Show Your Curiosity
Diligent values curiosity, so be prepared to discuss how you've approached learning in your previous roles. Share examples of how you've tackled complex problems and sought out new knowledge, especially in the fintech or AI space.
✨Demonstrate Ownership
As a founding backend engineer, you'll need to show that you can take full responsibility for your projects. Prepare to discuss past experiences where you've led initiatives from start to finish, highlighting your ability to navigate ambiguity and deliver results.
✨Prepare for Technical Challenges
Expect a deep dive into your technical skills during the interview. Brush up on coding proficiency, systems design, and architecture. Be ready to solve problems on the spot and explain your thought process clearly.
✨Engage with Empathy
Since you'll be working closely with financial crime teams, demonstrate your ability to empathise with customers. Share instances where you've successfully collaborated with clients to understand their needs and deliver effective solutions.
