Developer - Front End Web

Developer - Front End Web

Full-Time 63000 - 77000 £ / year (est.) No working from home possible
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Build robust data pipelines and develop innovative document analysis engines.
  • Company: Join Alvar Financial Services, a boutique firm driving innovation in investment and trading.
  • Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, flexible work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
  • Other info: Be part of a diverse team that values every voice and fosters creativity.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact by developing cutting-edge tech for financial insights.
  • Qualifications: Experience in Python, SQL, and data processing is essential.

The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.

We are looking for an experienced, highly motivated Python developer with expertise in building robust data pipelines, creating and manipulating DataFrames, and turning defined specifications into reliable, production grade scripts. The role centres on developing and orchestrating the data infrastructure behind a systematic research platform: document analysis engines that extract structured data from financial filings and disclosures, integrated with market and transaction datasets into a point in time research database. This is a genuine opportunity to extend into quantitative research and to help build the foundation for full stack, next gen SaaS service offerings.

Key Responsibilities:

  • Bulletproof script development: build reliable, production grade scripts from defined specifications.
  • Data orchestration and integration: develop and own the orchestration scripts that integrate multiple data feeds (document analysis output, transaction data, market data) into the existing point in time database on a reliable schedule, continuously improving the dataset's quality and coverage.
  • Document analysis engines: develop and improve engines that turn financial filings and disclosures into structured, queryable data, including LLM assisted extraction where appropriate.
  • Testing to production migration: own the path from development to production, testing rigorously in a staging environment before migrating scripts to the production server with proper versioning, rollback capability and zero disruption to live processes.
  • Data hygiene, processing and transformation: apply disciplined data hygiene across sources, including deduplication, entity and identifier mapping, and handling of missing or malformed values, with close attention to point in time integrity (as of date versioning, no look ahead bias, clean handling of revisions).
  • Automation and optimisation: automate data workflows and build in data quality checks so parsing failures, gaps or stale data are caught before they reach research.
  • Documentation and code quality: write well documented, maintainable code with unit tests covering data processing and integration scripts. Clear, thorough documentation of what's built, how it works and how to run it is a core part of the role, so work can be understood, maintained and handed over by others.
  • Foundation development: contribute to backend API development, user authentication and database integration, laying groundwork for a scalable SaaS platform.
  • Any other ad hoc duties that may be required from time to time.

Technical Requirements:

  • Proven experience with Python, especially Pandas and NumPy.
  • Mastery of SQL and PostgreSQL: schema design, complex queries, indexing and performance optimisation, beyond basic querying.
  • Experience with pipeline orchestration and scheduling.
  • Proven ability to deliver reliable, tested scripts against a written specification, and to migrate them cleanly from a test environment to a production server.
  • Strong data hygiene, processing and cleaning skills, including experience with messy real world data (documents, filings, PDFs, HTML, third party APIs).
  • A habit of documenting your own work thoroughly, so others can understand, maintain and build on it.
  • LLM API experience for structured data extraction, and general comfort working with AI tools and prompting.
  • An understanding of point in time data is a strong plus.

Also desirable: experience with vector databases (pgvector, Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant or similar); machine learning experience (PyTorch, TensorFlow, XGBoost/LightGBM) for building, maintaining and extending existing models; Bloomberg API integration to Python; data science/statistics, signal research, backtesting or factor modelling; full stack familiarity (Flask, Django, FastAPI); SaaS build/deploy on cloud (Docker, AWS or similar); an understanding of Java; and experience in quantitative finance or with financial market data.

Qualifications & Experience:

  • Bachelor's or Master's in Computer Science, Data Science, IT, Electrical Engineering or equivalent experience is essential.
  • Experience working in a regulated financial services industry, preferable but not essential.
  • Proactive approach towards identifying opportunities for improvement and taking ownership to deliver solutions.

About Us: Alvar Financial Services is a boutique firm offering a variety of investment and trading services through its business lines - Equity Markets for professional and institutional clients, Research Services and Electronic Global Retail Platform for private clients. Our small community and flat structure empowers our people to grow and create unconstrained ideas within their field of expertise, driving innovation and mastery in their work. We all work together as one to achieve our vision of being a trusted partner to our clients, providing unrivalled insights and a collaborative high touch service.

Commitment To Diversity: At Alvar, we believe that every voice matters. We strive to create a mindful and respectful environment where everyone can bring their authentic self to work, and experience a culture that is free of harassment, racism, and discrimination. That’s why we are committed to diversity and inclusion in the workplace and are a proud equal opportunity employer. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any kind based on race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. This policy applies to all employment practices within our organisation, including, but not limited to, hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff, and leave of absence.

Alvar Financial Services is also committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our job application procedures for individuals with disabilities. Please inform our HR Team via email hr@alvarfinancial.com if you need any assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process.

Developer - Front End Web employer: Alvar Corp

Alvar Financial Services is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work environment where innovation thrives and employees are empowered to grow within a flat organisational structure. With a strong commitment to diversity and inclusion, the company fosters a culture that values every voice, ensuring that all team members can contribute authentically while enjoying opportunities for professional development in the fast-paced financial services sector.

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Contact Details:

Alvar Corp Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Developer - Front End Web

Join Local Tech Meetups

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We think you need these skills to ace Developer - Front End Web

Python
Pandas
NumPy
SQL
PostgreSQL
Pipeline Orchestration
Data Hygiene

Some tips for your application 🫡

Show off your coding skills:When applying for a software engineering role, it's super important to showcase your coding skills. Make sure your CV includes your tech stack, any relevant programming languages you’re comfortable with, and examples of projects you've worked on. If you have a GitHub profile, link it up! We love to see code in action.

Tailor your portfolio:For a full-time role, we’d expect to see some solid examples of your work in your portfolio. Make sure to include at least two or three projects that highlight your problem-solving skills and your ability to work with different technologies. Focus on the projects that are most relevant to the position at Alvar Corp.

Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Alvar Corp and how your skills align with the role. Show us your passion for software development. We dig enthusiastic candidates who understand the value of collaboration and continuous learning!

Be clear and concise:When it comes to writing your CV and cover letter, clarity is key. Avoid jargon that could confuse us and stick to simple, direct language. Highlight your achievements with quantifiable results where possible, and keep everything easy to read. A well-organised application goes a long way!

How to prepare for a job interview at Alvar Corp

Brush Up on Your Coding Skills

For a full-time software engineering role, it's crucial that we stay sharp with our coding abilities. Expect technical questions that might involve solving problems on the spot or discussing algorithms. Practise on platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to get comfortable with the types of questions that often come up.

Know Your Tools and Frameworks

Make sure we’re well-acquainted with the tools and technologies listed in the job description. Familiarise ourselves with any specific frameworks or programming languages mentioned. If Alvar Corp uses React or Node.js, for instance, be ready to discuss how we’ve used them in previous projects or coursework.

Showcase Your Projects

Bring along a portfolio that highlights our best work. This could be code samples, GitHub repositories, or any side projects we’ve built. Make sure we can talk through our thought process for each project, especially the challenges we faced and how we solved them—this shows our problem-solving skills in action.

Prepare for Behavioural Questions

While technical skills are key, full-time positions also require cultural fit. Be ready to discuss our previous experiences and how we handle teamwork, conflict, and deadlines. Brush up on the STAR method—Situation, Task, Action, Result—to clearly articulate our past experiences when discussing how we've contributed to a team.