At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build robust backend systems for real-time operational intelligence.
- Company: Join Augur, a privacy-first tech company transforming sensor systems.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, flexible work options, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Diverse and inclusive workplace committed to empowering exceptional talent.
- Why this job: Be part of a small team shaping engineering culture in a rapidly scaling organisation.
- Qualifications: Experience with Rust, Python, and a passion for continuous learning.
The predicted salary is between 50000 - 60000 £ per year.
About Augur
Augur transforms legacy sensor systems into real-time operational intelligence. We help organisations act before threats escalate – not after damage is done. Everything we build is privacy-first by design. Our platform connects to existing cameras and sensors to detect threats, retrace events, and surface real-time insights – all without replacing a single device. Augur helps teams reduce risk, cut costs, and grow revenue through better visibility, faster decisions, and fewer blind spots.
Our culture is built on a foundation of radical candor and mutual trust. We recognise that being an industry leader requires more than just building exceptional products – it requires empowering a team of exceptional people. Individually, we operate with high autonomy; collectively, we’re unified by a shared drive to achieve our mission through a commitment to excellence.
The Role
We’re looking for an early stage engineer who pairs strong software skills with an ambitious, exploratory mindset aligned towards continuous learning and growing their impact. This is an exciting opportunity to join the Augur Engineering team at a pivotal moment — we’re a small team within a rapidly scaling organisation, so we each play a role in shaping Augur’s engineering culture, practices, and foundations as we grow.
We are looking for a Backend Engineer who can design and build the distributed systems, storage infrastructure, and platform primitives that underpin Augur's sensor integration product. You'll work across the full backend surface: from stream processing and storage, to API design, data pipelines, and service architecture, in a Rust stack with Python at the platform API boundaries.
You'll be responsible for building robust, well-abstracted systems that scale with the demands of a growing integration and customer base, with ambitions of petabyte-scale data storage. You'll own meaningful architectural decisions and be expected to reason clearly through unfamiliar problem domains under real constraints.
Core Skills
- Core technologies: Rust, with Python at some API boundaries. Kafka, PostgreSQL/TimescaleDB/PostGIS, gRPC/protobuf, and Kubernetes. Candidates are not expected to have experience with all of these, but adjacent understanding is crucial.
- Systems thinking: Comfortable designing and operating production systems under real constraints— zero-downtime migrations, complex tradeoff analysis, and the kind of pragmatic decision-making that keeps services reliable as requirements shift.
- Software craft: Writes clean, well-structured code with good use of abstractions, namespaces, and interfaces. Opinionated about code review processes and culture.
- Reasoning under uncertainty: Can pick up unfamiliar systems and make sound architectural decisions without a complete picture.
- AI-assisted development: Fluent with LLM-assisted workflows and confident both steering AI tooling toward high-quality output and knowing which problems are better solved by humans.
- Collaboration: Experience or appetite for cross-team communication; comfortable seeking out context independently and building features with limited top-down instruction.
Desirable
- Prior experience with large-scale data infrastructure, i.e. distributed storage, sharded databases, high-throughput pipelines. Bonus if you've built your own or have experience with the primitives for building your own, e.g. sharding libraries, consistent hashing, data-parallel dataflow computation, etc.
Accessibility and inclusivity
At Augur, our culture is built on radical candor and mutual trust. To solve the complex, physical-world problems our customers face, we need a team that thinks differently. Whether you’re self-taught, have a non-traditional background, or are returning to the workforce, if you have the grit and the experience we’re looking for at Augur, we’d love to hear from you. We are committed to fostering a diverse workplace and ensuring an accessible hiring experience - please let us know if you require any accommodations during the interview process to help you do your best work.
Backend Engineer in London employer: Augur Initiative
At Augur, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a culture of radical candor and mutual trust. As a Backend Engineer, you'll have the opportunity to work in a dynamic environment where your contributions directly shape our engineering practices and culture. With a strong emphasis on employee growth, autonomy, and inclusivity, Augur offers a unique chance to be part of a rapidly scaling organisation that values innovation and collaboration, all while making a meaningful impact in real-time operational intelligence.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Backend Engineer in London
✨Join Local Tech Meetups
Get out there and mingle with fellow developers by joining local tech meetups. It’s a fantastic way to meet people who might be working at Augur Initiative or know someone who does. Plus, you can pick up some trendy tech skills and trends while you're at it!
✨Contribute to Open Source Projects
Show off your coding chops by jumping into open-source projects. Not only does this give you practical experience, but it also gets you noticed in the dev community. You'll create a killer portfolio that speaks volumes about your skills to Augur Initiative.
✨Tap into Online Developer Communities
Don’t underestimate the power of online developer communities like GitHub, Stack Overflow, and even Reddit. Participate in discussions, share your projects, and build your visibility. We can often find opportunities through these channels that can lead to a full-time gig at companies like Augur Initiative.
✨Explore Job Boards Specifically for Tech Roles
Keep your eyes peeled on job boards that focus on tech roles. Sites like TechCareers or Stack Overflow Jobs can often have listings for companies like Augur Initiative that might not show up on broader job sites. Make it a habit to check these regularly, and don’t hesitate to apply directly through our website!
We think you need these skills to ace Backend Engineer in London
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 Augur Initiative.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Augur Initiative 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 Augur Initiative
✨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 Augur Initiative 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.
