Senior Platform Engineer Engineering · Manchester ·

About Finova

Finova is the UK's leading lending and savings technology provider, supporting one in every five mortgages nationwide. Our agile, cloud-native solutions enable over 60 banks, building societies, specialist lenders, equity release providers and a network of 2,400+ brokers to stay ahead in a competitive market. Built on open architecture and backed by deep industry expertise, our platform is designed to scale. Each year, we process over £50 billion in loans, manage nearly £50 billion in savings, and support the digital servicing of more than 650,000 UK borrower accounts. Be part of a team that’s driving innovation, enabling growth and shaping the future of UK lending.

About the Role:

As a Senior Platform Engineer based in our Manchester office, you will sit within our core Platform Engineering team as an autonomous technical driver, bridging the gap between ground-level execution and the strategic vision set by our Principal Engineers. In this role, you will take end-to-end ownership of building, scaling, and maintaining our production multi-cloud estate using modular Terraform across AWS, GCP and Azure. Your primary goal is to optimize developer experience by leading improvements across our Buildkite and GitHub Actions pipelines, establishing clear engineering "Golden Paths," and building self-service tools that empower software squads to deploy securely and at pace. Operating within a regulated financial ecosystem processing over £50 billion in loans annually, you will embed automated security scanning and compliance-as-code into delivery pipelines, spearhead cloud cost-optimization and observability initiatives, and provide technical guidance and mentorship to mid-level engineers across the team.

About you:

• GCP Cloud Expertise: Proven track record managing, scaling, and architecting production workloads in GCP (essential), with secondary hands-on experience in Azure and/or AWS (highly desirable).
• Modular Infrastructure as Code (IaC): High proficiency with Terraform, specifically demonstrated experience designing, building, and maintaining complex, modular, and reusable infrastructure at scale.
• CI/CD Pipeline Mastery: Deep hands-on experience with Buildkite and GitHub Actions to automate software delivery, reduce developer friction, increase deployment frequency, and enforce quality gates.
• Security & Regulated Environment Experience: Practical experience implementing security-first engineering—including Identity Access Management (IAM), Secret Management, Encryption, and compliance-as-code—within a regulated Fintech or Financial Services landscape.
• High Degree Of Autonomy: Demonstrated history of taking complex technical requirements and independently turning them into production-ready, highly available solutions with minimal supervision.
• DevEx & Engineering Standards: Track record of defining engineering "Golden Paths," creating internal self-service tooling, writing developer documentation, and conducting code reviews to drive a strong "you build it, you run it" culture.
• Observability & Cost Optimization: Strong background in system resilience, latency reduction, observability implementation, and cloud cost-optimization initiatives (e.g., resource tagging and footprint reduction).

What will you be doing?

• Multi-Cloud Architecture & Scaling: Design, build, and maintain high-availability infrastructure across GCP, Azure, and AWS using modular Terraform, establishing repeatable infrastructure patterns for the entire engineering organization.
• Pipeline Optimization & Automation: Lead strategic enhancements across Buildkite and GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows to eliminate deployment bottlenecks, boost release frequency, and reduce lead times.
• Developer Experience & "Golden Paths": Architect self-service platform tools, reusable infrastructure templates, and clear documentation that establish standard "Golden Paths" and empower engineering squads to manage their services autonomously.
• Security-First Engineering: Drive automated security initiatives by embedding vulnerability scanning, IAM best practices, secret management, and compliance-as-code into every layer of the delivery pipeline within a regulated fintech ecosystem.
• Operational Excellence & Observability: Spearhead platform observability initiatives and cloud cost-optimization projects (such as resource tagging and footprint reduction) to ensure high performance and cost efficiency as transaction volumes grow.
• Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Provide ongoing technical guidance and mentorship to mid-level engineers, lead code reviews, and foster a collaborative environment focused on continuous learning and high engineering standards.
• Bridging Strategy and Execution: Partner closely with Principal Engineers to translate broad architectural vision into production-ready execution, acting as an autonomous technical owner for critical platform projects.

What We Offer:

• Hybrid working: We operate on a hybrid model that is primarily office-based, requiring three days in the office each week, with the flexibility to work remotely for the remainder.
• Private medical insurance: Comprehensive health cover, with the option to add your family to your plan, because your well-being matters to us.
• Life assurance & income protection: We provide life assurance and income protection to give you peace of mind for the future.
• Family friendly policies: Our enhanced family-friendly policy goes beyond maternity and paternity leave, offering paid time off for when plans change or alternative paths to parenthood are needed.
• Work from anywhere: Some thrive in the office, others at home — and many do best with choice. With approval, Finova employees can work abroad for up to 4 weeks each year.
• Flexible holiday package: Enjoy 25 days paid holiday allowance, plus all public holidays. And, you can rebook any public holidays for a day that aligns with your personal beliefs or celebration calendar. We also offer holiday trading allowing you to purchase or sell your holiday allowance.
• Company pension scheme: With salary exchange, you save on tax and can build a secure future.
• Employee assistance programme: We understand that mental health is just as important as physical health. Access to a 24/7 confidential counselling helpline ensures you have support when you need it.
• Electric car scheme: Get a brand-new electric vehicle with salary sacrifice as a benefit, paid for through your gross monthly pay, saving on Income Tax and National Insurance.
• Health cash plan: Our Health Cash Plan empowers you to prioritise your wellbeing by providing effortless reimbursement for everyday healthcare costs, from dental and optical visits to physiotherapy.
• Gym discounts: Achieve your fitness goals for less with GymFlex, which offers significant savings on annual memberships at over 3,000 gyms and leisure centers nationwide.
• Perks that matter: We fuel your day with a fully stocked pantry of fresh fruit and snacks and keep the team spirit high with weekly socials and events.

Equal Opportunity Statement

We value diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. If you’re passionate about this role but don’t meet all the criteria, please reach out, we’d love to discuss how your skills and experiences align with our needs.