At a Glance
- Tasks: Join the Partner Flow team to develop and optimise iwoca's Lending API for small businesses.
- Company: iwoca, a dynamic fintech company dedicated to supporting SMEs with innovative finance solutions.
- Benefits: Flexible hours, competitive salary, health insurance, and generous holiday leave.
- Other info: Collaborative culture with opportunities for personal growth and AI-assisted development.
- Why this job: Make a real impact by helping thousands of businesses access vital funding through technology.
- Qualifications: Experience in back-end development, particularly with Python and APIs.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 85000 £ per year.
We’re looking for a Back End Engineer to join the Partner Flow team. This role is a chance to shape how thousands of small businesses find their way to iwoca. You'll join the team that owns iwoca's partner integrations — the Lending API and embedded flows that let third‑party platforms, from major banks to fintechs, offer iwoca loans inside their own customer journeys. You'll own projects, collaborate with stakeholders, and design robust systems to deliver important functionality and measurably improve the experience for our partners and customers.
The company: Small businesses move fast. Opportunities often don't wait, and cash flow pressures can appear overnight. To keep going, and growing, SMEs need finance that’s as flexible and responsive as they are. That's why we built iwoca. Our smart technology, data science and five‑star customer service ensures business owners can act with the speed, confidence and control they need, exactly when it's needed. We've already cleared the way for 100,000 businesses with more than £4 billion in funding. Our passionate team is driven to help even more SMEs succeed, through access to better finance and other services that make running a business easier. Our ultimate mission is to support one million SMEs in their defining moments, creating lasting impact for the communities and economies they drive.
The team: iwoca partners with a variety of third‑party platforms, ranging from large banks and comparison sites to small fintechs that serve SME customers. These partners use iwoca’s Lending API to embed iwoca loans into their own customer journey. Partnerships are an important and fast‑growing source of customers for iwoca. The Partner Flow team builds new features and optimises existing flows to provide the best possible experience for iwoca's partners and the customers they refer to us. The team’s responsibilities include:
- Continually improving our Lending API and other developer tools, so that partners can integrate with iwoca quickly and easily.
- Adding new functionality to facilitate deeper integrations and ensure iwoca is the best embedded finance provider on the market.
- Improving the conversion rate of customers who come to us through partners - streamlining the journey, running RCTs (randomised control trials) and building models alongside our embedded data scientist to find what works.
The team is made up of three engineers, a data scientist plus a team lead, working closely with an internal team of commercial stakeholders. This role is one of two new engineering hires as we grow the team to meet our ambition. Partner Flow is remote/hybrid-friendly, meeting up for team days in the office once or twice a month, but not on a fixed schedule. They work in an Agile fashion with two‑week sprints and a daily standup.
The role: You’ll work on challenging projects all over iwoca’s codebase - anywhere there are improvements to be made for partners and partner‑referred customers. You’ll be encouraged to bring your own ideas and take responsibility for areas of functionality.
Autonomy
- Own features and projects from scoping and design through to production.
- Collaborate with other engineers to meet the team’s goals, whilst being trusted to define your own solutions and work independently on your part of the problem.
- Design and maintain robust, flexible, and maintainable systems to ensure scalability and fast‑paced development.
Impact
- Deliver new functionality critical to onboarding important new partners.
- Run experiments (RCTs) and optimise the funnel to measurably improve how partner‑referred customers convert.
- Leave code, docs, and processes in better shape than you found them.
Purpose and product thinking
- Work on systems that genuinely help businesses get the funding they need.
- Collaborate with our partners and internal stakeholders to design effective solutions.
- Use data to make decisions, uncover insights, and refine strategies.
AI
We're pushing hard on AI-assisted development. Engineers here write clear technical specs, let skills and agents implement boiler‐plate, and hold a high bar on code review — the person, not the model, is accountable for what merges. We expect AI output to be validated for correctness, performance and security like any other change. We give the team unlimited tokens across all models and expect people to experiment.
The requirements
Essential:
- Experience designing and building scalable back‑end systems, ideally in Python.
- Experience working with relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL, with an understanding of performance and maintainability considerations.
- Experience building and maintaining APIs that are easy to use, reliable, and well‑documented.
- Experience managing projects end to end, from understanding business problems to designing and delivering technical solutions.
- Pragmatism in balancing delivery speed with long‑term system health.
- Clear, concise written and verbal communication, focusing on outcomes and impact.
- A genuine team player: you support your teammates, share knowledge, and care about the team's success as much as your own.
- AI fluency. Experience using AI coding tools to accelerate real delivery, and a genuine interest in getting better at it - with a pragmatic sense of where it adds value and where it doesn't.
Bonus:
- Front‑end development experience, particularly with React and Typescript.
- Experience with DevOps practices, including containerisation and CI/CD pipelines.
- Experience with experimentation (e.g. A/B tests or RCTs) or using data to drive product decisions.
- Working knowledge of modern data tooling - ideally Snowflake and dbt - used to build analytical or reporting pipelines.
The salary
We expect to pay from £60,000—£85,000 for this role. But, we’re open-minded, so definitely include your salary goals with your application. We routinely benchmark salaries against market rates, and run quarterly performance and salary reviews.
The culture
At iwoca, we prioritise a culture of learning, growth, and support, and invest in the development of our team members. We value thought and skill diversity, and encourage people to explore new areas of interest, adopt better tools – including AI – and apply sound judgement so our products and decisions improve over time.
The offices
We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a great place to work: Offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks. Events and community‑led groups, including running groups, padel, and monthly ping‑pong and pool competitions.
The benefits
- Flexible working hours.
- Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership.
- A choice between a dedicated dental plan or a health cash plan that reimburses everyday medical expenses.
- A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents.
- 25 days’ holiday per year, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave.
- A one‑month, fully paid sabbatical after four years.
- Instant access to external counselling and therapy sessions for team members that need emotional or mental health support.
- 3% Pension contributions on total earnings.
- An employee equity incentive scheme.
- Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money.
- Electric car scheme and cycle to work scheme.
- Two company retreats a year: we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield.
- A learning and development budget for everyone.
- Company‑wide talks with internal and external speakers.
- Access to learning platforms like Treehouse.
Back End Engineer - Partner Flow employer: iwoca
At iwoca, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that champions innovation and collaboration. Our vibrant work culture fosters growth and creativity, empowering employees to make impactful decisions that drive the success of small businesses. With a commitment to professional development and a focus on leveraging cutting-edge technology, we offer a unique opportunity for individuals to thrive in the dynamic fintech landscape of London.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Back End Engineer - Partner Flow
✨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 iwoca 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 iwoca.
✨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 iwoca.
✨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 iwoca 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 Back End Engineer - Partner Flow
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 iwoca.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at iwoca 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 iwoca
✨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 iwoca 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.