At a Glance
- Tasks: Collaborate with diverse teams to build impactful backend solutions for everyday users.
- Company: Join a forward-thinking tech company with a vibrant culture and ambitious goals.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, equity, flexible working hours, and a generous learning budget.
- Other info: Enjoy a dynamic work environment with opportunities for growth and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real difference in financial technology while working with cutting-edge tools.
- Qualifications: Experience in backend development and a passion for customer-focused product design.
The predicted salary is between 130000 - 170000 £ per year.
📍London / UK Remote | 💰 £130,000 - £170,000 + Equity + Benefits | Technology - Engineering
About our Engineering Teams: We have around 650 engineers out of roughly 5,500 people in total - and we have big ambitions. There are many interesting challenges ahead, and we're happy for people to move between teams or to specialise, whatever you prefer. As an engineer here you'd be able to work directly with anyone across the company, and we run regular knowledge-sharing sessions so you’ll learn heaps about everything from how banks work to effective communication. We contribute to open source software as much as possible.
What you’ll be working on:
- Go to write our application code
- Cassandra for most persistent data storage
- Kafka for our asynchronous message queue
- Envoy Proxy for RPC
- Kubernetes and Docker to schedule and run our services
- AWS for most of our infrastructure
- React for internal web dashboards
Your day-to-day: This role is all about collaborating across disciplines to test hypotheses and make a difference to customers. As a product backend engineer you’ll work in a squad alongside product managers, marketers, user researchers, designers, mobile engineers, web engineers, data analysts, business analysts, writers and more! Together you'll build and support a particular part of Monzo. Our squads belong to our wider collectives (a word we use to describe self-governing business units of ~100 people). They are: Core Banking, Business Banking, Wealth, Borrowing, Growth, Payments, Platform, Fincrime, Security & Expansion. All of our collectives are doing innovative work, many of which have machine learning and AI at the forefront - from fighting financial crime to building smarter financial tools - and you may have the opportunity to join a collective that gives you direct exposure to this exciting space.
Our backend engineers have a variety of different backgrounds. As long as you enjoy learning new things, we’d love to talk to you. We do not ask for formal qualifications or degree requirements for any of our engineering roles.
How we work 💻 Locations & Flexible Working: Our main tech hub is in London, but our engineers live everywhere in the UK— from Brighton to the Western Isles. We value meeting in person but we don't have a mandated requirement on office attendance, even if you're nearby. We believe you'll do your best work if you are where you want to be. If you live outside of London and we ask you to come into the office, Monzo will support you with the costs.
✨ Our offices are naturally social, especially Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, which happen to line up with our twice-weekly Monzo lunches & treat Thursdays 🍽️. Teams also schedule time together often for work and play – in or around the office, or online. Set up a work schedule that delivers impact and fits your life: At Monzo, we value connections, flexibility, and wellbeing. We keep our meetings during core hours to stay connected and believe in maintaining work/life balance. You’ll be empowered to manage your work in a way that suits you and your team, giving you the freedom for children drop-offs and pick-ups, walking your dog or adventurous cat, avoiding peak commuting times or gym slots, appointments, or supporting your family in an emergency.
🕒✨ If you prefer to work part-time, we'll make this happen whenever we can - whether this is to help you meet other commitments or strike a great work-life balance. Work the way that works for you with Monzo!
💼 You should apply if:
- you have strong experience working on the backend of a technology product
- you want to be involved in building a product that you (and the people you know) use every day
- you have a product mindset: you care about customer outcomes and you want to make data-informed decisions
- you’re comfortable working in a team that deals with ambiguity
- you’re interested in distributed systems and writing resilient software
- you have some experience with strongly-typed languages (Go, Java, C, Scala etc.)
- you think you’d enjoy the kind of work we’re doing
We're on the look out for L60 Engineers at the moment, you can read more in our Engineering Progression Framework we are also hiring on L40 & L50, our interview process will determine your levelling.
The Interview Process: Our interview process involves three main stages:
- Initial Call
- Take home task or pair coding exercise
- Final interview including a system design and a behavioural interview
Our average process takes around 2-3 weeks but we will always work around your availability.
What’s in it for you:
- £130,000 - £170,000 + Equity
- We can help you relocate to the UK
- We can sponsor visas.
- This role can be based in our London office or remotely across the UK (with ad hoc meetings in London).
- We offer flexible working hours and trust you to work enough hours to do your job well, at times that suit you and your team.
- Learning budget of £1,000 a year for books, training courses and conferences
- And much more, see our full list of benefits here
We're usually always hiring for Backend Engineers, so there's no closing date for this job.
Staff Backend Engineer in London employer: Referrals Only
As a Remote Senior Lead Product Designer at our innovative company, you'll be part of a dynamic design team dedicated to creating impactful solutions that make money work for everyone. We foster a collaborative and inclusive work culture, offering extensive employee growth opportunities and a competitive benefits package, all while allowing you the flexibility of remote work from anywhere in the UK. Join us to contribute to meaningful projects and experience a supportive environment that values creativity and professional development.
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Staff 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 Referrals Only 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 Referrals Only.
✨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 Referrals Only.
✨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 Referrals Only 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 Staff 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 Referrals Only.
Craft a killer cover letter:Your cover letter is your chance to stand out—make it personal! Explain why you want to work at Referrals Only 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 Referrals Only
✨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 Referrals Only 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.