Backend Engineer - Rails

At Raylo, we’re on a mission to accelerate the move to a circular economy. We’re building a category-defining global subscription infrastructure, making premium tech accessible and affordable for both consumers and businesses. With over 180,000 subscribers in the UK and growth accelerating, we’ve proven the demand for a smarter, more sustainable way to access technology. Raylo is a fast-growing and profitable company, backed by global investors including Macquarie, NatWest, and Channel 4 Ventures.

Our Core Values:

• Be deeply curious – We thrive on innovation through diverse approaches, views, and people.
• Walk in your customer’s shoes – To build the best products and make the best decisions for the long term, we must figure out what our customers need, not just what they want.
• Focus and execute – We have a big vision, but we believe in nailing the most important problems first.
• Be gritty – Only gritty teams succeed. Our individual ownership, passion, and perseverance mean we’re a team through thick and thin.

You’ll be joining our growing Engineering team as a Mid-Level Backend Engineer, reporting to the Engineering Manager. Our backend team powers critical capabilities like customer decisioning, third-party service integrations, automation for operational teams, and self-serve functionality for customers. You’ll join a culture of high trust and autonomy and no micromanagement, where you’ll have the chance to quickly make an impact on our mission.

Over the next year, you’ll:

• Develop a deep understanding of our core user journeys and backend systems.
• Gain autonomy in delivering medium-sized projects and play an increasingly important role in driving larger initiatives alongside senior engineers and stakeholders.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers to deliver features that directly impact Raylo’s growth and customer experience.
• Work with a modern backend stack including Ruby on Rails (8.0), Sidekiq Enterprise (200k+ jobs daily), Heroku, GitHub Actions (CI/CD), Playwright (E2E testing), and GraphQL APIs.

What You’ll Do:

• Build, maintain, and scale backend services using Ruby on Rails and related technologies.
• Collaborate with product and frontend teams to deliver features that enable new customer experiences and operational efficiencies.
• Participate in code reviews and pairing sessions, sharing knowledge and learning from others.
• Integrate and optimise third-party services that power our subscription platform.
• Continuously improve backend systems with a focus on scalability, reliability, and performance.
• Take ownership of medium-sized projects, from design to delivery, and contribute to larger initiatives with senior engineers.
• Write clean, tested, and maintainable code, with CI/CD pipelines in GitHub Actions and end-to-end testing in Playwright.
• Work on asynchronous job processing at scale with Sidekiq Enterprise.

You’ll Succeed with:

• 2–4 years of backend engineering experience, ideally in a fast-paced startup or scale-up environment.
• Strong proficiency in Ruby on Rails and experience with Sidekiq for large-scale job processing.
• Experience deploying and running applications in Heroku (or similar PaaS), with confidence in CI/CD pipelines.
• Familiarity with GraphQL APIs and automated testing frameworks such as RSpec.
• A collaborative mindset, with strong communication skills and the ability to make progress in ambiguous situations.
• A proactive, curious, and problem-solving attitude, with a passion for working on real business problems through technology.
• An eagerness to continuously learn and improve your craft, especially within Ruby and Rails.

We’re not looking for you to meet every point on this job description, please still get in touch if you think you could add value and do your best work here at Raylo. We’d love to have a chat and see if you could be a great fit.

Opportunities & Benefits:

• Share in Raylo’s success – Stock options for all employees.
• Get the latest tech – Exclusive Raylo device lease for employees.
• 33 days off, your way – 25 days + 8 bank holidays with full flexibility to use on the days that mean the most to you.
• Invest in your growth – L&D budget to support the skills you value.
• Fast-track your career – Two performance reviews a year.
• Family-first policies – 5 months full pay for primary caregivers, 1 month for secondary caregivers.
• Save big on childcare – Workplace nursery scheme for major cost savings.
• Perks on perks – Perkbox membership with discounts & wellbeing benefits.
• Good times, guaranteed – Optional quarterly socials, plus summer & Christmas parties.

Hiring Process:

Once you submit your application, our Talent Team will contact you if you have been shortlisted for the role. We set an exceptionally high bar at Raylo, and in return, we will aim to give you the best candidate experience possible. If there’s anything we can do to make your application process easier for you, because of disability, neurodiversity or any other personal reason, please let us know.

• Stage 1: Talent Screening (30 minutes)
• Stage 2: Online Hiring Manager Interview (45 minutes)
• Stage 3: Take Home Task: PR Review
• Stage 4: On-site Pair Programming Session (90 minutes)
• Stage 5: Final Interviews: Values-based Interview (~45 minutes & Co-founder Final (~30 minutes)

As an FCA-regulated business, we conduct background checks (DBS and AML) on all successful candidates who are offered a position at Raylo during the onboarding process.

At Raylo, we celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone can thrive. We welcome people of all backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, believing they make us stronger.