At a Glance
- Tasks: Design and build secure backend services for a cutting-edge platform.
- Company: Valarian Technologies, a dual-use tech company focused on global security.
- Benefits: Equity, competitive salary, pension contributions, and hybrid work setup.
- Other info: Dynamic startup environment with opportunities for broad technical exposure.
- Why this job: Join us to safeguard the future with innovative technology and make a real impact.
- Qualifications: 5-6 years backend engineering experience and hands-on Go skills required.
The predicted salary is between 60000 - 80000 £ per year.
Valarian Technologies is a dual-use technology company building critical tools to safeguard the future in an era of evolving global security challenges. We’re rethinking security beyond traditional military domains, addressing asymmetric threats that impact our technological advantage, economic strength, and democratic institutions. We build Acra - the platform foundation for everything we do as a dual-use technology company. The platform’s name, rooted in the Greek word for citadel (or fortress), reflects the design and purpose of our infrastructure-agnostic secure enclaves: protecting critical data.
Some of the government and commercial workflows include increased operational resiliency for mission-critical systems, enabling organizations to more quickly and widely adopt emerging technologies while ensuring the integrity of their intellectual property; information flow during disaster response scenarios; and zero-trust / least-privilege environments for M&A, attorney-client privileged communications, etc.
The Role
You will help design, build, and operate backend services for a complex platform that needs to be secure, reliable, observable, and scalable from the start. Responsibilities include:
- Build backend services, APIs, and microservices in Go.
- Contribute to the design, implementation, testing, deployment, and operation of backend services.
- Build and maintain Docker images, Kubernetes workloads, CI/CD pipelines, and Argo/GitOps workflows.
- Work with container registries, secrets, secure configuration, and deployment automation.
- Help design event-driven, scalable, observable, and resilient systems.
- Contribute to platform architecture, system design discussions, and security boundaries.
- Support identity-aware service communication, lifecycle orchestration, auditability, and controlled application execution.
- Help improve monitoring, logging, tracing, alerting, and production debugging.
- Work closely with product and the engineering team to turn requirements into reliable technical solutions.
- Take ownership of well-defined projects and contribute independently within a collaborative engineering team.
- Operate comfortably in a startup environment where engineers work across backend, platform, and DevOps responsibilities.
What we are looking for:
- Solid 5-6 years backend engineering experience.
- Hands-on Go experience.
- Experience building APIs, backend services, or microservices.
- Comfortable working with Docker and containerised applications.
- Some experience with Kubernetes, or a strong interest in working deeply with Kubernetes-based systems.
- Understanding of CI/CD pipelines and modern deployment workflows.
- Familiarity with GitOps, Argo, container registries, secrets, or secure deployments.
- Understanding of event-driven architecture, asynchronous workflows, or distributed systems.
- Good system design fundamentals, especially around reliability, scalability, observability, and failure handling.
- Comfortable debugging issues across applications, services, and infrastructure.
- Product-minded and interested in understanding why the platform is being built, not just what needs to be implemented.
- Self-driven, curious, and able to take ownership of defined areas of work.
- Comfortable working in a startup environment with changing priorities and broad technical exposure.
- Willing to learn across backend, platform, infrastructure, and DevOps areas.
Nice to have:
- Experience with secure or regulated environments, such as defence, government, fintech, healthcare, critical infrastructure, or sovereign cloud.
- Experience working in startups, platform teams, infrastructure teams, or product teams with broad engineering ownership.
- Understanding of zero-trust architecture, identity-aware systems, policy enforcement, or workload isolation.
- Experience with service mesh, network policy, ingress/egress control, or secure service-to-service communication.
- Experience with observability tooling, including metrics, logs, traces, alerting, and incident response.
- Familiarity with supply-chain security concepts such as image signing, vulnerability scanning, SBOMs, artifact verification, or admission control.
- Familiarity with secrets management tools such as Vault, SOPS, Sealed Secrets, External Secrets, or cloud-native secret managers.
- Experience contributing to systems where auditability, traceability, and operational evidence are important.
Benefits:
- Equity – because you have the right to own what you’re building.
- A competitive salary – because we value your unique skills.
- Employer pension contributions – because you deserve a secure future.
- Hybrid work setup – because everyone has different needs.
- Rewarding company retreats and meetups that respect your work/life balance – because we love getting to know each other!
Senior Software Engineer employer: Valarian Technologies Limited
Valarian Technologies is an exceptional employer, offering a dynamic work culture that fosters innovation and collaboration in the field of dual-use technology. With a strong focus on employee growth, we provide opportunities for professional development through hands-on experience in backend engineering and exposure to cutting-edge technologies. Our hybrid work setup, competitive salary, equity options, and commitment to work/life balance make us an attractive choice for those seeking meaningful and rewarding employment in a startup environment.
Contact Details:
Valarian Technologies Limited Recruitment Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫
We think this is how you could land Senior Software Engineer
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to folks in your industry on LinkedIn or at tech meetups. A personal connection can often get your foot in the door faster than a CV.
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio showcasing your projects, especially those involving Go, Docker, and Kubernetes. This gives potential employers a taste of what you can do.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for technical interviews by brushing up on system design and coding challenges. Practice makes perfect, so consider mock interviews with friends or online platforms.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! We love seeing candidates who are genuinely interested in joining our mission at Valarian Technologies. It shows initiative!
We think you need these skills to ace Senior Software Engineer
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV:Make sure your CV reflects the skills and experiences that align with the Senior Software Engineer role. Highlight your backend engineering experience, especially with Go, Docker, and Kubernetes, to show us you’re a great fit!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter:Use your cover letter to tell us why you’re passionate about security technology and how your background makes you the perfect candidate. Share specific examples of projects where you’ve taken ownership and delivered results.
Showcase Your Projects:If you’ve worked on relevant projects, whether personal or professional, don’t hesitate to include them! We love seeing real-world applications of your skills, especially in building APIs and microservices.
Apply Through Our Website:We encourage you to apply directly through our website for the best chance of getting noticed. It’s the easiest way for us to keep track of your application and ensure it reaches the right people!
How to prepare for a job interview at Valarian Technologies Limited
✨Know Your Tech Stack
Make sure you’re well-versed in Go, Docker, and Kubernetes. Brush up on your experience with APIs and microservices, as these will be key topics during the interview. Be ready to discuss specific projects where you've implemented these technologies.
✨Understand the Company’s Mission
Valarian Technologies is focused on safeguarding the future through innovative technology. Familiarise yourself with their dual-use technology approach and think about how your skills can contribute to their mission. This will show your genuine interest in the role.
✨Prepare for System Design Questions
Expect questions around system design, especially regarding reliability, scalability, and observability. Practice articulating your thought process when designing backend services or microservices, and be prepared to discuss how you handle failure scenarios.
✨Show Your Curiosity and Ownership
Demonstrate your self-driven nature by discussing times when you took ownership of a project. Highlight your curiosity about the platform and how it works, as this aligns with the company’s values. Ask insightful questions about their current challenges and future goals.
