Senior Software Engineer, Paddle

Paddle encourages people to be Exceptional Together, the result of this is an atmosphere where collaboration, learning, winning and growing all happen very natively. It's truly an impressive energy that's helps you feel like everyone is moving the needle.

Paddle believe in nurturing and developing their people on both a personal and professional level. On top of the many personal development schemes, budgets and incentives offered, there's a culture of internal growth and promotion hard to find elsewhere in the FinTech space.

At Paddle your working hours are yours to define, as is your working location. Paddle are a truly digital first company, trusting and empowering their employees to get the job done in the way that works best for them. The result? A truly global culture that exists organically of people working remotely or in our Central London/New York offices, with plans for more to come!

Teamwork is top-down at Paddle. I hate to sound cliche with "one for all, all for one," but the level of transparency and support at Paddle is refreshing and the managers will always listen to what you have to say.

It is great to not be in "clock watching" mode. You can adjust your schedule to meet your needs. Paddle encourages a balance between work and life and this is a tool to make that happen effectively.

During onboarding, pretty much all of the managers said that one of the keys to success at Paddle is to speak up: your thoughts are valued. That being said, actions are valued as well, and I love seeing shoutouts to folks for a job well done.

At Paddle there is not a lot of "official" top down communication - communication is more like a conversation and feels very inclusive and transparent. There is far more information shared via Slack and in Company-Wide meetings than over email, which feels personal and modern.

I was very impressed to learn and experience the care that Paddle takes over its employees - mental health coaching, 2 x different learning budgets per person, more expensive private health care, unlimited holiday. This goes a long way in making you feel valued as a person and an employee, and makes you feel much more than a payroll number.

Paddle wants to be the best in the market. I know that may seem like a cliche and surely every company wants that, but this is both a realistic and a high achieving target for Paddle. It will be a long journey but their growth in the market already proves the drive, ability and talent Paddle has to achieve this goal.

Paddlers are shown a lot of trust to get the job done. I've never experienced micro-management and have always been free to decide how to advance a project. But managers and colleagues are also on hand to collaborate and offer up suggestions. Which means you always have the headspace - yet also the support - to make the magic happen!

When some companies claim they care for their employees it can seem insincere, but at Paddle they follow through with genuine support I've not seen matched anywhere else. They provide mental health support, unlimited holidays and sick days, educational & career investment (£1000 a year per person to upskill), and they outline clear expectations and provide support and advice to get the work done. Whenever you talk to your managers, senior leaders, or colleagues, everyone seems to care for and appreciate one another. Which altogether makes for a comfortable, friendly environment.

In the past I don't think I would have prioritised 'intelligent people' as an important workplace criteria. But after working with so many engaged, smart, energetic people at Paddle, it makes such a visible difference. You're always learning something new, breaking new ground on challenging problems with insightful people from different backgrounds with unique skills and approaches... it really makes for a fun and interesting environment.

Paddle has a grown up culture. We hire people who are brilliant and what they do and give them the freedom to deliver how they see fit. Everyone feels connected to our mission and it's that shared goal and trust that fuels our success.

Paddlers care deeply about social justice and creating an inclusive place to work. We want everyone to feel like they belong and are valued irrelevant of their background. Whilst we still have work to do we are striving for excellence together. Our Founders lead the way on diversity and when it comes from the top it becomes part of the conversation for all which is both refreshing and essential for change.

All paddlers have a voice and an opportunity to be heard. Psychological safety isn't always easy to achieve but if you don't hire brilliant jerks and you work hard to build trust and safe spaces for sharing it can be achieved. I believe we have that here at Paddle, we're open and transparent with each other and respect each others POV's.

Growing at the rate we do and tackling as large of a challenge as we do means it's very rare you have an unofficial "day off" and can laze about. This year, for example, we expanded into China an entirely new market where we managed to make significant strides. Not a single day was easy though considering - the language barrier, COVID, incumbent competitors and more. Every year at Paddle has multiple of these david vs goliath type projects keeping things challenging.

Inter team dynamics are critical for what we do and how we're growing. This means I'm constantly exposed to new things and ways of working. Add onto that 2000+ SaaS customers that are going on their own growth journey and exposure to their success and failures I've been put in a very unique position learning wise. Feel like each year is 2-3 years of experience elsewhere.

Me and my line manager have this unofficial agreement that the day we have more laggards than rockstars is the day I'll start to look to move on. Three years on I'm still here and the talent is now challenging me to not be the laggard and keep up.

Being part of Paddle's expansion efforts in APAC means you need to deal with all the challenge of time zone, culture, and business mindset differences. It's steep learning curve and it's fun and very much rewarding!

Paddle offers a highly flexible and very complex products which means you need to really dive deep into those specs while keeping an eye on the commercial side. As an account manager, you need to be able to talk SaaS growth strategies with CXOs and discuss very specific product suggestions with tech and marketing people

Being working remotely, you must be able to make quick decision and act fast in many cases. But Autonomy does not mean you don't have all the support and recourses you need. They are just there.

Autonomy is a value that I hold in high regard, as does Paddle. When I joined Paddle I was struck by the immense amount of support available as needed, while also being granted the confidence of leadership to own your work, share ideas and work toward delivering things you can be proud of - with a team with a shared sense of ownership.

With the big shift to working from home it's been important to me to still be active, so thanks to the Cycle to Work Scheme Paddle offers I've picked up cycling. Being able to start my day early means that while it gets dark early I'm still able to get out on the road for a brisk cycle in the colder months, while in the summer I shifted my mornings to cycle before it was too hot!

The passion among teams at Paddle is inspiring. We've been able to foster a team togetherness that has only gotten stronger since we've been even more broadly distributed across countries. Whether it's team planning, stakeholder listening sessions or spotlights I get to work and learn from colleagues who always bring their best to deliver for our customers.

At Paddle, I am encouraged to share my opinions and I know that what I say will be listened to and considered. Everyone across the business is very open to feedback and hearing opinions from different members of the team.

The team energy at Paddle is really motivating. Even when things get busy, it's great being in a team that pulls together and works to achieve something together.

We have regular meetings with the whole company where different departments and leaders share updates. There is a great culture for celebrating successes but also sharing and being honest when something hasn't gone to plan.

The exciting thing about working at Paddle is that we have seen a great deal of success, yet have only just started to scratch the surface of our addressable market. As we scale and continue to internationalise / move upmarket, this provides great opportunity to step up and be at the forefront of this journey. I have now had experience in visiting / closing business in China, Israel and the US and now have a defined career path into the newly formed Strategic team.

There are new challenges on a daily basis, no day is the same so It feels like my development is stuck on fast forward. I have been at the company for 18 months and have been involved in 3 separate market launches, a series C fund raise and a complete re-launch of our positioning. With 2021 promising to be and even bigger year!

I feel that I am given the autonomy to perform and deliver the results that the business are looking for. With things changing / developing so quickly, whether a new market launch or targeting a new type of prospect, I feel that I am able to approach these challenges in my own way to deliver the desired outcome. I have a great team around me to share ideas and feel supported and empowered by the management team to achieve our shared goals.

Even from my interview, I could tell my manager and also department head were supportive people and looked for collaboration to face the challenges of the business. I've been given the freedom to take on major business issues and given the support to help remove blockers and understanding that we won't get things right at the first go sometimes. This has given me the confidence to take on any challenge our business faces.

My career has spanned more than 20 years, and I can honestly say I've never worked anywhere else where a company has cared so much for the wellbeing of it's employees. We have flexi working, unlimited holidays, private health insurance, and also mental wellbeing coaches. This is the only place I've worked where my manager has told me that I seemed tired and I should take a break to recharge my batteries.

Paddle is growing so quickly, that sometimes things which are working fine this week are out-scaled and outdated next week. This means things are always changing and developing the systems and processes to handle this is exciting and extremely challenging. I've learned more working in Paddle for a year than I did the previous 5 years.

People at Paddle are real subject matter experts in their fields - I can always count of their help and knowledge if I don't know something.

We have a lot of flexibility when it comes to both work location and work hours so that makes it so much easier to fit your life around work and have a healthy lifestyle.

Paddle is growing really fast which means new opportunities and challenges arising in almost every team. This is amazing for your career development .

Data is at the centre of every department at Paddle, with each area of the business having their own dedicated data/operations team. Not only does it this means smarter workflows and automations, but it allows everyone to have quick access to insights and adapt to a fast changing market. It makes our work smarter and brings confidence to our decision making.

I joined in an entry level role and have been given invaluable support and training at every step of the way to shape my career. There is a real sense of "If you want something, go get it" and it is inspiring to see the people who have come in the business and grown into roles they didn't dare dream of in the beginning.

It is the team that makes a company and the spirit at Paddle is one of the greatest reasons to work here. The excitement, support and imagination of my peers is what inspires me every day and it makes work fun.

Paddle is a fast-moving, constantly improving environment. With this, there is always an opportunity to make meaningful changes that influence the future of Paddle.

2020 has been a tough year for us all and the instant shift to fully remote definitely presented it's challenges to our team. However, the passion and willingness to drive our company forward in such difficult times were completely inspiring to me. We truly have a dedicated and hard work team.

2020 was all about building up the momentum for us, 2021 is when we execute on our exciting growth plans. For Product and Engineering, this means we will be doubling our department size, and with this will come great opportunities for career progression, scaling our platform and greenfield projects. 2021 is going to be a fantastic year for Paddle!

Joined Paddle as a fresh graduate two years ago and the learning has never stopped! Paddle is a great place to gain valuable experience in the different areas of finance alongside the flexibility to manage work and study!

Paddle allows flexible working conditions which gives me the ability to have a great work life balance and spend quality time with my family.

When I joined Paddle it was always clear what my career path will look like and the opportunity to grow in different areas was always given. It is clear what I need to do to reach my goal in Finance and great support is provided by my manager!

You hear 'open and transparent' as values for every other company these days, but how many follow through with this? Paddle doesn't need this as a value - it simply lives and breathes this no matter which department you work for. Everyone is encouraged to speak up about their opinions, and regular surveys are taken that execute on these opinions and ideas in real time. I'm constantly asked for feedback in meetings, and it's not just taken and forgotten, you can see it shape the future of the company day-by-day.

Even in the challenging year that has been 2020, employee wellbeing has maintained a top priority at Paddle. We are offered support through both internal and external resources (free counselling and therapy - even if you just need a chat). Unlimited holiday - which is highly encouraged to take, and an allowance for personal development.

In a year like 2020, most companies fought to survive. Paddle not only did this, but it went above and beyond and raised a Series C during the year of a global pandemic. This is testament to the whole team who work so hard, but moreover, are incredibly passionate about what we do. The momentum built around this has been more welcome than ever, and I couldn't be more excited to be aboard this rocketship.