Senior Infrastructure Engineer, Engine by Starling
GCP, Engine by Starling
1+ day a week in office
Digital banking platform
Posted today
Digital banking platform
201-500 employees
Posted today
1+ day a week in office
201-500 employees
Company mission
To radically reshape banking in markets around the world – sharing the best-in-class digital banking platform we’ve built.
Role
Who you are
- Proven GCP multi-region disaster recovery experience
- Confident at bootstrapping Google Cloud Organisations, hardening with policies and structuring an enterprise’s resource hierarchy
- Experience with Google Cloud Platform (GCP) services including GKE, Compute Engine, Network Connectivity Center, Cloud SQL, Identity and Access Management (IAM) and VPC Service Controls
- Experience writing clean, modular Terraform code
- Experience with service-oriented architecture using containers, distributed systems and immutable infrastructure
- Experience with key and secret management on GCP — Cloud KMS, Cloud External Key Manager (EKM) and Secret Manager — including cryptographic key ceremonies
- Experience designing hybrid connectivity from GCP to co-located Payment HSMs using Network Connectivity Center (NCC), Cloud VPN and Dedicated / Partner Interconnect
- Experience with Workload Identity and Workload Identity Federation for keyless authentication of workloads and CI/CD
- Experience with observability tooling — Cloud Monitoring, Cloud Logging, Cloud Trace, Managed Service for Prometheus and OpenTelemetry (we also use Grafana)
- Experience setting up Google Workspace / Google Cloud Identity
- Experience with automation using a scripting language like Python or Go
- Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines
- An understanding of RESTful API and event-driven concepts
- Comfortable writing RFCs and ADRs which can be taken from design to implementation and into Production with documented runbooks and operating models
- The main part of our tech stack is listed below. We don't ask that you have experience in all of it, but if you do, that's great!
- Java, which makes up the majority of our backend codebase
- GCP and AWS — we're cloud-native
- Container-based architecture
- Kubernetes (GKE on GCP, EKS on AWS)
- TeamCity for CI/CD (with multiple production releases per day)
- Terraform and Grafana
- RDS and CloudSQL for PostgreSQL
- You may be put off applying for a role because you don't tick every box. Forget that! While we can’t accommodate every flexible working request, we're always open to discussion. So, if you're excited about working with us, but aren’t sure if you're 100% there yet, get in touch anyway
Desirable
- Experience with Zero Trust security (mTLS, SSO)
- Experience with AWS
- Comfortable with bash and either Golang, Java or Python development
- Understanding of database monitoring, analysis, disaster recovery and performance tuning
- Understanding of networking and routing concepts (TCP/IP, VLANs, VPNs, BGP, etc.) and preferably experience designing and establishing connectivity between GCP and on-premise locations
- Awareness/ability to leverage Claude Skills during development
What the job involves
- We're looking for a Senior Infrastructure Engineer to help us design, build and run the cloud foundations our first-in-class, cloud-native banking platform is deployed on — across multiple regions and cloud providers globally. You'll be an inquisitive engineer with an aptitude for finding clean and simple solutions to technical problems, passionate about building observable, reliable and secure systems that positively impact the wider engineering organisation
- Engine by Starling engineers are excited about helping us deliver new features, regardless of what their primary tech stack may be. Hear more from the team in our latest Blog or our case studies with Women in Tech
- Design, document, build and maintain scalable infrastructure on GCP
- Ensure the performance and reliability of cloud environments whilst measuring cost-effectiveness
- Embrace automation and be reluctant for manual implementation
- Build systems with security by design as a core foundation
- Ensure platform compliance with standards such as ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS and 3DS
- Design and operate key and secret management on GCP — Cloud KMS, Cloud External Key Manager (EKM) and Secret Manager — including support for cryptographic key ceremonies
- Rapidly diagnose and fix client-reported infrastructure issues while maintaining peak security and performance
- Write clear technical documentation and host training sessions for the team
- Demonstrate knowledge of new technologies and changes in the industry
- Lead complex infrastructure projects from inception through to run, and shape the future capabilities of Engine — our approach, tooling, automation and architecture
- Lead by example in your contributions, setting a high technical bar for others to aim for
Application process
- Interviewing is a two-way process and we want you to have the time and opportunity to get to know us, as much as we are getting to know you! Our interviews are conversational and we want to get the best from you, so come with questions and be curious. In general you can expect the below, following a chat with one of our Talent Team:
- Initial interview with an Engineer — ~45 minutes
- Take-home technical test, to be discussed in the next interview
- Technical interview with some Engineers — ~1.5 hours
- Final interview with our CTO / deputy CTO — ~45 minutes
Our take
Engine by Starling emerges as a solution to the age-old challenge plaguing traditional banking systems: outdated infrastructure. The banking landscape is littered with legacy systems, hindering innovation, agility, and customer-centricity. Engine steps in to disrupt this by offering a cloud-native banking platform.
Firstly, it provides a suite of technology that forms the backbone of digital banking, enabling clients to pick solutions tailored to their needs. Secondly, Engine adopts a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, diverging from conventional banking strategies. This move democratises access to cutting-edge banking technology, cutting through geographical barriers and fostering global financial inclusivity.
Engine's trajectory is poised for expansion and dominance in the financial technology arena, with the CEO claiming it can be bigger than Starling. As it continues to catalyse digital transformation across traditional banking institutions, Engine is set to become a pivotal player in the industry.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
74% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Company benefits
- 🏖️ 33 holiday days: Including public holidays which you can take when works for you
- 👨👩👦 Generous family-friendly policies
- 🏥 Private Medical Insurance with VitalityHealth including mental health support and cancer care. Partner Benefits include discount with Waitrose, Mr&Mrs Smith and Peleton
- 🚗 Access to initiatives like Cycle to Work, Salary Sacrificed Gym partnerships and Electric Vehicle (EV) leasing
- 🎗️ 16 hours paid volunteering time a year
- 👵🏽 Salary sacrifice, company enhanced pension scheme (10%)
- 🛟 4x life insurance: Life insurance at 4x your salary & group income protection
- 😋 Perkbox membership, giving access to retail discounts, a wellness platform for physical and mental health, and weekly free and boosted perks
- 🎂 An extra day’s holiday for your birthday
- 🌍 Work from anywhere policy
Company values
- 👂 Listen: We listen to each other and our clients – because everyone has something different to teach us, and diversity of thought makes our work better.
- 👑 Aim for greatness: In everything we do, we strive to deliver the best possible outcome. If something’s worth making, it’s worth making it great
- 💪 Own it: Smart people thrive when they’re given freedom. Our people like to get their hands dirty, figure things out and take ownership
- ⚖️ Keep it simple: There’s beauty (and speed) in simplicity. From the way we speak to the tech we build, we want to be simple and clear in everything we do
- ⚖️ Do the right thing: Ethics aren’t an afterthought – they’re our driving force. Doing what’s best for our communities and the planet is central to our mission
Company HQ
Bishopsgate
Articles
Leadership
Sam Everington
(Chief Executive Officer)Has worked at Starling for the past 7 years in various roles before becoming the CEO of Engine by Starling in 2022. Previously a Senior Consultant/Manager & Technical Architect at Alfa.
Tom Beresford
(Chief Technology Officer)Tom leads Engine’s technical and engineering team. Before Engine Tom helped build Starling’s engineering team, the bank’s transaction systems, payment integrations and the cloud native banking platform
Mariam Ogunbambi
(Chief Client Officer)Mariam leads the management and support of Engine’s clients. Previously, she delivered integrations to launch Apple Pay in Starling and Current Account Switch as well as leading the Card Payments Team
Araminta Russell
(Chief Delivery Officer)Araminta shapes our solution design and leads our implementation teams. Before this she led Starling’s delivery of strategic technology programmes such as cheque imaging, 3D secure and cash deposits.
People progressing
Having joined Starling in 2018 as a Senior Engineer, Tom progressed to run the Lending team at Starling before making the move to Engine as a Principal Engineer and is now an Engineering Director.
Mariam leads the management and support of Engine’s clients. Previously, she delivered integrations to launch Apple Pay in Starling and Current Account Switch as well as leading the Card Payments Team
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Engine by Starling
Jake Pedlingham (Senior Talent Parter)
- We write job descriptions as inclusively as we can to ensure that no one from any group feels excluded; all are welcome to apply to Engine!
- We work closely with Women in Tech to help with our Gender Diversity: https://www.womenintech.co.uk/employers-hiring/starling-bank/
- We work with Diversifying group to ensure that all areas of diversity feel like they can apply to come and work at Engine: https://www.diversifying.io/employers/3736457-engine-by-starling
- We have partnered with Code First Girls as both Starling and Engine by Starling, welcoming over 20 career-switching women to the team over the past 4 years https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/code-first-girls-how-to-kick-start-your-career-in-tech/
- We partner with other groups such as Empower (Women In Tech), FutureCodeHers, HuddleHive where we host or sponsor events and meet ups
- Internally, we have an employee network called Always Open, made up of 5 groups, Bend the Bank (LGBTQ+), Embrace (Race and Ethnicity), Mental Health Positive (Mental Health), United Abilities (Disability) and With Women (Women)
- https://www.starlingbank.com/about/ethics-statement/
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