Senior Java/Kotlin Software Engineer

About Zopa

Founded in 2005 as the pioneering peer-to-peer lending platform, Zopa evolved into a fully licensed bank by 2020, focused on transforming the financial experience by prioritizing customer needs. Recognized in the top three for UK’s Most Loved Workplaces, Zopa champions diversity and innovation, aiming to empower customers and employees alike to make meaningful impacts daily.

Role Overview

As a software engineer at Zopa, you will tackle critical financial challenges impacting millions of customers. Your responsibilities will include developing distributed systems capable of handling thousands of daily transactions, building robust services that safeguard customer funds, and simplifying complex financial products through intuitive user experiences.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliver fully developed products with a focus on customer value, beyond just writing quality code.
• Engage deeply with problem-solving rather than only following static requirements.
• Operate effectively in a fast-paced environment, prioritizing both speed and code excellence through multiple weekly releases tested by their customer impact.
• Advocate and practice test-driven or behavior-driven development to ensure high-quality outputs.
• Design and maintain scalable, distributed software systems with complex architectures.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to align technical solutions with business goals.
• Adapt fluidly to uncertainty and fast change, thriving on collaborative problem solving.
• Contribute positively to a flat-hierarchy, honest, and friendly team culture, making a measurable difference.

Technical Toolkit

• Develop using Kotlin and Java, utilizing Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and AWS Aurora Postgres among other modern technologies.
• Adopt a product-centric engineering approach.
• Implement largescale distributed systems with scalability and reliability.
• Follow rigorous test-driven development procedures.
• Excel in environments with rapid change and operational ambiguity.
• Collaborate effectively within multidisciplinary teams to solve problems collectively.

Engineering Culture

• Prioritize customer impact over unnecessary complexity in solutions.
• Value team achievements above individual efforts.
• Take ownership of operational aspects, not just feature development.
• Commit to continuous improvement through open, honest feedback.

Additional Advantages

• Experience in fintech or banking sectors is beneficial but not mandatory; problem-solving skills are paramount.

Work Arrangement

This position is hybrid with 2-3 days per week at the London office, supporting face-to-face collaboration and maintaining work-life balance. Additionally, employees have the option to work remotely from abroad for up to 120 days annually, subject to legal right to work in the selected country.

Diversity and Inclusivity

Zopa is committed to a discrimination-free workplace welcoming diverse perspectives and backgrounds, represented by nearly 50 nationalities. The company maintains a DE&I forum and ensures hiring processes accommodate necessary adjustments to foster inclusive participation.

AI in Hiring

Zopa integrates AI fluency as a part of everyday work, partnering with initiatives to build workforce AI competence. While behavioural and competency interviews prohibit AI use to ensure authentic evaluation, some technical interviews may allow AI tools, with candidates being transparent about their utilization, reasoning, and decision-making process.