Senior Back End Engineer - DE Tech
Hybrid in London / Remote within the UK
We’re looking for a Senior Back End Engineer to build the systems that power iwoca’s German business.
You’ll join one of the engineering teams focused on our German market, a cross-functional group that builds the proprietary tools (like our CRM) that our German operations staff use every day. You’ll own high-impact projects from the ground up, using your technical experience to improve how we serve small businesses while also helping to level up the wider engineering team.
The company
Small businesses move fast. Opportunities often don’t wait, and cash flow pressures can appear overnight. To keep going, and growing, SMEs need finance that’s as flexible and responsive as they are.
That's why we built iwoca. Our smart technology, data science and five-star customer service ensures business owners can act with the speed, confidence and control they need, exactly when it's needed.
We’ve already cleared the way for 100,000 businesses with more than £4 billion in funding. Our passionate team is driven to help even more SMEs succeed, through access to better finance and other services that make running a business easier. Our ultimate mission is to support one million SMEs in their defining moments, creating lasting impact for the communities and economies they drive.
The team
The DE Tech team is a growing engineering team consisting of three smaller cross-functional teams. The teams build and maintain various systems – including tools for underwriting, notifications, and account management – that power iwoca’s German market. They support more than 300 colleagues across sales, credit, and collections who rely on these tools every day.
As the German business grows, these teams are moving beyond small improvements and into reworking how work is done. By reducing manual steps and improving how information flows through the company, they directly influence how quickly other teams can act, how reliably iwoca can support its customers, and where we can most effectively spend human effort.
The role
You’ll work on the systems that both internal and external teams rely on to serve customers. You’ll take engineering work from an initial problem through to delivery and see the outcome in daily use. You’ll design and build back-end services that support core operational workflows, including customer communication, underwriting, and collections.
- Simplify workflows: You’ll decide when and what to automate, translating operational needs into reliable code that reduces manual effort.
- Evolve the architecture: You’ll identify ways to modernise our systems, managing trade-offs to keep them dependable as they scale.
- Advocate for quality: You’ll be a sounding board for the team, using code reviews and design sessions to advocate for better engineering practices.
- Expand your scope: You’ll join a growing team that supports emerging leaders, offering you opportunities to lead projects end-to-end, developing your commercial judgement.
The salary
We expect to pay from £80,000–£100,000 for this role. But, we’re open-minded, so definitely include your salary goals with your application. We routinely benchmark salaries against market rates, and run quarterly performance and salary reviews.
The culture
At iwoca, we prioritise a culture of learning, growth, and support, and invest in the development of our team members. We value thought and skill diversity, and encourage people to explore new areas of interest, adopt better tools – including AI – and apply sound judgement so our products and decisions improve over time.
The offices
We put a lot of effort into making iwoca a great place to work:
- Offices in London, Leeds, Berlin, and Frankfurt with plenty of drinks and snacks.
- Events and community-led groups, including running groups, padel, and monthly ping-pong and pool competitions.
The benefits
- Flexible working hours.
- Medical insurance from Vitality, including discounted gym membership.
- A private GP service (separate from Vitality) for you, your partner, and your dependents.
- 25 days’ holiday per year, an extra day off for your birthday, the option to buy or sell an additional five days of annual leave, and unlimited unpaid leave.
- A one-month, fully paid sabbatical after four years.
- Instant access to external counselling and therapy sessions for team members that need emotional or mental health support.
- 3% Pension contributions on total earnings.
- An employee equity incentive scheme.
- Generous parental leave and a nursery tax benefit scheme to help you save money.
- Electric car scheme and cycle to work scheme.
- Two company retreats a year: we’ve been to France, Italy, Spain, and further afield.
And to make sure we all keep learning, we offer:
- A learning and development budget for everyone.
- Company-wide talks with internal and external speakers.
- Access to learning platforms like Treehouse.
Useful links:
The requirements
Essential:
- Proven track record in designing and building backend systems using Python, ideally with Django but open to other web frameworks such as FastAPI, Flask, or Ninja.
- Experience working with relational databases, ideally PostgreSQL but open to MySQL or similar, with an understanding of performance and maintainability considerations.
- Experience working on systems that support complex workflows, where data correctness and clear system behaviour matter.
- A track record of taking work from an initial problem through to delivery, including shaping solutions, making trade-offs, and iterating based on how systems are used.
- A drive to continually improve existing systems, not just building new ones, including simplifying and addressing long-standing pain points.
- A commitment to using modern tools effectively – including AI – to maximise quality, speed, and rigour, while retaining responsibility for accuracy and outcomes
Bonus:
- Knowing how to scale systems: Familiarity with working on internal tools or platforms used by large operational teams.
- Full-stack flexibility: Contributing to front-end codebases, particularly with React or TypeScript.
- Modern deployment experience: Working with CI/CD pipelines or deployment workflows.
- A data-driven mindset: Using data or metrics to assess whether changes have had the intended effect.
