Engineering Squad Lead - Backend

Engineering Squad Lead - Backend
London 

Are you curious, excited by experimentation and always looking for a better way of doing things? Do you want to keep learning and developing whilst getting hands-on, payment-building experience? Do you want to join the Engineering powerhouse of Modulr, constantly challenging the status quo to push our technology to the extraordinary? If so, we would love to hear from you!

We are looking to hire innovative, value-adding talent to join Modulr, the fastest growing payments business in the UK and Europe, to lead and shape our agile squads to deliver excellence in all they do, driving efficiency, ensuring high-quality product delivery and ultimately enabling us to continue transforming how our customers work. We are looking for a London-based candidate to leverage our office-first strategy. 

About Us 
At Modulr our mission is to move money efficiently to power business productivity. We are building a new digital payments service to make money flow more efficiently through businesses and the economy. This is a new type of payments account that is built for businesses that need faster, easier and more reliable ways to move money.

Our flexible platform and innovative approach allows our customers to utilise our payments account instead of a traditional bank account. Our accounts come with a sort code and account number, access to payment systems (eg Faster Payments and Visa) and everything our customers need from a payments account. They can instantly open as many accounts as they need, automate how they make and receive payments as well as the reconciliation processes these create. All in real time, 24/7 through their own systems utilising our API that integrates into any platform.

Our founding team has a wealth of experience in the payments industry and growing successful businesses. Modulr is backed by payments giants PayPal Ventures and FIS Ventures, as well as startup and scale up specialists Blenheim Chalcot, General Atlantic, Frog and Highland Europe which enables us to leverage their resources and expertise to drive our growth initiatives. These partnerships provide us with the necessary provisions to propel our business to new heights.

Modulr Values

• Building the extraordinary and going that extra mile
• Owning the opportunity, be passionate and proud of the time you invest
• Move at pace, reach your goals faster with us supporting you each step of the way
• Achieve it together, working as a team and being a Modulite

The Team
The Engineering team at Modulr is a dynamic and innovative group that is at the core of our technology stack. This role will report to the Engineering Manager and will work closely with Product Managers, QA Engineers and other cross-functional teams. The Engineering team collaborates regularly with the DevOps and Data teams to deliver cohesive and cutting-edge payment solutions. 

At Modulr we are focused on building autonomous squads that are committed to working in the best possible way. We operate in a tribes and squad model with, each area focused on a particular growth area and each squad being small and cross-functional. We have big ambitions and have many interesting challenges ahead. Our strategy is to provide our customers with seamless connectivity into payment schemes both domestically and overseas no matter where they're based. 

The Role 
The Engineering Squad Lead is a vital role within Modulr, where you will be responsible for building an autonomous, high performing squad to foster an environment where decisions are delegated, made and communicated effectively. You will actively work to create focused environments for your squad and you will work closely with our Engineering Managers to communicate progress and achievements. The role is a blend of hands-on development, technical leadership, people management and operational excellence

Key Responsibilities 

• Manage and lead a squad of approximately six software engineers, leading people development activity through team meetings, 1-2-1s and performance reviews.
• Hands-on in supporting the team through each phase of the development process, actively managing and resolving technical issues and blockers to ensure smooth and efficient project progression. 
• Squad planning and delegation to ensure the team have clearly defined responsibilities and are set up for success with delivery/project work 
• Ensure your squad holds engaged, efficient and productive agile ceremonies (stand-ups, sprint planning, reviews and retros), promoting a culture of continuous improvement 
• Set and track individual/team performance goals, providing direction, feedback and recognition to foster growth and high performance 
• Promoting high standards of code quality through code reviews, technical direction and implementing best practice. 
• Play a key role in the hiring process, including interviewing, candidate assessments; representing Modulr’s mission, strategy, and culture throughout the process. 
• Foster a culture of experimentation within the squad to facilitate continuous learning and improvement across engineering standards, tooling and processes. 
• Regular reporting on the squad's progress, outcomes and achievements to the wider Engineering organisation, actively sharing knowledge and experiences within the org to promote cross-team learning and collaboration. 

The Ideal Candidate

• Expertise in Java (or similar object-orientated languages with a willingness to learn Java) and experience with open-source technologies, including Spring and Hibernate. 
• Experience in designing, building and maintaining RESTful APIs. 
• Demonstrated ability to work with Microservices architecture. 
• Strong understanding of cloud computing and AWS systems and frameworks 
• Previous experience in designing, optimizing, and managing relational databases, particularly with PostgreSQL 
• Proven knowledge of DevOps practices and processes (including CI/CD and (IaC), with the ability to streamline development processes and enhance operational efficiency 
• Strong understanding of testing methodologies (TDD & BDD) including unit, integration and acceptance testing 
• Previous experience managing/mentoring multi-site technical teams in an agile environment. 
• Proven experience in software development and technical team leadership, with a strong understanding of engineering practices and processes. 
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in managing code reviews, conducting performance reviews and providing feedback. 
• As a strong problem-solver, you have the ability to apply analytical, critical thinking to identify key solutions. 

What can Modulr offer you
You’ll be part of a cross disciplinary team(s), with co-workers located in Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam and/or Mumbai. We are friendly and sociable, challenging but rewarding. We want you to push yourself and for us to support you in your future as we scale up and grow. Our culture and values are putting you first and are about investing in your future.

• Share Options Incentive Scheme
• Company Bonus- the more successful we are together, the more company bonus we offer
• Benefits pot -£1000 towards a variety of benefits for you to choose (including healthcare, dental etc), Perkbox (freebies and discounts!), plus access to season ticket loan
• 33 days holiday (inc. bank holidays) + your birthday off + opportunity to buy extra holiday- choose which days you take off to relax and/or spend time with loved ones
• Learning Opportunities– on joining Modulr you will embark on our 3-day onboarding programme to be equipped with the Modulr know-how and arm you with the tools you need to be successful from day 1! But, we don’t want your learning to stop there so we will continue to provide you with the tools and capabilities through our learning channels and platforms to allow you to grow and develop in Modulr.
• Modulr hands-on- join your colleagues for our company wide events throughout the year.
• Great workspace- Modulr thrives on innovation which is best done through in-person collaboration. This approach enables us to work together closely, exchange ideas, and create innovative solutions that drive our success. We have state of the art offices located in Exchange Crescent in Edinburgh, ScaleSpace in London, and WeWork in Amsterdam.

ModInclusion 
We believe that by seeing Modulr, and the world, from all sorts of angles, we can make life better for all.​ We want you to know that the things that make you, you — like your identity, age, ability, and background — are things that we will always celebrate and support with open arms.  As such, we are keen to maximise the diversity of our workforce and actively encourage applications from anyone and everyone.