Lead Backend Engineer (Pension Team)

We’re looking for a Lead Backend Engineer to join and lead our Pension Team — a backend-focused team working on one of InvestEngine’s key product areas.

This role combines strong hands-on backend engineering with team leadership. In the first months, you’ll be expected to contribute to the codebase while gradually taking ownership of the team’s delivery, processes, and technical direction.

You’ll work closely with backend engineers, product managers, QA, and business stakeholders to plan and deliver both day-to-day product improvements and larger technical initiatives. One example of the scale of work could be migrating from one pension provider to another, which would require careful backend design, infrastructure changes, coordination with the business, and strong ownership throughout the process.

What You’ll Do

• Design, develop, and maintain backend services in Python 3.11 using Django / DRF

• Lead architectural discussions and contribute to long-term technical strategy

• Work with MySQL and Redis to optimize performance and scalability

• Build and improve RESTful APIs for internal and external integrations

• Continuously improve system performance, reliability, and scalability as we grow

• Collaborate with Product, Compliance, and Business teams to deliver impactful features and automate back office processes and workflows.

• Investigate and resolve production issues, identify bottlenecks, and reduce tech debt

• Apply best practices in Git workflows, CI/CD pipelines (TeamCity, GitHub Actions), and code quality

• Drive improvements in our architecture, development processes, and internal tooling

• Mentor and develop engineers through code reviews, pairing, and technical guidance

• Support security and compliance requirements with pragmatic, scalable technical solutions

• Help teams clearly communicate architectural decisions through documentation and discussion

What We’re Looking For

• 5+ years of backend development experience, including leading projects or small teams

• Strong Python expertise; solid experience with Django or similar frameworks

• Strong understanding of relational databases, caching, and scalable system design

• Ability to operate in ambiguity, take initiative, and drive technical decisions

• Excellent communication skills - especially written and spoken English with native or near-native stakeholders (B2+ required)

• A collaborative mindset and passion for mentoring and growing engineers

• Experience with modern development practices: Git, CI/CD, testing, clean code, monitoring

Nice to Have

• Experience in fintech, regulated industries, or internal platform/B2B systems

• Familiarity with AWS, Docker, and messaging systems such as RabbitMQ or Kafka

• Contributions to open-source projects or personal technical initiatives

• Prior experience helping teams adopt architectural standards or improve technical communication

How We Work

We’re a lean, collaborative team where developers help shape architecture, product direction, and engineering culture. You’ll have real impact, autonomy, and the trust to build solutions that scale with the business — without micromanagement or heavy bureaucracy.

What We Offer

• Direct impact — work on business-critical systems and influence core architecture

• Modern tech stack — Python 3.11, Django, MySQL, Redis, AWS, GitHub, TeamCity

• Remote-first and flexible — work from anywhere, with meaningful overlap with London working hours expected for this leadership role (team rituals, cross-team alignment, and stakeholder meetings)

• Unlimited vacation — take the time you need, when you need it