Senior Java/Kotlin Software Engineer - Manchester

Our Story Hello there. We’re Zopa. We started our journey back in 2005, building the first ever peer-to-peer lending company. Fast forward to 2020 and we launched Zopa Bank. A bank that listens to what our customers don’t like about finance and does the opposite. We’re redefining what it feels like to work in finance. Our vision for a new era of banking puts people front and centre — we’ve built a business that empowers everyone to aim high, every day, to move finance forward. Find out more about our fantastic offerings at Zopa.com ! We’re incredibly proud of our achievements and none of it would be possible without the amazing team here. It’s not just industry awards we’re winning, we’ve also been named in the top three UK’s Most Loved Workplaces. If you embrace unconventional challenges, are unafraid to think differently and are driven to make an outsized impact, you’ll thrive here at Zopa, so join us, and make it count. Want to see us in action? Follow us on Instagram @zopalife The engineering challenge Our Software Engineers don't just write code, they solve real financial problems for millions of customers. You'll work on distributed systems processing thousands of transactions daily, build resilient services that handle people's money, and create experiences that make traditionally complex financial products feel simple. Your Impact Designing, building and running scalable backend systems using Kotlin and AWS Contributing to technical direction, team practices and architectural decisions Collaborating closely with product managers, designers and other engineers Mentoring junior engineers and helping to raise the technical bar Owning your team’s code, quality and delivery Taking part in the full SDLC — including operating your own services in production Writing well-tested, clean code Making smart trade-offs between speed, quality and risk to deliver customer value quickly Your Toolkit Strong backend engineering experience using Kotlin or Java in a production environment Passionate about building reliable, high-quality products — not just writing code Comfortable working on distributed systems with scale and complexity Advocates for testing, clean code, and automation throughout the development process Understands trade-offs in product delivery and values pragmatism Enjoys solving problems collaboratively and mentoring others Clear communicator with experience working cross-functionally Excited by fast-moving environments and full ownership of your work Our Engineering Culture Customer impact over unnecessary complexity Team success over individual heroics Operational ownership, not just feature delivery Continuous improvement through honest feedback Added Bonus Experience with fintech or banking is a plus, but we value problem-solvers from all backgrounds #ON-LI1 At Zopa we value flexible ways of working. We value face-to-face collaboration and a good work-life balance. This hybrid role requires you to come to our Manchester office 2-3 days a week. (WeWork, Dalton Place, 29 John Dalton Street, M2 6WF) Please note this office is dog friendly so you might see some furry friends about! You'll also have the option of working from abroad for up to 120 days a year!* But no matter where you are, we’ll make sure you’ve got everything you need to thrive, both in your work and home life, from day one. *Subject to having the right to work in the country of choice Diversity Statement Zopa is proud to offer a workplace free from discrimination. Diversity of experience, perspectives, and backgrounds leads to better products for our customers and a unique company culture for our people. We are made up of nearly 50 nationalities, have a DE&I forum made up of Zopians wanting to make a difference and we are proud of our culture where everyone can bring their full self to work. Our approach to DE&I is reflected in our hiring process so please let us know if you require any reasonable adjustments. Our approach to AI in interviews At Zopa, AI isn't something we're testing out — it's part of how we work every day. As a proud partner of Jobs 2030 , we're committed to building AI fluency across our workforce, and we expect Zopians to use AI as part of how they do their jobs. Because of that, we want to be transparent about how we think about AI use during our hiring process. Behavioural and competency-based interviews : please don't use AI . These conversations are designed to understand you — your experiences, your judgment, and how you've approached real situations. An AI-generated answer can't tell us that. What it can do is get in the way of us finding out whether we're the right fit for each other. Technical interviews: it depends on the role. Some technical stages actively welcome AI use, others don't. Your Talent Partner will let you know what's expected at each stage. Where AI is part of the assessment, we'll be interested not just in the outcome, but in how you used it – the tools you chose, your reasoning, and the decisions you made along the way.