Backend Engineer

Conduct

TL;DR: We're looking for exceptional builders who help us design and ship the foundational infrastructure that lets Conduct scale to the world's largest enterprises, while accelerating the product teams building on top of it. WHY CONDUCT The world's largest companies are slowed down by the software they run on. We’re building the AI operating system that absorbs IT complexity and unlocks entirely new levels of speed, output, and ambition. We believe this is a generation-defining mission. Major enterprises already trust us with their most critical systems, we just closed a $60M Series A from top-tier funds, and we're still early enough that what you build here defines the company. We're a small, talent-dense team doing our life's work at Conduct - we value extreme ownership, high velocity, and low-ego collaboration. If you bring that same drive, we will make sure this is the place you do yours too.   WHO WE HIRE We're looking for pragmatic, high-agency engineers who thrive in ambiguity and care as much about the system as the feature. Fundamentals matter more to us than familiarity with any specific tool. If you're strong, you'll pick it up fast. You'll stand out if you: * Have 3+ years of backend experience with exposure to platform or infrastructure work. You have seen what it actually takes to go from MVP to scalable, production-grade systems * Have strong system design instincts and own problems end-to-end across APIs, infrastructure, and data flows * Are experienced with distributed systems, scaling databases (postgres), queueing, and large-scale batch processing * Understand how to benchmark and tune systems under real load, and know how to make pragmatic trade-offs when the data is ambiguous * Are familiar with LLM infrastructure at scale * Raise the bar around you — through code, mentorship, and better systems — and fix problems without waiting for permission   WHAT YOU’LL OWN You'll have broad ownership across architecture, developer experience and production systems. The infrastructure problems are real and genuinely hard: we process tens of millions of lines of code per customer, generating large-scale LLM workloads under enterprise-grade reliability requirements. You'll work on the systems that keep product teams fast and unblocked and that hold up as we onboard some of the largest companies in the world. In practice that means: * Accelerating product teams. You build the platform that lets engineers focus on product, not plumbing: shared abstractions, sensible defaults, internal tooling that compounds. * Scaling with confidence. You design and maintain infrastructure that meets stringent enterprise reliability requirements and doesn't become fragile as we grow. * Taming LLM infrastructure. High token throughput, real-time usage, flaky providers — you make it reliable. * Raising the floor, not just the ceiling. From auth to observability to job orchestration, you build systems that are well-designed from the start and don't need to be rebuilt later.   OUR STACK Our stack prioritises what matters: shipping to customers—fast—without compromising on quality and engineering. Fundamentals are more important to us than familiarity with any technology or tool: if you're strong, we’re sure you'll pick it up fast. Here’s our setup: * React, Vite, TanStack frontend * Kotlin backend: Modern and expressive, paired with the maturity, tooling, and depth of the Java ecosystem. Lets us ship fast now without painting ourselves into a corner later. * Temporal and PortKey: Absorbs infrastructure complexity around durable execution and enterprise-compliant LLM routing, so we can focus on shipping instead. * Specialised LLM Harness: Built from hard-earned experience to give agents maximum freedom and intelligence without compromising on enterprise control, governance, or reliability.

Gradient Labs

AT GRADIENT LABS, WE'RE BUILDING THE AI CUSTOMER OPERATIONS PLATFORM FOR FINANCIAL SERVICES. Founded in 2023, we now work with some of the biggest names in banking and fintech. Our platform runs specialist agents, purpose-built for financial services, to eliminate manual work across customer support and back-office operations. Together, they give product and operations teams the visibility and control to trust every outcome. We're a team of builders from companies like Monzo, Wise, Mastercard, Revolut and Google. If you're excited to tackle some of the hardest problems in AI and help shape the future of customer operations, we'd love to hear from you.   🎯 HOW YOU’LL MAKE AN IMPACT This isn't a maintenance role or a feature factory. At Gradient Labs, you will own systems that matter — from the first architectural decision through to production, scale, and everything that breaks along the way. You'll work on the infrastructure that makes autonomous AI agents actually reliable in the real world. That means building for failure, designing for observability, and shipping with conviction — not waiting for a perfect spec that will never arrive. * Build the OS for AI Agents — Contribute to a safe, scalable platform that lets us iterate on autonomous agent capabilities faster than anyone else. You are building the infrastructure that makes AI actually work in production. * Ship Resilient Systems — Design and own systems that hold up under failures, retry storms, and resource starvation — with full observability baked in. Reliability is a baseline, not an aspiration. * Take Products from 0 → 1 → Scale — Scope something from scratch, make the early architectural calls, and stay responsible for it as it grows. We build with conviction and we see things through. * Move Fast, Ship Often — Iterate in small increments. Multiple deploys a day. Comfort with ambiguity is not optional — it is the job. The mission moves faster than the roadmap. 💡 WHAT YOU’LL BRING * Substantial tenure building production software at a fast-growing company — fintech, AI, consumer tech, or any environment where pace and stakes were both high * Proven experience owning complex, high-stakes systems end to end — not handing off at merge, but staying accountable through observability, iteration, and scale * Deep fluency in Go (Golang) and comfort operating across a modern backend stack (PostgreSQL, Temporal, GCP, Kubernetes) * A product instinct that goes beyond technical elegance — you think from the customer backwards and bring that into every architectural decision * Senior, Staff, Principal or Distinguished level in practice — someone who has operated with real scope and real accountability * Genuine excitement for autonomous AI as a platform shift, not a trend — you want to build the infrastructure that makes agents genuinely reliable * Strong opinions, loosely held — conviction without ego, and always willing to be wrong in pursuit of the right answer WHY JOIN GRADIENT LABS? This is a unique chance to be part of a team working with cutting-edge technology to reshape how businesses will operate in the future. Over the next 10 years, every company will need to embrace AI-powered operations to stay competitive, and this role puts you right in the middle of that transformation. You’ll tackle challenging and new problems, work with some of the most exciting brands across different industries, and be surrounded by a passionate, smart team that’s driven to build something groundbreaking.

heycar

Since August 2019, we’ve been making it easier for customers to find the right vehicle, and for automotive retailers to sell them.  More recently, we’ve been on a journey… In June 2025 we were acquired by Volkswagen Financial Services UK (VWFS UK) and our mission is simple: build the right tech solutions for Volkswagen Group UK and its retailers, so they can deliver the best possible experiences to their customers.  We’re a mix of problem-solvers, innovators, and team players who care about doing great work and making a difference. We thrive on collaboration, innovation, and a shared commitment to excellence. We deliver impactful solutions at pace that put the customer at the centre.  If you're looking for a meaningful challenge, and want to help shape the future of automotive experiences, then read on…   About the role :  Join the team and play a pivotal role in building highly scalable and maintainable backend services. You'll have the opportunity to leverage and suggest the latest tools and techniques, collaborating closely with Product, Design, and Sales teams. We encourage sharing technical solutions and product ideas through code and design reviews, pair programming, and presentations, all while continuously improving our Agile processes.   What you’ll do: Our culture empowers our talented developers to develop using whichever tools we need to get the job done. To face the many challenges, including brilliant customer experience, data processing,  microservice architecture and more. * Hands on building highly scalable and maintainable backend services. * Use appropriate tools for development and being proactive in suggesting new tools, frameworks or techniques * Collaborate across functional teams including Product, Design and Sales * Share technical solutions and product ideas through code and design reviews, pair programming, and presentations * Highlight areas we can improve on as a team practising Agile processes   Our Tech Stack: We use the tools we need to get the job done. We primarily use the following tools and frameworks (some have been added in the past year, and more are planned): Python Django FastAPI AWS ElasticSearch Postgresql Kafka Github Kubernetes     What you’ll need: * Strong technical skills to build scalable backend services, primarily in Python (in any framework) * Analytical skills: a love for problem solving, and improving our working processes.  We are always learning * A good understanding of databases, OO design, data structures and SOLID principles * Strong desire to work collaboratively with both your peers and business teams * The ability to communicate technical concepts to other members of the team.   What we’ll give you: * Compensation: We offer a competitive salary + performance based bonus * Holidays: We want you to relax, you’ll have 28 days off (plus bank holidays) throughout the year. We also give you an extra day off to enjoy your birthday! * Benefits + Perks: With private medical insurance, learning and development opportunities and mental health support we’ll give you the extra boost. * Hybrid Working: We have a flexible working culture here at heycar. With hybrid working in our offices in Holborn (London) and working from home days. * Feedback: You'll be joining more than just another scale up - our team are at the heart of everything we do; here we don’t leave things unsaid, we encourage honest feedback. * A Challenge: Fast paced but not fraught. So we need you to keep up, push back and question where you see fit. * Fun: We provide a fully stocked kitchen and bar, an awesome office environment and epic socials.   If you’re ready to work with a creative, high-performing group of people we want to hear from you. Please apply directly to this role. Contact : Reece Jagger for more details.