Associate Engineer

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About the Role

Associate Backend Software Engineer (permanent) in the Search Retrieval team.

Responsibilities

• Work closely with Product Managers, Data Scientists and fellow Backend Engineers to understand problems and design solutions.
• Produce high‑quality, well‑structured code that will be used by 1M+ active daily users.
• Embrace agile methodologies and participate in blameless post‑mortems, architecture reviews and other continuous improvement activities.
• Collaborate daily with cross‑functional teams to solve problems and write code.
• Own, code and manage workflows and data throughout their entire lifecycle, including documentation.

Qualifications

• Strong sense of ownership and autonomy.
• Excellent written and spoken English communication skills.
• Comfortable working in a fast‑paced environment and able to respond to change or uncertainty with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn.
• Desire to work on a user‑impacting product team and play an integral role in improving how users find products they will love.
• Passion for learning new skills in a collaborative environment.
• Familiarity with a high‑level programming language such as Python or Scala.
• Experience using version control such as Git.

What You’ll Learn

• Python/Scala programming.
• Scalable system design in a modern cloud‑based environment (AWS).
• A product‑oriented mindset focused on solving real business problems.
• Software engineering best practices: testing, clean coding, code reviews, pair programming, technical documentation, observability, and iterative development using A/B testing.
• Search domain skills, working closely with product, data science and machine learning teams to understand search engines and ML‑driven information retrieval systems.

Benefits

• Health and mental wellbeing: PMI and cash plan, Bupa healthcare access, subsidised counselling and coaching with Self Space, Cycle‑to‑Work scheme, Employee Assistance Programme, mental health first aiders.
• Work‑life balance: 25 days annual leave (up to 5 days carry‑over), one company‑wide day off per quarter, up to 2 days additional paid leave for volunteering, fully paid 4‑week sabbatical after 5 years of service.
• Flexible working: MyMode hybrid model with flex, office‑based, remote options; dog‑friendly offices; ability to work abroad for 4 weeks per year in UK tax treaty countries.
• Family life: 18 weeks paid parental leave for full‑time employees, IVF leave, shared parental leave, paid emergency parent/carer leave.
• Learning and growth: budgets for conferences, learning subscriptions, mentorship programmes, and more.
• Other perks: life insurance (3× salary), pension matching up to 6% of qualifying earnings, free shipping on Depop sales within the UK, special milestone gifts and rewards.

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