Senior Software Engineer

The Company

We’re Octopus Legacy: one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country, part of the UK’s most exciting and best-trusted group (you may have heard of some of our sister companies…) and we have a mission.

We’re on a path to scale, aiming to become a household name while transforming a long-established industry and helping our customers prepare for, and find support after, death.

But we can’t do it alone, and that’s why we’re assembling a team of top performers to build with us.

Ready to be part of something big?

The Role  

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the design and development of scalable, cloud-native systems, leveraging modern architecture principles such as microservices and serverless frameworks.
• Write maintainable, efficient, and clean code primarily in Python, focusing on performance, scalability, and reliability.
• Build and maintain robust automated testing and CI/CD pipelines to support fast, frequent, and reliable deployments.
• Work closely with cross-functional stakeholders, including product managers, designers, and other engineers, to gather requirements, develop features, and address user needs.
• Drive best practices in development, demonstrating a strong balance between rapid iteration and high-quality output.
• Participate in code reviews, architectural discussions, and continuous improvement initiatives to foster a culture of technical excellence.
• Champion a lean mindset and agile methodologies, contributing to sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and retrospectives.
• Engage with the product and users to understand their needs, ensuring that the solutions delivered align with business goals and enhance the customer experience.

Who Are You?

Must Haves:

• Extensive experience in software development using Python or similar languages.
• Strong cloud experience, ideally with AWS (e.g., Lambda, S3, SNS, SQS, DynamoDB); however, similar expertise in GCP or Azure is also highly valued.
• Proven ability to design, build, and maintain cloud-native applications with a focus on scalability, performance, and reliability.
• Hands-on experience with automated testing practices and CI/CD tools such as CircleCI, Jenkins, GitHub Actions, or cloud-native solutions like AWS CodePipeline.
• Ability to thrive in a startup environment, embracing change, iteration, and rapid development cycles.
• Strong understanding of RESTful APIs, with experience in building, consuming, and optimising them.
• Experience or familiarity with OpenAI APIs or other LLMs, with an interest in integrating these technologies into products.
• Excellent collaboration and communication skills, enabling smooth work across engineering and non-engineering teams.
• Experience working in agile teams and familiarity with agile development practices.
• A passion for building products that deliver real value to users and a strong customer-centric approach.

Nice to Haves:

• Experience with serverless frameworks (e.g., Serverless Framework, AWS SAM) or equivalent technologies on GCP/Azure.
• Familiarity with infrastructure as code (IaC) tools like AWS CloudFormation, Terraform, or equivalent tools in other cloud environments.
• Experience with containerization (e.g., Docker) and orchestration tools like Kubernetes or ECS.
• Background in event-driven architecture.
• Understanding of Python web frameworks such as Flask or FastAPI.
• Experience optimising applications for cloud performance, cost-efficiency, and scalability.
• Hands-on experience with monitoring and logging tools (e.g., AWS CloudWatch, Datadog, ELK stack).
• An understanding of lean software development principles and practices focused on delivering value quickly.
• A passion for mentoring and sharing knowledge, contributing to a culture of continuous learning and growth.

Our Mission

When people think about planning for death they think about wills, life insurance and funerals. We take these cold processes and turn them into something more human. Share more than money: leave voice notes, music, recipes. Shape a legacy that connects you while you're here. And after you're gone.

Founded by Sam after his mum died suddenly, we’re a group of people who work in death because we’ve been affected by it. We know the difference a good plan makes, and what it’s like when there isn’t one.

Death can come between us, leave mess, legal fees, frustration. But it can also make us stronger. We see a world where people talk openly about death, and work out the real meaning of legacy, one that connects to them. We’re here to make that world happen. 

Benefits:

• Octopus share incentive scheme.
• Hybrid working (London Bridge).
• Flexible holiday + extra day off for your Birthday.
• Work from anywhere in the world for up to 4 weeks per year.
• Vitality Health & Life Insurance. 
• Pension scheme.
• Enhanced parental leave.
• Free Will & LPAs + discounts on other Octopus services.
• Cycle to Work Scheme and access to the Electric Vehicle (EV) Salary Sacrifice Scheme.
• Octopus Giving: we match any charitable fundraising that you do up to £500. 
• Octopus Springboard: where we help our employees become fully-fledged entrepreneurs.
• Dog friendly office.
• Breakfast every day, snacks and wellness activities.

We know that to be truly innovative, we need to have a diverse team around us. That is why Octopus Legacy is committed to creating an inclusive environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer.