Staff Backend Engineer (AI)

At Tide, we empower Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by providing business accounts, banking services, and comprehensive administrative solutions, including invoicing and accounting. We are transforming the small business banking market, supporting over 2 million members globally across the UK, India, Germany, and France. Our data-driven approach and advanced technology focus on helping SMEs save time and money so they can concentrate on their core business.

About the Role:

Join Tide at the forefront of the AI revolution, working on cutting-edge projects that shape the future of financial services. As a Staff-level Backend Engineer specializing in AI, you will bridge robust backend systems with Generative AI capabilities. Your role will involve designing the frameworks, standards, and platforms necessary to scale AI features securely, reliably, and efficiently across the enterprise. Beyond feature delivery, you will significantly influence the company's long-term technical direction.

As a Staff Engineer, You Will:

• Build core services for Tide’s agentic platform, including APIs, workflow orchestration, and tool integration.
• Integrate third-party components to accelerate delivery, and build in-house solutions where control, trust, and reuse are paramount.
• Collaborate with product, data, platform, and security teams to productionize shared AI capabilities.
• Design services that are reliable, secure, observable, and easy for other teams to adopt.
• Help shape reusable engineering patterns for AI-enabled workflows.

What We Are Looking For:

• Strong backend or platform engineering experience in production environments.
• Sound judgment across APIs, distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and service design.
• Experience integrating internal and third-party platforms.
• Comfort working in ambiguous environments and translating emerging needs into robust platform components.
• A strong focus on quality, reliability, and developer usability.
• Experience with AI infrastructure or orchestration is helpful but not essential.
• Experience in highly regulated industries (Fintech, Healthtech) where safety and compliance are core to the product is valuable but not essential.
• Ability to design and build automated evaluation pipelines to measure agent reasoning accuracy and safety trajectories.

Our Tech Stack:

• Languages & Frameworks: Java, Spring Boot, JOOQ (or similar strongly typed languages), Python, Flask.
• Architecture: Event-driven architecture with Kafka, SNS, SQS.
• Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL (RDS/Aurora).
• Cloud & Infrastructure: AWS, Docker, Terraform, EKS.
• Monitoring: DataDog, Rollbar.
• CI/CD: GitHub, Sonarcloud, Semgrep.
• Frontend: Angular 2+, Flutter.
• Data & ML: Fivetran, Snowflake, Looker, Faust, Tecton, ML libraries.

What You'll Get in Return:

• Competitive Compensation: Competitive salary and share options.
• Time Off: Generous annual leave plus bank holidays.
• Parental Leave: Paid maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
• Sabbatical: Extended unpaid and paid leave options.
• Health Insurance: Private family insurance with OPD coverage and top-up options.
• Life & Accident Cover: Comprehensive accidental and life insurance.
• Mental Wellbeing: Access to therapy, courses, meditations, and workshops.
• Volunteering & Development Days: Paid days for volunteering or personal growth.
• Learning & Development: Annual budget for books, courses, coaching, etc.
• Work Outside the Office (WOO): Opportunity to work from abroad for up to 90 days annually.
• Home Office Setup: Contribution towards home office expenses.
• Laptop Ownership: Keep your old laptop and receive a new one upon replacement.
• Office Perks: Snacks, coffee, tea, and lunch (location dependent).

Tidean Ways of Working:

Tide champions a flexible workplace model, supporting both in-person and remote work. Our offices serve as hubs for innovation and team-building, encouraging regular in-person gatherings to foster community.

Tide is a Place for Everyone:

Tide celebrates diversity and believes in the power of varied backgrounds and experiences. We are committed to building a workforce that reflects the diverse communities we serve, fostering an inclusive environment where every voice is heard. We are One Team, committed to transparency and mutual respect.