the best companies for salary and culture

At the end of last year, a Dealroom report revealed that London was the top destination for fintech funding. It’s not just about the big players like Revolut and Starling Bank: the city is a hive of activity for smaller companies that want to do big things.

Here are 10 of the highest rated fintechs in London and what working there can bring you:

TrueLayer

Annoyed at the big banks’ unsatisfactory technology stack? An engineering-focused employer may be more on the way, and TrueLayer is one such company. Fintech focuses on payments and data infrastructure for finance, crypto and more.

TrueLayer reviews on Glassdoor are 4.5 stars with 100% CEO approval. Recent reviews praise its “great technology stack” and “great community of engineers.” It received an award for innovation in payments in 2019 and has since appeared on several lists of the best tech companies to work for.

Several negative reviews claim that a number of employees have gone beyond differences with the management. One negative reviewer said the 13-inch Mac they got wasn’t a good enough spec and they spent way too much time in meetings.

TrueLayer is hiring for 19 roles, 6 of which are in engineering. A senior QA engineer can earn up to £90,000 a year, while a senior engineer position has an upper salary limit of £140,000.

Form 3

Another payments fintech with an impressive technology stack, Form 3 stands out due to its cloud-based, built-from-scratch platform and the ability to work completely remotely.

Glassdoor reviews give Form3 an impressive 4.7 stars. They praise the “best technology” used for their “strong and innovative product.” On the people side, they praise a “transparent leadership team” that gives them great autonomy with little micromanagement.

Most of the criticism is directed at the completely remote nature of the work. Some enjoy it, while others find it difficult to socialize with colleagues. Another criticism from a review is that “the relationship between business/product and engineering is not that strong.”

Form3 is currently hiring for 27 roles including a number of senior developer positions. Glassdoor salary information tells us that the average annual salary for a senior software engineer is over £93k.

Checkout.com

London’s largest payments provider, Checkout.com, slashed its internal valuation at the end of 2022. Still, the fintech decacorn is hard at work expanding, and its people love being a part of it.

Greatplacetowork.com placed them in the top 50 large companies in London to work for and in the top 25 workplaces for women, technology and wellbeing respectively. They have also been in the top 3 of Glassdoor’s best London fintechs to work for.

However, recent reviews on Glassdoor have been quite critical. One calls the company “good at fine, bad at tech”, while several have complained about the balance between work and private life in the last month.

Glassdoor salary information tells us that Senior Engineers at Checkout.com earn a salary of over £82k on average.

Capdesk

Last September, the share management platform Capdesk was acquired by San Francisco competitor Carta. Although the latter has some positive reviews, it is the smaller UK-based fintech that seems to be a more enjoyable place to work.

Given its smaller stature, Glassdoor reviews praise the “transparent” and “well-liked” executives and founders. They also praise an “inclusive” and “very positive working environment”, especially when it comes to telecommuting.

Before the acquisition, there were some negative reviews that warned of high staff turnover. Reviews warn that “salary and benefits may be a little less than what you can get elsewhere.“

Thinking machine

Thought Machine has undergone a lot of growth and development in recent years. Although past accusations put them in a negative light, the fintech cloud banking platform has gained momentum and garnered almost universal internal recognition in recent years.

A 2020 study by Sifted using Glassdoor reviews had them ranked as the top fintech for employee satisfaction, with an overall score of 4.7 stars. More recently, positive reviews have praised the “masses of autonomy” offered and “excellent treatment of staff.”

Their focused approach in the office may not be ideal for everyone, but they try to compensate with perks like an in-house barista and “Thought Machine Fridays,” a weekly event that provides insight into the workings of the company.

Glassdoor information tells us that the average total salary for a software engineer is over £86k while a senior engineer would earn £114k on average.

Revolut

Arguably London’s most prominent fintech, Revolut is certainly not fintech for everyone. But if you value fast career progression and want to leave a role much better than you entered, Revolut is perfect.

A senior python developer left late last year, calling it a “beautiful place.” A Glassdoor review on Christmas Day said so “not for the faint of heart, but an experience of a lifetime.Although the python developer said he never sacrificed WLB, other reviews disagree, with one highlighting a “significantly aggressive culture.”

Working at Revolut seems less about what you do while there, but where it might take you. Alan Chang joined as a 21-year-old, leaving a millionaire at 28, while younger employees to this day are entrusted with senior roles such as “operational principal”.

The average software engineer at Revolut earns £86.5k on average, while senior engineers earn £105k.

Wise

Another of London’s most significant fintech unicorns, money transfer fintech Wise is perhaps London’s most aggressive fintech hire. Not only are there many jobs, but they are highly recommended.

Reviews praise the company’s response to the work you do there something as simple as “meeting deadlines has a bigger impact than most other places.“

When it comes to culture, a Wise employee on the blind appreciates the company’s flexibility and informal approach. He says “I’ve worked here for a little over 4 months and I haven’t seen anyone work longer than 6:30.However, he criticizes their codebase, which is “kind of a mess.”

Wise has 71 open roles in London, a number of which are available on eFinancialCareers. Their senior roles pay very well; an engineering lead can earn a salary of £130k while a lead finance product manager can earn £140k.

Atomic Bank

Although their headquarters are based in the North of England, the challenger bank has an office in London and stands out from the crowd for its far more relaxed approach to banking.

We have previously written about them as one of the rare examples in the financial industry of a four-day working week. Bankers have made moves to Spotify in recent months which offer the same, meaning the extra day off is clearly appreciated by a few.

The culture when working also seems positive. Reviews on Glassdoor average 4.3 stars and describe the company as “one big family” with a “progressive, can-do attitude.”

Atom’s biggest weakness in the job market is simply how few engineering roles are available, although there are a decent number of more traditional finance roles available. A portfolio manager at Atom Bank earns £80k annually according to Glassdoor.

Zopa

In December, it was estimated that the digital bank Zopa had increased the number of employees by 27%. Not only did they hire more people, they paid their people even better, increased minimum wages by over 20% and gave those earning under £50,000 a year a £500 winter bonus.

With that level of spending you might think they wouldn’t want to bring in too many more people, but they currently have 21 available roles across 9 divisions.

Zopa reviews on glassdoor are glowing, with an average of 4.6 stars and 98% CEO approval. They praise “excellent management” who “genuinely care about staff” with one reviewer claiming to have been promoted twice in two and a half years.

Zopa is hiring for a number of senior software roles, including two engineering managers. Glassdoor estimates that the average senior developer at Zopa earns a salary of over £83k.

GoCardless

Another unicorn, payments fintech GoCardless, continues its global expansion as it recruits in France, Australia and Latvia. However, most of the employment still takes place in the English capital.

Reviews on Glassdoor are generally positive, with 4.2 stars and 99% CEO approval. Technical staff in particular love the “modern” stack and the “very friendly” engineering team.

A complaint from a 2023 review was a lack of support for those with special needs, particularly if a condition requires working from home. However, they admitted that the departments are quite separate, so they may not represent the whole company.

Data from Glassdoor suggests that the average engineer earns a salary of £76k, ​​while an engineering manager can earn £128k.

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