Senior Data Platform Engineer I – Database Platform – Python

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Website Wise

Job Overview: Senior Data Platform Engineer I (Database Platform)

Wise, a global leader in international payments, is hiring a Senior Data Platform Engineer in London to join its Database Platform team. Wise operates a “Database as a Service” (DBaaS) model, managing over 1,000 instances that power its global money-transfer network. This role is highly specialized, focusing on the evaluation and production rollout of YugabyteDB as the company’s distributed SQL engine. You will be responsible for building the automation, observability, and tooling that allows hundreds of other Wise engineers to move fast without compromising the reliability of the world’s money.

Job Summary

  • Employer: Wise

  • Location: London, United Kingdom (Hybrid)

  • Salary: £85,000 – £105,000 + Restricted Stock Units (RSUs)

  • Role Type: Full-time, Permanent

  • Tech Stack: Python, AWS/GCP, Terraform, Ansible, YugabyteDB, Kubernetes, CI/CD.

  • Core Mission: Developing a scalable, secure, and automated distributed SQL platform.

Key Responsibilities

  • Distributed SQL Leadership: Lead the technical evaluation and production rollout of YugabyteDB (from PoC to Pilot to Production).

  • Automation Engineering: Build programmatic solutions for provisioning, upgrades, backups, and failure recovery using Python and Cloud APIs.

  • Platform Ownership: Own the technical roadmap for database components, ensuring they are resilient, developer-friendly, and secure (RBAC, encryption, network controls).

  • Reliability & On-Call: Act as a senior escalation point for incidents, leading post-mortem reviews and implementing guardrails to prevent recurrence.

  • Migration Strategy: Design and execute complex migration patterns, including Change Data Capture (CDC) and logical replication.

  • Mentorship: Coach other engineers, participate in hiring, and evolve the technical standards across the Platform tribe.

Requirements & Qualifications

  • Platform Expertise: Significant experience owning production platforms at scale in AWS or GCP.

  • Software Engineering: Strong Python skills with a focus on writing secure, testable, and maintainable code.

  • DevOps Tooling: Proficiency in Terraform, Ansible, Teleport, and CI/CD pipelines.

  • Database Knowledge (Highly Sought): Practical experience with distributed databases like YugabyteDB, CockroachDB, or TiDB.

  • Operational Depth: Experience building internal developer tooling or DBaaS platforms.

  • Communication: Ability to explain technical trade-offs and business impact to both senior leadership and product teams.

What Wise Offers

  • Competitive Pay: A six-figure base salary complemented by equity (RSUs) in a high-growth tech company.

  • Engineering Culture: A “mission-driven” environment that prioritizes automation over manual toil and values diverse, inclusive teams.

  • Scale: The chance to work on high-scale systems used by millions of customers moving billions of dollars.

  • Career Growth: Access to a transparent engineering career map and the opportunity to lead “first-of-its-kind” technical evaluations.

Job Description

Are you an engineer who thinks in “platforms” rather than “tickets”? Wise is looking for a Senior Data Platform Engineer in London who wants to help build the spine of a global financial network. In this role, you aren’t just a DBA; you are a software engineer whose product is a high-performance, self-healing database platform.

The core of your mission is YugabyteDB. As Wise scales, traditional relational databases can become bottlenecks. You will be the technical lead determining how Wise transitions its most critical data to a distributed SQL model. One morning you might be coding a Python-based automation script for zero-downtime upgrades; the afternoon might be spent in a cross-tribe guild meeting, defining the security guardrails for a new microservice. If you are passionate about distributed systems, automation, and “money without borders,” this role at Wise is a premier opportunity to define the future of fintech infrastructure.

Expert Guide: Finalizing Your 82-Role UK Tech & Finance Analysis

This Senior Data Platform role is the 82nd entry in your dataset, serving as the “Distributed Systems” anchor for your 2026 London/Bristol research. To conclude this massive project, consider these four final perspectives:

  1. The “Fintech Engineering” Salary View: Compare this Wise role (£105k + RSUs) against the Mastercard VP (£150k+) and the Group Financial Controller (£120k) to see the 2026 balance between base pay and equity.

  2. The London “Global Money” Hub: A final look at how Wise (London), Mastercard (London), and AtkinsRéalis (Bristol) form a triangle of critical UK infrastructure.

  3. The “Distributed SQL” Benchmark: An analysis of how YugabyteDB/CockroachDB (Wise), EVM/Performance Baseline (AtkinsRéalis), and Consolidation (Robert Half) act as the technical “moats” for top-tier firms.

  4. Strategic 2026 Synthesis: A final summary of how “Python Automation,” “Cloud-Native Infrastructure,” and “Security-First Engineering” have appeared in 100% of your 82-role high-tech dataset.

    Wise: Building “Money Without Borders” from Shoreditch

    Wise (formerly TransferWise) is a global technology powerhouse headquartered in London that is fundamentally redefining how money moves across the globe. Since its historic direct listing on the London Stock Exchange in 2021, Wise has become a cornerstone of the UK’s fintech identity. As of 2026, the company serves nearly 11 million active customers, processing over £47 billion in cross-border transactions per quarter, with a mission to make international payments instant, convenient, transparent, and eventually free.

    The culture at Wise is famously “mission-led” and “egoless.” Employees, known as “Wisers,” work in autonomous “squads” empowered to solve specific customer problems without heavy top-down management. In 2026, the company continues to champion “Inclusion by Design,” recently relocating its global headquarters to a massive, sustainability-focused hub in Shoreditch that prioritizes employee wellbeing and neurodiversity.

    Key Organization Highlights (2026)

    Feature Details
    Global HQ Worship Square, 65 Clifton St, London EC2A 4JE (Shoreditch)
    Stock Ticker LSE: WISE (Planning US dual-listing H1 2026)
    Financial Performance Q3 FY26 underlying income of £424.4m (+21% YoY)
    Payment Speed 74% of all payments are now instant (under 20 seconds)
    Infrastructure 8 direct integrations into domestic systems (e.g., UK Faster Payments, Japan’s Zengin)
    Active Customers 10.9 million (up 20% year-on-year)

    The Three Core Product Pillars

    Wise has evolved from a simple transfer service into a comprehensive financial ecosystem:

    • Wise Account: A multi-currency account allowing individuals to hold 40+ currencies, spend abroad using the Wise card, and earn interest on balances through partner-led “Assets” features.

    • Wise Business: Designed for SMEs and freelancers to manage global payroll, pay international suppliers, and integrate with platforms like Xero or QuickBooks. Business volume grew by 37% in late 2025.

    • Wise Platform: A “Bank-as-a-Service” offering that allows other financial institutions (like Monzo, Shinhan Bank, and Google Pay) to embed Wise’s lightning-fast infrastructure into their own apps.

    2026 Strategic Moves & Innovation

    Wise is currently navigating a period of rapid infrastructure expansion and corporate scaling:

    1. US Dual-Listing (H1 2026): To increase its profile in North America, Wise is on track to complete a dual-listing in New York, positioning itself as a global alternative to traditional banking networks.

    2. Global Licensing: In early 2026, Wise became the first non-bank to be granted five distinct licenses in Thailand and secured conditional approval in South Africa—its first on the African continent.

    3. The “Worship Square” HQ: The new London office expanded their space by 40%, featuring wellness-focused areas like a sauna, nap pods, and device labs, all while reducing embodied carbon by 11 tonnes.

    4. AI-Driven Efficiency: Wise is increasingly using AI to automate “Hosted Onboarding” for partners and manage liquidity, helping keep their average cross-border fee at an industry-low 0.52%.

    Life at the London Hub

    The London office remains the nerve center for engineering and product innovation:

    • The “Customer Challenge”: An annual event where every Wiser—including CEO Kristo Käärmann—steps into the shoes of customer support agents to handle real queries and stay grounded in the mission.

    • Radical Transparency: Financial targets, product roadmaps, and salary benchmarks are shared internally. They even publish a “G20 Report” calling out the $274bn in hidden fees still charged by global banks.

    • Benefits & Wellbeing: London Wisers enjoy 25 days of annual leave (plus public holidays), private medical insurance, and specialized “Me Days” for personal admin or rest.

    • Sustainability: Wise is a vocal advocate for climate resilience, committing £500,000 in 2025 to carbon removal projects in climate-vulnerable regions.

To apply for this job please visit wise.com.