Poor culture in finance, micromanagement and low trust - Anonymous employee Starling Employee Review

Amaizing people Good benefits Flexible working hours

There is nothin I can think of at the moment.

Outstanding place to accelerate your cv early. Employees are trusted with significant responsibility and ownership much sooner than at most traditional banks. I had opportunities to lead major initiatives, work directly with senior stakeholders, and make decisions that genuinely impacted customers and the business. The people are one of the company’s strongest assets. Colleagues are intelligent, supportive, and generally willing to help each other succeed. There are plenty of opportunities to learn across different banking domains. There is also great opportunities to change roles (I’ve seen operations and customer service move into Product management, Data Science and Engineering as well as other functions) Work-life balance is very very good for a fintech, and the culture encourages people to take ownership rather than wait for permission. There is also decent work from home (3 days in office) and great tech (MacBooks, mono repository, work from home tech etc).

Career progression can sometimes feel unclear, particularly for high performers looking to move quickly. There is weak performance review culture, this means there is no bonus (except for execs) and there is no clear route for getting promoted and progressed. Expectations for promotion could be more transparent, and compensation is not always competitive with other leading fintechs or high-growth technology companies. For example, Monzo and Revolut pay more for every single job (Engineering, Product, Data and Information Security) As the company has scaled, some processes and organisational structures have struggled to keep pace. Priorities can shift quickly, and experiences vary significantly between teams. There is strong politics in the business as well. It is an Engineering led business which means the senior most decision makers about the Product and sometimes company direction is Engineering. A good example is that the CTO, Head of Product and Heady of information security report to the CIO (Chief information officer) at Starling and the Head of Product at Engine was a Principal engineer (not even of the senior most engineer in business). Reviews are right to point out the instability between technology and other functions. Engineers are paid 20-30k more than anyone in Product, Data from graduate/junior levels and can get wider at higher levels. There is also a massive politics between Engine business and Starling business due to pay differences and Engine poaching talent as well as being given perks of a new office etc. This has resulted in efficient production building (they split the two codebases and then trying to share the codebases again which creates more headaches than solves). It is almost like a corporate crime to leave Starling Bank to go to Engine. Engine business is also just not growing fast. It is not profitable and the best people keep leaving. New management across the business is unable to unravel the culture mess that has happened over the years. Great if you are an Engineer who wants mid/above mid market pay and a job that lets you wfh and stick to 9-5 with no complaints. Any other functions you can find better pay elsewhere and if you are looking to grow your career fast this is a good brand to have on your cv 1-2 years then find somewhere else. I loved my time here, but got a massive pay bump that I was denied more than twice (even with stellar performer reviews) when I left and won’t look back - so worth the years I gave.