Backend Engineer - Relay

Company Mission

In the future, almost everything we consume will simply materialise on our doorsteps – what we call “e-commerce” today will simply be “commerce” tomorrow. But if we continue on today’s trajectory, the growth of e-commerce risks damaging the environment, alienating our communities, and straining the bottom line for small businesses.

Relay is an e-commerce-native logistics network. We are built from the ground up for environmental, social, and economic sustainability. By building from the ground up we are able to entirely rethink both the middle and last mile enabling us to reduce the number of miles driven to deliver each parcel, lower carbon emissions, and lower costs, all while channelling funds to community members.

At the same time, we’re fixing the last broken aspect of e-commerce for consumers: delivery. As shoppers, we should have complete control over when and how we receive our purchases, and we should be able to return unwanted items as easily as we ordered them. That’s why whenever you buy from a merchant powered by Relay, you’ll be able to reschedule your delivery at any time. And if you don’t like what you ordered, at the tap of a button we’ll send someone to pick it up.

To orchestrate this complex ballet, Relay relies on a wide range of technologies, from advanced routing and planning to sophisticated user experiences that guide our team members on the ground. 


As an Engineer at Relay, you can expect to…

• Define and implement the core concepts of our API.

• Build the first versions of our courier-facing software to guide the delivery of thousands of parcels everyday.

• Help stand up our data infrastructure stack, which will be the basis of our routing, topology management, and other core operations research tasks.

• Regularly spend time in the field learning how the technology you build impacts our couriers and parcel recipients.

You might be a great fit for this role if…

• There is truly no job in engineering you would not be excited to take on – and some outside of engineering as well. From standing up cloud infrastructure to fiddling with frontend code, you want to do it all. We don’t expect you to have done all (or even many) of these jobs before, but we do hope you’ll be curious to learn how to do them.

• You have high agency and take pride of ownership in your work. You naturally take initiative, seeking out the best opportunities for impact.

• You have deep empathy for the humans for whom you build technology, including customers, partners, and your fellow colleagues. You seek out the chance to hear directly from them and go out of your way to incorporate their feedback into your work.

• You are eager to learn new technologies and take on new problem domains.

• You value and practise clear communication, active listening, and intentional collaboration.

We are looking for candidates who…

• Have worked on high-performing teams building software

• Have broad experience across a variety of technology stacks.
  

What we offer:

• 25 days annual leave per year (plus bank holidays)

• Generous equity

• Free membership of the gym in our co-working space

• Contributory pension scheme

• Hybrid working (3 days/week in the office); we're based in London near Old Street tube station

• A culture of learning and growth, where you're encouraged to take ownership from day one

• Plenty of team socials and events - from pottery painting to life-size Monopoly and escape rooms, plus an annual offsite!