Mid-Level Backend Engineer Driver Squad

About HIVED

At HIVED were steamrolling forward as one of Europes fastest growing startups and our momentum shows no signs of slowing.

Based in London we are a climate and logistics start-up building the first sustainable parcel delivery network at scale powered by a 100% electric an ever-growing industry where unreliable service has long been the norm HIVED has been built from the ground-up to meet the demands of modern consumers and disrupt parcel delivery.

A tech company at heart our talent and technology is laser-focused on delivering the best possible delivery experience for end-customers and meeting the needs of our retail partners. From our drivers to our data engineers we are constantly working to improve this customer experience that makes us deliver better.

Already trusted by leading international brands such as John Lewis Nespresso Uniqlo H&M brands and more we are solidifying our position as the leaders in Europe to tackle this growing market.

Our tight-knit team is made up of ex-Revolut DeepMind Bain HelloFresh ASOS Apple and Google employees and we are backed by some of Europes leading investors and VCs in climate-tech logistics and mobility including Planet A Ventures Maersk Growth Pale Blue Dot VC Eka Ventures NordicNinja VC and the British government. Were passionate about driving innovation and redefining the future of delivery.

Role Overview

Were on a mission to make parcel delivery clean and our drivers are at the heart of it. If you love getting stuck into meaty backend problems with real purpose youll feel right at home building the complex distributed systems behind HIVEDs emission-free delivery network. Every feature you ship puts the right information in a drivers hands at exactly the right moment helping them deliver smarter and greener from the moment they log on to the very last drop of the day.

In the Driver Squad youll take genuine ownership of problems across the backend systems and tooling that keep our drivers moving. Youll drive features end-to-end from discovery through to deployment and monitoring scoping the solution weighing the trade-offs and contributing to the squads engineering quality all in close partnership with Product UX Operations and fellow engineers. Were rebuilding parcel delivery from the ground up on a modern stack with sustainability flexibility and scalability baked in from day one.

These are real challenges on our roadmap that youll have a hand in cracking:

• Last metre navigation. Guide drivers to the exact closest access point to a customers door shaving precious seconds off every drop.

• Smarter routing. Teach our systems to recognise different types of addresses like a business thats shut on a weekend so we stop attempting drops that were never going to land. Fewer wasted miles means faster routes for drivers and lighter emissions.

• Telemetry that shapes behaviour. Turn on-the-road telemetry data into insight that helps us understand and positively influence how our drivers drive.

• Never lose a parcel. Build the tooling that detects and traces lost parcels ideally before a customer ever notices.

Why Now

Weve raised a $42M Series B led by NordicNinja and a big slice of it is going straight into the engineering teams youd be joining. This role exists because were scaling fast.

The traction is real: over 6.5 million parcels delivered across London for the likes of John Lewis Zara Uniqlo and Nespresso 99% on-time and customer satisfaction north of 90% in an industry that averages around 32%. Were growing quickly and rolling out to new UK cities. Were also a certified B Corp and one of the only fully electric delivery networks around so sustainability isnt a marketing line its the model.

And as the business grows so do the engineering problems. Every new city and every jump in parcel volume reshapes what our systems need to handle so youll be solving real scaling challenges first-hand. Youll also stay close to the operation on the ground with drivers and ops rather than removed from the people your work actually serves.

What Youll Be Doing

• Ship features that matter. Take defined features from idea to live breaking down the problem weighing the trade-offs and helping the squad prioritise by impact.

• Write code youre proud of. Clean tested well-documented and built to scale the kind of code the whole team can pick up and run with.

• Raise the bar together. Dive into code reviews as both author and reviewer and spot improvements within the squads scope before they become problems.

• Partner dont just build. Work shoulder to shoulder with Product UX and Operations let real data guide your calls and share what you learn with the wider engineering team.

• Own it in production. Deploy monitor and once youre settled in join the on-call rota to keep things humming.

What Were Looking For

• A Bachelors or Masters degree in Computer Science or a related STEM field (or equivalent practical experience).

• 3 years of backend software engineering experience including exposure to distributed systems.

• Proficiency in at least one typed backend language with the ability to ramp up quickly on HIVEDs stack.

• Experience designing building and running production services on a major cloud platform (AWS preferred).

• Experience with relational databases and Infrastructure as Code.

• Strong collaboration and written and verbal communication skills with the confidence to work across disciplines.

Nice to have:

• Working knowledge of Go TypeScript and AWS.

• Exposure to logistics mobility or operational-domain systems.

• Evidence of self-directed learning such as personal projects or open source contributions.

Technologies We Use

• Golang

• AWS CDK (TypeScript) Lambda SQS EventBridge RDS (PostgreSQL)

• React React Native

• GitHub GitHub Actions

• Grafana Loki

• Claude Code

• Event-driven architecture and domain-driven design

Interview Process

• Intro call with the hiring manager

• Live coding challenge solving an optimisation problem

• A take home case study followed by a design discussion

• On-site interview at our Shoreditch HQ (role and culture)

Our Values

• We Are Kind - Kind to the planet our team and our partners. We listen with purpose leave our egos at the door and arent afraid to make difficult decisions. We must never confuse kindness with being nice - it requires us to be fair consistent honest thoughtful and compassionate.

• We Are Tenacious - We fight every day to keep the customer promise for every parcel entrusted to us. No matter how hard it gets or whatever stands in our way we are relentless in our pursuit of excellence.

• We Are Curious - We never settle constantly challenge convention and are never afraid to ask why. We believe there is always more to learn always a better way and that were always only just getting started. We never fight the urge to be inquisitive to understand the world around us and to explore where others might not.

• We Are Resourceful - Our planets resources are scarce and our future depends on our ability to use them wisely. Waste is the enemy. We strive to do more with less be more efficient and make the most of what we have.

How we reward our team

• Dynamic hybrid working environment with a diverse and driven team

• Huge opportunity for learning in a high growth environment with progression opportunities based on success in the role

• 25 days of holiday allowance plus public holidays

• 1 Birthday Day Off 2 Tenure-Based Additional Days Off

• Subsidised Private Medical Insurance including dental vision & mental health therapy

• Bi-annual performance reviews and tailored development plans

• Competitive salary EMI options scheme

• Annual compensation review

• Team lunch provided once a week

• Quarterly team socials and annual sports day (HIVED Olympics)

• Enhanced maternity/paternity/adoption policy as day 1 right

• Community volunteer days

• Cycle to work scheme

• Dog friendly office and depots

• MacBook Air or Windows Laptop (depending on your preference)

Want to learn more

• Meet the team in 60 seconds: Behind the scenes with HIVED

• HIVED is B Corporation certified

• HIVED is #7 on The Sunday Times Tech 100

• Read how HIVED raised $42M to transform parcel delivery with AI and all-electric logistics network

• Check the Impact Report 2024

• Why HIVED loves Go

• Keep up with HIVED here