Engineering Lead (Financial Planning)

At Rathbones, we help people invest their money well, so they can live well. That means more than financial returns – it’s about helping people feel confident in their decisions and supported in their future. We don’t just manage money, we guide people through life’s big moments, helping them stay on track and focus on what matters most.

We’re proud to be one of the UK’s leading wealth managers, with £113.6bn in assets under management (as of March 2026) and 20+ offices across the UK and Channel Islands. We’re a FTSE 250 company with national reach and a local feel – and we’re growing.

Role Title: Engineering Lead Financial Planning (iRess Xplan) (2742)

Division: Group Technology

Location: Glasgow/Liverpool / London

Contract: Perm

Hiring Manager: Alistair Phipps

About the Role

 Lead the design, build, and operation of our Financial Planning platform, acting as the senior technical authority for financial planning engineering. Own the balance between hands-on delivery and technical leadership setting engineering standards, mentoring the team, and ensuring Xplan integrates cleanly with the wider technology estate (Salesforce CRM/FSC, Snowflake, and supporting middleware).

What you’ll be responsible for

General Engineering Skills & Responsibilities

• Technical Leadership
• Set and enforce engineering standards: code quality, testing, documentation, release management
• Own architectural decisions for the financial planning domain; ensure designs are scalable, secure, and maintainable
• Lead technical design reviews and provide constructive, rigorous critique of peers' work
• Balance technical debt reduction against delivery pressure; make and defend prioritisation calls
• Delivery & Engineering Practice
• Comfortable with modern SDLC practices: CI/CD, version control (Git), automated testing, code review culture
• Experience with Agile/Scrum or Kanban delivery models
• API design and integration patterns (REST, SOAP, event-driven/pub-sub)
• Understanding of iPaaS/middleware concepts (e.g. MuleSoft or AWS Lambda) for cross-system integration
• Data modelling and understanding of how operational systems feed into data platforms (e.g. Snowflake)
• Security-conscious development: data protection, access control, secure coding practices relevant to financial services
• back end skills - development of serverless functions or web apps, APIs and microservices eg in Python or Java
• People & Team Leadership
• Developing engineers - coaching engineers, config specialists, and admins toward stronger engineering practice
• Experience upskilling non-engineering staff (e.g. platform administrators) into engineering-capable roles
• Stakeholder management with business, compliance, and other engineering leads across a "build it, run it" model
• Domain Context
• Experience in financial services, ideally wealth management, private banking, or investment platforms
• Understanding of regulatory constraints affecting client data, advice records, and financial planning tools - Consumer Duty

iRess Xplan-Specific Skills & Responsibilities

• Platform Configuration & Customisation
• Hands-on configuration of Xplan workflows, campaigns, forms, and page layouts, with the ability to build and troubleshoot custom business logic
• Coding/scripting for CRM customisation — templates, document generation (suitability reports, fact finds), and business rule logic
• Deep understanding of IFA/adviser back-office processes and how they map to Xplan's configuration model
• Integration & Data
• Xplan API / web services experience — building and maintaining integrations with CRM (Salesforce FSC), portfolio/IBOR systems (e.g. Charles River/EXBO equivalents), and data platforms
• Understanding of Xplan's data model (client, plan, product, adviser relationships) and how it maps to golden-source client data
• Experience with Xplan data migrations — cleansing, mapping, and validating legacy financial planning data into Xplan
• Familiarity with Xplan's reporting layer and how planning data surfaces into BI/Snowflake
• Platform Operations
• Experience managing Xplan releases, patches, and vendor-supplied upgrades (iRess release cycle)
• Troubleshooting and root-cause analysis of platform issues spanning Xplan and integrated systems
• Working knowledge of Xplan's permissioning/security model in a multi-adviser, multi-entity firm

About you

If you meet some of these criteria and are excited about the role, we encourage you to apply

Nice to Have

• Prior experience running Xplan alongside a Salesforce CRM (Sales Cloud/FSC) in a "two systems talking" architecture
• Exposure to iRess product roadmap engagement — providing feedback into vendor backlog, participating in user groups
• Experience building internal engineering capability to reduce reliance on Xplan implementation partners/vendors
• Exposure to agentic SDLC practices - using claude code or github copilot to accelerate throughput 
• Experience of building agentic solutions for wealth management

Our offer to you

We want everyone at Rathbones to fulfil their potential, in an environment where you are proud to work and feel like you belong.

We offer a comprehensive remuneration package, which we review regularly, and benefits include:

• A company pension - 9% non-contributory or 10% if you contribute 5%
• Private medical insurance – Individual on joining, family after 1 year’s service
• Life assurance  - 8 x salary
• Income protection – 75 % salary
• Company share scheme
• Discretionary bonus
• Flexible holidays – purchase up to 5 additional days
• Green Car Scheme
• Family friendly policies – enhanced family leave for parents & carers
• Study support – study days and funding for courses and qualifications
• Season travel ticket loans
• Volunteering days
• Gym discounts
• Other voluntary benefits you can choose to suit you 

Our employees can choose to take part in various social groups and communities to support their wellbeing, growth, development and sense of community. These include:

• Sports & Social Committees, such as cricket, football, netball, running, yoga, quiz nights, charity bake sales and much more.
• Inclusion Networks that help us drive change within the organisation such as Gender Balance, Multicultural, Abilities Count, Pride, Social Mobility, Generations, Menopause Matters@Rathbones’ and Armed Forces. 
• The NextGen IM Network, which brings together a community of trainees from across the UK, who are all at the early stages of their careers and offers development opportunities, exposure across the business as well as peer support and connection.

Life at Rathbones

We aim to become an employer of choice for the wealth management sector, to achieve this we are working hard to build a diverse, equal, and inclusive workplace that motivates, develops and embraces the strengths of all our colleagues. Being part of Rathbones means you will join a team of passionate professionals in a successful culture that cares for its people. At Rathbones, we provide meaningful work, opportunities, and a voice to all.

We are committed to building a team that is made up of diverse skills, experiences and abilities and encourage applications from all backgrounds. We welcome individuals who share our values.

We’re a Disability Confident Employer (level 2) under the UK Government scheme. This means we’ve signed up to a set of commitments around how we recruit, retain and develop people with disabilities. Find out more about the Government Scheme online, click here. If you require adjustments to apply for a role at Rathbones, please contact us via recruit@rathbones.com to let us know what adjustments you may need.

Mission

We believe in playing the long game. That means building consistent results, earning trust and doing the right thing — for our clients, our colleagues and the communities we’re part of.

Our values shape how we work:
- We aim high
- We get it done
- We show we care
- We do the right thing

These aren’t just words on a wall. They guide how we treat each other, how we make decisions and how we build relationships that last.

We will close this advert once we have received enough applications for the next stage. Please submit your application as soon as possible to ensure you don’t miss out.