Senior Software Engineer - German Market Entry (m/w/d)

Job Description

We are launching our EV (electric vehicle) leasing business in Germany and need an outstanding Senior Software Engineer (Full Stack) to help build it from the ground up.

We have rapidly scaled our proposition in the UK to over 30k vehicles on fleet and ??300m ARR in just a few years. What's more, we're growing faster than ever.

Our mission is to rapidly accelerate the EV transition whilst providing the best possible service to our customers.

Our ambition is to build the biggest EV platform in Germany as rapidly as possible. You may know our sister company, Octopus Energy, who are already one of the fastest growing green energy providers in Germany with over 1m customers.

You'll be one of two engineers, working directly with the country General Manager to rapidly build and validate our product for the German market.

This role is perfect for a full-stack developer who is excited by the challenge of quickly shipping minimum viable solutions and directly enabling business growth.

This isn't just a job; it's an opportunity to be an integral part of our foundational team in Germany, shape our future, and truly own your work.

Please apply with your CV in English

What you'll do

• Build Fast, Deliver Impact.
• This is a unique, high-impact role where your primary measure of success will be market validation and speed-to-launch, not technical perfection.
• You'll be pioneering the engineering effort for a new market, working within a small, resource-constrained, cross-functional team.
• You must be comfortable with the fact that the tools and code you develop will be long-term temporary, designed to validate the market and replaced on a 1-2 year horizon if successful.
• You will be expected to work proactively and independently, translating high-level business goals into prioritised, shippable technical tasks.
• You will be making critical trade-offs between security/maintainability and speed/insights, particularly when dealing with PII and payments.

What you'll need

• Native/C2 German and Professional English fluency.
• Extensive experience as a Senior Full-Stack Developer focused on speed and business enablement.
• Deep expertise in TypeScript, React, Node.js, and SQL/noSQL.
• Proven experience delivering prototypes or MVPs that were later deprecated or rebuilt, demonstrating a comfort with building transient solutions.
• Strong understanding of modern development workflows, including Git and CI/CD pipelines.
• Exceptional problem-solving skills and the ability to work autonomously and proactively.
• Motivated by business success and rapid validation over building a permanent, polished codebase.
• Comfortable with the ambiguity inherent in a new market entry.
• Biased toward shipping minimum viable solutions rapidly.

What you'll be doing

• Developing modern, responsive, and reusable frontends with React and TypeScript.
• Building fast, secure, and scalable backend services and APIs using Node.js, integrating with SQL and noSQL databases and 3rd party APIs.
• Deploying and maintaining your own systems on cloud hosting providers.
• Engaging in rapid prototyping, unit testing, and agile development cycles, using GenAI tooling where appropriate to accelerate delivery.
• Working in a paired environment as the senior engineer, while adhering to technical guidelines provided remotely by our UK team.

Why you'll love it here

• Don't feel like you meet all of our hiring criteria? That's OK, apply anyway! We'd love to hear from you and have a conversation.
• Please apply with your CV in English
• Octopus Electric Vehicles, part of the Octopus Energy Group, won the Sunday Times best company to work for in 2024. We were named 6th out of the top 100 start-ups to work for by Tempo in 2025 and on Glassdoor we were voted 50 best places to work in 2022. Our Group CEO, Greg has recorded a podcast about our culture and how we empower our people
• Wondering what the salary for this role is? Just ask us! On a call with one of our recruiters it's something we always cover as we genuinely want to match your experience with the correct salary. The reason why we don't advertise is because we honestly have a degree of flexibility and would never want salary to be a reason why someone doesn't apply to Octopus - what's more important to us is finding the right octofit!
• Octopus Energy Group is a unique culture. An organisation where people learn, decide, and build quicker. Where people work with autonomy, alongside a wide range of amazing co-owners, on projects that break new ground. We want your hard work to be rewarded with perks you actually care about! Visit our perks hub - Octopus Employee Benefits

The electric revolution has arrived - and from 2035 you'll no longer be able to buy a new petrol or diesel car in the UK.

We're building a whole new way for drivers to join the electric charge and not only learn about and shop for their EV online, but experience a 'lease for life' through an industry changing customer experience. This is the chance to join one of the UK's most exciting start-ups - making it easy for individuals and businesses to go electric by getting their car, charger and energy all in one cracking deal.

Octopus Electric Vehicles launched in 2018 to make it seamless to switch to cleaner, greener driving. Our mission is to drive sustainable change, decarbonise the planet and provide our customers with fair pricing and a fantastic experience.

We're an Octopus Energy company-an innovative new energy supplier. We are part of the Octopus Energy Group, which seeks to improve the lives of millions of people by transforming the industries we operate in. The Octopus Group incorporates Octopus Energy, Octopus Healthcare, Octopus Investments, Octopus Property, Octopus Ventures and Octopus Labs.

Please note we use AI to help us assess applications fairly and objectively.

If this sounds like you then we'd love to hear from you.

Are you ready for a career with us? We want to ensure you have all the tools and environment you need to unleash your potential. Need any specific accommodations? Whether you require specific accommodations or have a unique preference, let us know, and we'll do what we can to customise your interview process for comfort and maximum magic!

Studies have shown that some groups of people, like women, are less likely to apply to a role unless they meet 100% of the job requirements. Whoever you are, if you like one of our jobs, we encourage you to apply as you might just be the candidate we hire. Across Octopus, we're looking for genuinely decent people who are honest and empathetic. Our people are our strongest asset and the unique skills and perspectives people bring to the team are the driving force of our success. As an equal opportunity employer, we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected attribute. Our commitment is to provide equal opportunities, an inclusive work environment, and fairness for everyone.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.