Starling Bank is the first UK bank set up by a woman. Anne Boden, our founder, always had a clear vision: fast technology, fair service, and honest values — available through one app, anytime, anywhere. It’s a vision that we continue to strive for – and one that’s earned us multiple awards and recognition as a leader in digital banking. Since our journey began in 2014, we’ve grown to employ over 3,000 people across five offices in London, Cardiff, Dublin, Southampton, and Manchester.
As a fully licensed UK bank with technology at our core, we’re redefining what a bank can be by delivering brilliant products through a cutting-edge platform. We have 3.5 million accounts, including 350,000 business accounts – and counting.
From the very beginning, smashing glass ceilings has been what we do. Our CEO, Raman Bhatia, is as committed to this as our founder, Anne Boden. Raman joined us from the energy company OVO, where he was the co-sponsor of its diversity and inclusion initiative. Since coming to Starling, he’s become a mentor as part of our internal programme, set up by our women’s network, With Women.
As part of our diversity and inclusion journey, we’ve partnered with Women in Tech to make sure our pool of potential applicants is as strong and diverse as possible. Our tech is only as robust as the team that develops it, which is why diversity of thought and experience is everything. We also work with Code First Girls, a social enterprise that runs free coding courses for women and non-binary people. Through this partnership, Starling has sponsored several women to complete the 12-week CFG Degree.
Another of our partners is Women Returners, an organisation that helps people re-enter the workforce, often after caring for family members or raising a family. Once again, this partnership strengthens our talent pool – particularly as Women Returners supports people in recognising all the transferrable skills they have developed outside a formal workplace.
We also want to create a working environment that fits around essential commitments and priorities, which is why we launched our award-winning Twilight shift initiative (shifts begin at 6pm and end at 11pm, relieving childcare pressures). We also offer part-time and flexible working options and always strive to adapt to each person’s circumstances.
These partnerships and initiatives, combined with our employee-led diversity networks, make for a truly dynamic workplace that doesn’t settle, but keeps moving forward.
As a digital bank, we operate at the axis of two traditionally male-dominated professions: banking and technology. That’s why we signed the Women in Finance Charter, a voluntary commitment created by HM Treasury and signatory firms to work together to make finance a more gender balanced industry.
When we signed the Charter in 2017 there were 27% of women in senior roles. We then set a target of 40% of women in senior positions, which we met early on and continue to hold. We have now set a new target of 50% of women in senior positions by 2027.
Starling’s 2024 gender equality data shows that women make up:
The pay gap remains for women and men, but what about the division of unpaid labour? We launched our Share the Load campaign to truly understand how much more of the mental load women carry at home.
To spotlight this issue, we built our Share the Load tool, which helps couples, families and housemates keep track of and compare all the chores and tasks they do at home. The free tool sparked conversations nationwide about what fair really looks like.
In partnership with Gift of Kit, we support women and girls’ football by offering grassroots clubs free kit, equipment and coaching vouchers. Over the last three rounds of Kick On, we’ve supported 10,000 women and girls.
From 2022 to 2025, we’re the official Principal Partner of Southampton FC Women. Why? All women’s home games are scheduled to be played at St Mary’s Southampton – the same stadium as the men’s. The women also have access to the same changing and training facilities – only a limited number of Women’s Super League clubs offer this.
When does the gender pay gap start, and why? Working with Professor Tim Jay, an educational psychologist at Loughborough University, we discovered that boys get 20% more pocket money every week, while products marketed at girls cost 5% more.
And it doesn’t stop there. Boys and girls earn – and learn – about pocket money in different ways too, which sets them up with different financial literacy skills.
An unequal start for children leads to an unequal future for us all, which is why we called to Make Pocket Money Equal.
In commissioning a regular independent audit of our algorithms and technological processes, we made sure Starling was fair and free from gender or race bias – across the board. In other words: we wanted to hold ourselves accountable and learn from where we may have missed the mark.
The Always Open forum is made up of five employee-led networks. This forum is powered by volunteers from all areas of Starling Bank and Engine by Starling, who also lead individual network groups dedicated to supporting various aspects of diversity (such as women in engineering).
Currently, we have five formal networks:
Throughout the year, these networks organise a range of events to celebrate national and international awareness days and strive to build and sustain a culture in which everyone can bring their whole selves to work.
Our Health Insurance is provided by Vitality, and Life Insurance with MetLife. Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers 24/7 specialist support or structured counselling for those who need it. A number of our team are certified Mental Health First Aiders too.
Through Perkbox, employees are given FlexiPoints, which they can turn into cinema tickets, yoga classes, supermarket vouchers – all sorts.
We also offer a number of salary sacrifice benefits, such as our enhanced contributory pension, a cycle to work scheme, and season travel ticket loan schemes.
As for annual leave, we offer 25 days paid holiday as standard, plus a day off for your birthday too. This allowance increases with length of service, and you can choose to buy or sell up to five extra days off. We’ve also made Bank Holidays flexible, which means you can swap them for a date of your choice, such as Eid or Holi, this makes your allowance 33 days including the Bank Holidays.
Our beautiful offices are carefully thought out, from standing desks to oat milk coffee machines and soundproof booths – there’s something for everyone. As you’d expect from a technology company, we’ll make sure you have all the tools you need to get your job done – and that they’re the very best in the business. We work on MacBook Pros, and you can request extra tools to use in the office or at home from our friendly workplace tech team.
We’re growing fast – and no two days here at Starling are quite the same. We care about getting stuff done and our culture is decidedly entrepreneurial in spirit (you’ll be encouraged to pitch your ideas, however big or bold!). It’s a fast-paced, exciting and creative place to work where there’s plenty of collaboration and ownership of your own projects.
Lots of companies talk about transparency. But it’s something we really care about. We communicate and collaborate through Slack, an instant messenger tool. Channels not only allow us to send updates from our leadership team, but also gather to drive forward our Always Open networks and come together over various hobbies, from gardening to hiking.
We’re headquartered in London and have offices in Cardiff, Manchester, Dublin and Southampton.
See what it’s like to work at Starling Bank as an Engineer
