Graduate Software Engineer

About the company

Bending Spoons aims to build a long-lasting, high-performing business that serves a large customer base, helps employees grow quickly, generates strong value for shareholders, and operates with strong ethical standards. The company acquires digital businesses with the intention of improving and running them over the long term rather than selling them. Changes are often substantial and are designed to accelerate innovation, improve customer outcomes, and strengthen business results. Teams are intentionally small, talent-dense, and low on hierarchy, and the company blends startup speed with the stability of established products. AI is deeply embedded in everyday work so that human judgment and machine intelligence complement each other.

Role overview

This graduate software engineer position is suited to someone talented, ambitious, and collaborative who wants rapid learning, meaningful impact, and fast career progression.

What you will do

• Develop software that has real-world impact, taking ownership from the idea stage through to production and improving products used by millions of people.
• Use AI tools throughout the engineering workflow, including design, implementation, testing, and documentation, to work efficiently while keeping quality, reliability, and maintainability high.
• Work across a variety of technologies and architectures, selecting the most appropriate tools for each problem, including monoliths, microservices, gRPC, REST, Kubernetes, Docker, Python, and Rust.
• Continuously reduce unnecessary complexity by improving architectures, delivery pipelines, and codebases so systems become easier to scale and maintain.

What the company looks for

• Strong analytical and reasoning skills, with the ability to solve difficult problems once the required knowledge is in place.
• A first-principles mindset, clear structure in thinking, and attention to the details that truly matter.
• High drive, ambition, persistence, and a strong sense of personal responsibility for results.
• A collaborative attitude, willingness to support teammates, and openness to backing the best solution rather than personal preference.
• Reliability, honesty, transparency, and a willingness to contribute wherever needed.
• Professional fluency in English, including reading, writing, and speaking.

What is offered

• Small, highly capable, entrepreneurial teams with strong autonomy and a clear focus on outcomes.
• Excellent growth opportunities, with room for high-potential people to take on important responsibilities quickly.
• Competitive compensation plus the possibility of equity participation for permanent roles.
• Flexible working hours, remote work options, unlimited support for learning and training, strong health insurance, relocation support, parental support, and an annual retreat to a scenic destination.
• A flexible joining date and the option to start part-time and move to full-time while finishing a degree.

Contract and location

This is a permanent or fixed-term full-time role. The position may be based in Milan, London, Madrid, or Warsaw, and can also be done fully remotely from eligible countries.

Selection process

The hiring process focuses on verifiable signs of excellence rather than seniority or shortcuts. Every applicant is assessed through the same route, and candidates are encouraged not to disqualify themselves due to limited experience or an imperfect CV.

Applicants are reviewed through the company careers page only. Those who advance may be asked to complete one or more challenging tests that can take several hours and may include unfamiliar problems. The company may keep roles open for a long time or repost them while searching for the right person.

Accessibility

The company considers all applicants for employment and provides reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities.

Before you apply

If you have applied before and were not offered the role, the recommendation is to wait at least one year before reapplying.

The environment is demanding and highly ambitious, with a strong performance bar. That level of intensity is expected to create exceptional learning and growth, but it also requires substantial commitment.

To help new joiners ramp up quickly, the company expects most days to be spent in the Milan office during the first few months, regardless of long-term work location. Travel and accommodation support is provided. After this onboarding period, employees may work from one of the offices or remotely from approved countries, depending on what is agreed at the offer stage.