“Opportunity matched by challenge”: tech careers at Barclays

Three colleagues, based in the UK, India and the Czech Republic, tell us why Barclays is an exciting place to build a technology career – and how the bank has helped them use their talents to “have a real effect” in the industry.

Rob Campbell says he’s experienced “both sides of the tech career world”. Having started out as a developer at a startup, Rob took on a new challenge when he joined Barclays’ Prague Technology Centre back in 2012.

“We were really starting to invest in talent at that point and everything had that ‘new car’ exciting sort of feel,” he reflects. “I think that’s why I joined – it was the chance to be in at the start of something. And even though we’ve grown so much since then, I still think there’s an element of that that exists today.”

Now Head of the centre, Rob is responsible for managing teams of developers and says the big challenges that colleagues can take on at Barclays make it stand out as a tech employer. “There’s no denying that we’re big. It’s that scale that I think offers developers the chance to do something really special. At Barclays, you'll find systems that require petabytes of storage a month.”

For Ramya Kesharwani, a Delivery Manager and Business Analyst at Barclays Technology Centre in Pune, these challenges have allowed her to go beyond her comfort zone.

“My career is about constant improvement – I’m always looking to explore different technologies, projects and roles,” she says. “Barclays, and the mentors and colleagues who have been so generous with their time and experience, have always supported me to succeed.”

Working with new technologies

Since joining the bank as an Intern Analyst in 2015, Ramya has been recognised multiple times. In 2018, she won the Barclays Global Recognition Award for Excellence and was a finalist for the ‘Entry Level Talent of the Year’ Barclays Group Technology Award, and she was named one of Barclays’ Exceptional Women in 2019.

Reflecting on what she’s achieved, she says she’s enjoyed collaborating with colleagues in India and the UK to deliver important regulatory communications to millions of customers, and working on a host of banking technology innovations.

“We’ve delivered the high-priority GDPR right of access capability, proposed Paperless solutions and utilised machine learning for digital adoption,” says Ramya.

“This meant constantly challenging the status quo, but the result is a solution that massively improves our customers’ experience, while reducing turnaround times and cost to the bank. All of these exciting tech solutions have improved our customer and colleague experiences, and added huge value to the bank. I’m proud to have been a part of some of them.”

Creating cutting-edge solutions to support customers is also a highlight for Radbroke-based Amy Williams, who leads the Business Banking Technology team within Barclays UK.

“In Business Banking, we provide critical support to around 1.1 million customers across the UK, and technology has a massive impact on the way we serve them,” says Amy. “I’ve been involved in genuinely game-changing tech programmes.”

These have included leading the bank’s technology response to the government lending schemes through the coronavirus pandemic. This has required significant technology change to make urgently needed funds available to the bank’s customers during a critical time for the UK economy and small businesses – a project Amy describes as “an immense undertaking, especially considering the timescales required to deliver”.

Making an impact

Amy relishes the opportunity she has had to make a difference to the technology scene at the bank over the last three years.

“Barclays is a place where I can use my talents to have a real effect,” she explains. “Not only on the bank and the people around me, but on the whole industry and the people whose lives and businesses we support.”

Rob adds that having the chance to make an impact ­and add to the bank’s range of financial innovations is a crucial draw for the ambitious colleagues who take on a tech job at Barclays. “We have the talent, the willingness to invest and the appetite for new ideas,” he says.

“If you’re looking for a place with opportunity that can be matched by challenge and investment – and I’m talking both in terms of technology and career progression – Barclays is definitely somewhere you should consider.”