How We Built a High Performing Engineering Organization

 

By Luc Teboul - Head of TxB Engineering, and Angelos Anastasiou - Head of TxB Solutions Architecture

When Goldman Sachs embarked on building a cloud native, digital first transaction bank, it was clear to everyone involved that the platform needed to be at the center of the project. Since then, TxB has received numerous platform awards – due in no small part to the high-performing engineering team and technology that drive our business. But how exactly did our engineers propel TxB to such success? Here’s three key ingredients that make up the secret sauce.

Great Engineers Make for a Great Engineering Team

Since launching, we’ve hired ten engineers per month on average – which is no small feat when expectations are as high as ours. We look for smart, curious people with great potential and deep technology expertise, and insist they have a broad perspective and care about our products and business. We love ambitious talent, but it’s essential they understand that our collective mission comes first. Why? Because that’s what it takes to break organizational barriers, collaborate effectively and build a great transaction banking platform.

Once they arrive at TxB, our engineers work on a modern cloud native stack in an environment that allows them to grow. We are supportive when new joiners need time to adapt and learn – so long as we’re all focused on improving the team’s collective performance, we will never stop creating opportunities for our engineers to develop their careers and skills.

It’s all About Ownership

We firmly believe that our engineering teams do their best work when they’re given a strong sense of ownership – and that sense of ownership is reflected in the way TxB was designed organizationally.

TxB ensured each office location was centered around advancing a key business objective – and every new hire, solution or product decision in a given location is made with that in mind. This creates strong regional identities and collaboration. For example, our team in Bengaluru drives our digital agenda, owning the design, implementation, releases, support, roadmap and long-term vision for their offerings. That way, it’s easy for engineers in Bengaluru to connect their contributions to the impact they’re having on their team’s offerings, and that direct link is what drives us all.

This strong sense of ownership is also shared by our team leads. TxB team leads not only hire and manage engineers, but also oversee the technical work that’s executed. The success of our engineers is tied to building high-quality products, and this direct reporting structure fosters greater collaboration in pursuit of shared goals.

Engineering is Central to the Project

TxB started with the vision that it is possible to solve transaction banking challenges through engineering. In fact, the first thing we did was hire engineers, many of whom are senior leaders, and built out the engineering organization and platform. We manage the user experience and obtain real-time data and analytics through engineering, and it plays a critical role in defining and influencing our strategy.

Engineering will always be core to TxB’s DNA, and having empowered and talented engineers is instrumental in sustaining the transaction banking platform we’re all proud of.