Pros
Still plenty of good people at Starling. Opportunities to gain experience quickly because there is always more work than there are people to do it. Private healthcare.
Cons
For the past couple of years, the business has felt like it is in a constant state of restructure. Change is presented as progress, but from the ground it often feels reactive and poorly communicated. Teams are expected to absorb one new structure, priority, or operating model after another, without enough time for anything to properly settle. The level of churn higher up is also hard to ignore. When senior people and heads of departments seem to move on regularly, it raises obvious questions about what is happening behind the scenes and whether the business has a stable plan it can actually execute. It is difficult to ask colleagues to buy into long term change when the people setting the direction do not seem to stick around long enough to see it through. A lot of messaging around development, wellbeing, engagement, and listening to feedback, but the practical reality often does not match the language. Workloads remain high, expectations keep increasing, and recognition does not always reflect the amount of responsibility people are carrying. Pay and progression are also frustrating. Strong performance and additional responsibility do not necessarily translate into meaningful reward, and the token pay increases can feel tone deaf after letting everyone know we're making millions in profits every year. Too often extra work is framed as an opportunity rather than properly recognised as increased responsibility that is reflected in what you take home at the end of the month. Hybrid working and flexibility can also feel more rigid in practice than they sound in principle, particularly for people managing commuting, health, or other personal circumstances. Overall, Starling talks a lot about maturing as a bank, but there is a gap between the ambition and the lived experience.