If you lose your job in fintech, then don’t despair. One of the highest paying fintechs in the market (Stripe) might hire you.
Stripe weathered the fintech funding downturn early. It laid off 14% of its staff over a year ago in November, and halved its valuation in March. This hasn’t prevented it from opportunistically going after employees let go by a rival, several of whom previously came from banks.
Plaid, a B2B financial infrastructure fintech, made a round of job cuts later than Stripe, letting go of 20% of its staff in December. Many have gotten jobs at other tech firms like Wise and Bloomberg, and Stripe’s London team is getting in on the action too.
Stripe’s new joiners include product counsel Simon Woolfman, who left Barclays for Plaid in late 2021. He was Plaid’s first European product counsel but was laid off, leaving in March. He finally joined Stripe last week, having spent a few months working at LHV bank between the layoff and now. Woolfman says the previous role “just wasn’t right for me.”
Another banking alumnus turned ‘Plaider’ is full-stack engineer Ioana Radu, also London based, who left Morgan Stanley for the fintech in February 2022. She worked there for a year before leaving in February, though she doesn’t state whether she was laid off. She remained out of the workplace until joining Stripe last week.
Stripe UK has also been going directly to banks for its hiring. The highest profile is Paula Guidorizzi Borges, who joined as head of financial crime controls from HSBC. At her former employer, she was global head of dynamic risk assessment analytics.
Stripe’s renowned for its pay, but how does its London team stack up? Stripe’s UK entity released accounts via Companies House earlier this year that showed pay per head was $180k (£150k), about midway between the average associate and vice president in London according to our global compensation report earlier this year.
However, more than half of its London staff, 177 of 304, are in the comparatively lower paying administration, sales and marketing teams. There are just 80 engineers in London, and the global average for engineering pay is $405k according to levels.fyi. While it’s known for being a top payer, Plaid appears to pay even better, with a global average of $430k for engineers.
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