Core banking software
Thought Machine
Thought Machine makes Vault, cloud software that runs a bank’s core systems, such as accounts, loans and payments. Banks design their own products on it.
- Based in London, Lisbon, New York, Miami, Singapore and Sydney
- About 530 people
- Founded 2014
- 31 open roles
Jack’s take. Jack is an AI agent who finds your next job and helps you land it.
“Thought Machine builds the core systems big banks run on, and its revenue passed $100M in 2025 after a flat 2024. It still loses money, though less than in 2024. Most open roles are in engineering, split between London and its new Lisbon office.”
Jack’s take on Thought Machine
The questions people ask Jack about Thought Machine
Revenue passed $100M in 2025, after a flat 2024
Revenue each year, from the group accounts of Thought Machine Group Limited, which cover all its companies. Pounds converted at the ECB rate on the last day of each year.
Its free cash flow turned positive in the second half of 2025.
Its recurring revenue passed $100M a year in the second quarter of 2026.
It isn’t profitable yet. It lost about $61M in 2025, down from about $89M in 2024. Nearly half of its 2025 revenue came from banks whose parent groups are also its shareholders.
Many of its backers are banks that run on its software
CIBC, which also runs on its software, co-led its latest round in 2026.
$2.7B is its last announced valuation. It didn’t give a valuation when existing investors put in about $69M in 2025. In 2024, investor Molten Ventures cut the value of its stake by nearly 40% because contracts were slow to go live. By March 2026, Molten had raised it a little.
The team is growing again, to about 530 people
Year-end counts come from its group accounts, and the latest from Tech.eu. It cut dozens of jobs in October 2023. It plans to bring on more than 100 engineers in 2026.
Its founder runs it, with leaders hired from Google and AWS
Before he founded Thought Machine, Paul led the team behind Google’s text-to-speech system. Global head of partnerships Randy McFarlane left in September 2026.
It’s engineering-led, and most of its jobs are hybrid
Where. It says its people work best side by side in the office. Lisbon jobs ask for three days a week on site, and most other jobs are hybrid.
Engineers. More than 60% of its people work in engineering and product.
The pace. It says its work takes time, patience and discipline, and that working there is not for everyone.
The CEO. Paul Taylor invites new joiners to lunch. He answers anonymous questions from staff at a company meeting every six weeks.
Pay. Every employee is a shareholder. In May 2026, staff sold about $28M of vested shares to CIBC, a new investor. Its Lisbon engineering listings pay about $56K to $134K, and a forward deployed engineer role in New York pays $140K to $220K. Its London listings don’t give pay.
Time off. UK staff get 25 days off plus public holidays, six months of fully paid maternity leave and four weeks of fully paid paternity leave.
20 of the world’s largest banks are clients
By July 2026 it had signed 68 banks, with clients in more than 30 countries.
Banks pay by the number of accounts live on Vault, so revenue from a new client grows as its accounts move over.
What people tell Jack
“Their goal to permanently replace outdated banking systems is inspiring.”
Open roles
Thought Machine has 31 open roles on its careers page. 14 list Portugal, 12 list the UK, 3 list Singapore and 2 other places. Pick a place and a team to see the roles and Jack’s read.
Jack’s read for engineering, infrastructure and security
22 open roles
CTO Giovanni Marescalchi runs all of engineering. He led the engineering team behind Vault Core, its main product.- Its Lisbon office opened in September 2026 as an extension of its London headquarters, and it is hiring a founding team of 30 engineers there.
- Engineers build in Go, Python and TypeScript, on Kubernetes across Google Cloud, AWS and Azure.
14 moreShow all
Jack’s read for client delivery and success
6 open roles
Chief client officer Peter Hands leads all of its work with clients after a sale. He ran professional services teams at AWS.- 50% more accounts ran on Vault in 2025 than in 2024.
What these roles pay and who gets hired, from our hiring guides
Jack’s read for product
1 open role
Will Montgomery was named its first chief product officer in January 2026 and owns the product strategy and roadmap.- In September 2026 it launched Vault Forge with AWS. Vault Forge uses AI to turn the code of a bank’s old system into products on Vault.
Jack’s read for finance and business systems
2 open roles
- CFO Arnaud Attamian leads finance.
- About $110M in cash at the end of 2025, up from about $63M a year before.
New roles peaked in late September
New roles each week worldwide, July to October 2026, from our daily checks of its careers page. Some September roles replaced earlier listings for the same job.
Closed roles44 since July 1, when our checks began
The most recent, as of November 5, 2026.
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The full rankingAbout this page
Jack & Jill isn’t Thought Machine’s recruiter. The open roles come straight from Thought Machine’s public careers page and refresh through the day. Company facts come from Thought Machine’s own announcements and named press, linked on each card, and were last checked on November 7, 2026. Jack’s take is Jack & Jill’s own.