Careers at Octopus
We’re looking for people who aren’t afraid to stand up for what they think is important and drive for positive change.
We’re a fast-moving, agile, ego-free organisation. We think differently.
Outsmarting, outpricing or outmanoeuvring the competition won’t last forever. Outbehaving them, in our view, will. That’s why we hire people as much for their values and behaviours as we do for their skills.
We’re looking for people who want to play a part in transitioning away from a society which puts profit over people and the planet. Towards a society which gives back as much as, if not more than, it takes.
Our values
These values guide everything we do, from how we interact with our customers to how
we work with one another.
Be Bold
We like people who make decisions quickly and who are OK changing their mind if it turns out there’s a better way of doing things.
Be Helpful
We like people who behave like it’s always day one and who remember that without our customers there is no business.
Be Straightforward
We like people who have opinions and who express them in a way that’s respectful and easy to understand.
Life at Octopus
Working at Octopus
Octopus isn’t like your average company. While the last 21 years have seen us grow to more than 2,500 people and 2.5 million customers across the Group, we still like to think of ourselves as a bit like a start-up.
For us, great business is simply about how we make our customers feel. That’s why we hire as much for values as we do for our skills.
Octopus is full of open, vulnerable and helpful people who always want the best – for our customers and for each other.
Moving within the business
One added benefit of working at a company like Octopus is the number of opportunities to move between our different businesses.
Over the last few years, we’ve had a team of five people leave their current roles to set up a new business for us in a different country. We’ve asked others to join start-up teams in new businesses we’ve set up or acquired, and we’ve encouraged countless other people to move between businesses to progress their careers.
Wellness at Octopus
We’re proud to have created a culture where people talk openly about their mental health. We don’t believe the statistic that one in four of us has a mental health issue. We think we all do. Just like our physical health, we’re all on a spectrum and there are days when we feel great and days when we don’t.
That’s why, a few years ago, we set up Anchor, a range of mental health support services for our employees. Each month, there are 80 slots available for mental health coaching with Sanctus, a company that helps people take better care of their mental health.
More wellness initiatives
- Parent Cloud which offers on demand, remote coaching for parents
- Subsidised financial coaching to help you get on top of your finances and live the life you want.
- Social clubs catering to all kinds of interests. So if you’re partial to a 10km race, video games, or watching a musical, we’ll probably have something for you.
Diversity & Inclusion
Diversity, in all its forms, makes a business stronger. As such, we’re committed to promoting equal opportunities for growth and development regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, or socio-economic background.
We believe strongly that teams are at their best when everyone feels safe to bring their whole self to work, and we have an in-house working group dedicated to making sure that is the case at Octopus.
Recent D&I activities
We’ve recently begun working with Grit (one of our previous charity partners), 10,000 Black Interns and Manchester Metropolitan University to understand some of the blockers some young people face in building careers in finance. And we’ve also set up an apprenticeship scheme specifically targeting people from diverse backgrounds.
HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter
We’re on a mission to invest in the ideas, industries, and the people that change the world. Fundamentally, we’re in the business of making the world a better place for everyone to live.
We’ll only achieve this if we think differently. To do that we have to bring diverse, innovative minds together to create an environment where everyone can be themselves and express their opinions.
Proud to be a B Corp
We’re thrilled to be one of the UK’s first financial services companies to meet the strict criteria to become a B Corp. To gain B Corp certification, a company needs to meet high standards and prove it has a positive impact not just on its workers and customers, but also on the wider community and environment.
