The fintech industry’s rapid evolution heightened demand for skilled professionals, making it difficult for the client to recruit the right talent for the development of a new payment system while establishing a presence in the UK.

Their teams faced challenges sourcing Pods—collaborative, cross-functional project teams—while graduate hiring was limited by university schedules. Initially reliant on contractors and offshore resources, they aimed to build an in-house team with a strong culture.

COVID-19 lockdowns worsened talent competition and virtual onboarding issues.

FDM stepped in to provide critical skills, foster the right culture, and develop a long-term talent pipeline by leveraging our local university partnerships, and our career transitioner and ex-forces networks.

Working closely with the client, FDM was able to identify and support on some of their key technology challenges in Cloud native applications, Big Data, microservices, and event-driven processing and reinforce best practice ways of working within Scrum, Agile and DevOps, CI/CD and Test Automation.

During the COVID-19 lockdowns, FDM built a new Pod ecosystem in the UK, leveraging coaches’ expertise to create an experiential learning environment through project-based teamwork.

To support the client’s need for rapid scaling, we invited the client to a virtual sprint review featuring an FDM Pod working on a pricing engine aligned with their tech stack. Impressed by the results, they onboarded the entire Scrum team, led by an FDM Ex-Forces Scrum Master and composed of junior talent and senior BAs.

For subsequent deliveries, the client conducted individual interviews while we continued forming Pods during upskilling. Development and Test Engineering consultants completed a six-week core programme, mastering Java before moving to specialist pre-assignment coaching for a further six weeks, aligned to the client’s core technology stack.

To strengthen senior capability, we expanded our Returners Programme, upskilling experienced engineers in Java and DevOps tools. Each cross-functional team blended Software Developers, Quality Engineers, and Scrum Masters—graduates and returners alike—balancing cost with experience.

To supplement desired DevOps expertise, FDM provided training in Docker, Kubernetes, Helm, and OpenShift, plus Agile, Scrum, and Test Automation with Postman and Cucumber. Each Pod built a Java and Spring Boot pricing engine for P&L trade positions, replicating client environments. Supported by an FDM Scrum Master, these teams became assignment-ready, enabling the client to scale with confidence.

Onboarding the first cohort in just six weeks, FDM successfully built multiple Pods of Developers, Analysts, and Scrum Masters, delivering 56 consultants over four years. Peaking at 35 consultants on-site, FDM operated over half of the client’s tech workforce, achieving a 90% conversion rate to permanent roles.

Returners’ value
Balanced teams of graduates and experienced returners accelerated knowledge transfer and improved team performance, particularly in cloud architecture projects. FDM’s first all-female tech Returner cohort played a key mentoring role.

Effective teamwork
FDM Consultants demonstrated strong collaboration, proactively onboarded new graduates, and fostered a productive digital payments team, even when deployed across different teams.

Time and cost efficiencies
FDM’s iterative upskilling model allowed quick assignment of diverse, cross-functional teams. Continuous feedback from FDM Scrum Masters refined programme content and improved delivery timeframes.

By leveraging FDM’s year-round talent sourcing and customised coaching through our Skills Lab, FDM can bring in a pre-validated team with the right mix of specialist expertise and level of experience on request.

“FDM have provided us with people that are willing to take new challenges and opportunities and not be spectators to change but to help influence it.

“This was a much more time efficient approach than hiring a group of strangers. We ended up with a fulfilled technology stack of a very high standard.”

Director, Application Development – Payments