Company details

HEADCOUNT

25-99

ORG TYPE

Startup

SECTOR

Finance

WEBSITE

https://www.getpenfold.com

About the company

Penfold is a UK fintech focused on workplace auto-enrolment pensions and personal pensions, built around a modern app-first experience. Penfold positions the product as a simpler, more engaging pension for employees and employers, with the company authorised and regulated by the FCA. Recent hiring materials describe a London and Tallinn setup, with a remote-first approach and periodic in-person collaboration. Penfold’s job pages also describe the business as Series A-stage with a team around the 60–65 range.

Locations and presence

Penfold operates mainly across London (UK) and Tallinn (Estonia), with teams split across both cities. Penfold describes remote-first working, with role-dependent expectations for office days in Tallinn and the ability to work from the UK or across Europe for some London-based roles.

Palpable Score

63.8

/ 100

Penfold is strongest on structured, respectful hiring signals and day-to-day support cues like feedback and development, which show up repeatedly in job descriptions. The score is held back by thin evidence of consistent 0–3 year hiring volume and limited public proof of early-career progression outcomes.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

11.0

/ 20

The company’s live vacancies skew mid to senior, with examples like Reconciliation Specialist requiring 2–4 years and a Senior Full Stack Engineer requiring 7+ years.
Penfold has posted some earlier-career operations roles in Estonia with 1–3 years’ experience requirements, suggesting access exists but is not continuous in the live pipeline.
The company has limited visible volume for junior hiring right now, with only a small number of open roles publicly listed at once and no standing internship or graduate intake visible on the careers site.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

15.2

/ 20

The company lays out a clear multi-step process in job descriptions, including screening, hiring manager interview, task-based assessment, and culture interview.
Penfold adds unusual transparency by flagging interview recording and the use of AI tools for note-taking, plus an opt-out route for candidates who prefer not to be recorded.
The company still lacks consistency on pay transparency across locations, with some roles listing exact monthly pay while others only say “competitive,” which weakens candidate clarity.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

13.9

/ 20

The company’s careers materials promise regular 360 feedback and role progression support, alongside funding for courses, events, and coaching.
Penfold includes hands-on learning signals in engineering hiring, like pair programming, code reviews, and mentoring expectations in the Senior Full Stack Engineer role.
The company gives less role-specific onboarding detail for junior-leaning operations roles, where support is described more as benefits and feedback cycles than a concrete ramp plan.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

12.9

/ 20

The company publishes salary figures for some Estonia roles, including monthly pay listed directly on the job page, which helps early-career candidates plan.
Penfold offers stability signals that matter for juniors, including full-time roles, private medical cover, stock options, employer pension contributions (including a stated 10% contribution in at least one role), and equipment support.
The company does not consistently publish salary ranges across the UK and Europe roles, which caps the score because early-career candidates cannot reliably benchmark offers.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

10.8

/ 20

The company has a small but mostly positive public employee review footprint, with overall ratings that point to solid work-life balance, culture, and career opportunities, but the sample is limited.
Penfold also has visible negative sentiment in at least one detailed review that alleges disorganisation and long hours, which raises risk for early-career retention if the experience is uneven by team.
The company’s LinkedIn presence indicates a small scaling organisation (51–200 listed) with cross-site teams, but public data on junior promotions, time-to-proficiency, and 12–24 month retention is missing, which limits how high this pillar can go.