Starling Bank is hiring for 1,000 tech-related positions for its newest location in Manchester, England.

The $14.6 billion, London-based digital bank employs 2,500 people at four locations, including its London headquarters, Cardiff, Southampton and Dublin locations, according to a bank release.

The jobs are in infrastructure, backend and mobile app engineering, Sam Everington, chief executive of the bank’s banking platform, Engine, told Bank Automation News last week in London at FinovateEurope.

Manchester, a growing tech hub, is home to 1,600 startups and employs about 60,000 people in the tech sector, according to Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) in Manchester. Additionally, the DCMS deemed Manchester the fastest growing tech center north of London earlier this year.

“Not only is it a reflection of Manchester’s role as a northern epicenter for culture, media and sport — and our thriving and fast-growing tech sector — it is also a move which should help stimulate further innovation and investment in the city and beyond,” Bev Craig, leader of Manchester City Council, said in a statement regarding Starling’s new location.

Empowering candidates for recruitment, retention

The digital bank relies on creating a culture that focuses less on stringent requirements and more on direct outcomes, Everington said.

For example, the bank is looking for candidates who are “focused on outcomes and getting things done,” he said, noting performance at Starling is not measured by specific metrics, number of calls or number of applications reviewed. “There’s no formal targets and assessment in that way.”

Productivity is determined through freedom of innovation, trust in employees and use of one’s judgement, he said. “Engineers aren’t going to be told exactly what to do. They will have real opinions on the product and the proposition and how it should work. Then we empower them and give them real trust and freedom to do things that make the business better,” Everington added.

“That different culture and feeling [of freedom] makes it much easier for us to recruit and retain people.”

Innovation center to co-locate

As the bank makes a home in Manchester, the new location also has been selected to host the Centre for Finance, Innovation and Technology, an innovation hub for the U.K. government’s technology efforts, according to the bank’s release.

“There are huge opportunities in this city to forge a high-skilled, high-paid career in tech, and my discussions with the region’s business leaders will inform our work to grow the talent pipeline so these industries of the future continue to shine on the global state,” Digital Economy Minister and Co-Chair for the Digital Skills Council in Manchester Paul Scully said in a statement.