Stripe lost 20% of UK engineers after £50m stock-pay outflow

While Stripe's European arm faltered its way to a $1.1bn loss in 2023, its UK arm did comparatively much better. Companies House accounts released this week revealed that profits at 'Stripe UK Payments Ltd' nearly tripled to £41.6m ($55.8m) from 2022 to 2023. Not everyone has been sticking around to celebrate, however.

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Headcount at the payments fintech fell 9.4% from 307 to 278 from 2022 to 2023. The largest drop in a single division was in Stripe UK's engineering team. Headcount there fell over 20%, from 80 to 63. Departures have continued in 2024; UK CTO, Emma Burrows, left in April.

UK engineers may be leaving after Stripe offered them a chance to cash in their stock pay.  'Other compensation, including share-based payments' surged from ~£20k in 2022 to £51.4m in 2023; with the 'golden handcuffs' removed, uncommitted employees were able to escape.

Assuming that all 307 employees employed at the start of the year cashed in stock, Stripe paid out £167.5k in 'other compensation' per head.  'Salaries and wages' surged from £151k to £170.2k, despite the fall in headcount.

Stripe is looking to fill the gaps left by those departed UK engineers. It opened a new office in London in May that can house up to 250 employees, including engineers. It currently has only 16 open roles in the capital, however.

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