European retail and commercial bank modernizing legacy systems across four countries
Handelsbanken operates a hybrid tech estate spanning mainframe (COBOL, z/OS, DB2) and modern cloud (Azure DevOps, .NET, React, PostgreSQL), with active projects in legacy application modernization and integration solutions — indicating a multi-year shift away from aging core systems. Finance dominates the hiring mix (80 open roles), followed by engineering (37), suggesting the bank is balancing regulatory/risk function scaling with technical modernization, while branch profitability and customer acquisition remain operational friction points.
Notable leadership hires: Client Director
Handelsbanken is a publicly traded European bank founded in 1871, headquartered in Stockholm with significant operations in Sweden, the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK. The bank employs over 12,000 people and serves private and corporate customers through a branch-led model emphasizing relationship banking and localized decision-making. The technology foundation combines legacy mainframe infrastructure (COBOL, z/OS, DB2, SQL Server) with modern development tools (.NET, React, PostgreSQL, Azure DevOps, Jenkins), while ongoing projects address data warehouse upgrades, cloud governance implementation, and modernization of payments systems. Current hiring spans finance, engineering, data, sales, and support functions across six countries, with steady recruitment velocity.
Handelsbanken runs .NET, Java, React, and Angular on the modern side, with PostgreSQL and SQL Server databases, plus Azure DevOps for CI/CD. Legacy systems include COBOL, z/OS, DB2, and mainframe infrastructure. Version control uses Git and Bitbucket; Salesforce handles CRM.
Active projects include legacy application modernization, bank system integrations, customer platform and CRM overhauls, data warehouse upgrades, CI/CD pipeline build-out, cloud governance, and payments system modernization. The bank is also defining target IT architecture and roadmap for its Netherlands operations.
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