You'd think there would be an arbitrage opportunity in paying more $$$ for London talent. Still surprises me that this hasn't happened after all these years of huge differences.
I call that "trampoline". Jobs that are meant to be temporary to jump to the real interest.
The trampoline a year ago was crypto startups. Ponzi, probably.
as someone who's been a hiring manager for software engineers in finance: your problem is likely getting past the initial HR filter
they sadly care about all the things you listed
It may simply be that the the same product is worth less when developed in London rather than SF, due to relative availability of VC, market access restrictions, cultural approaches to monetary compensation or any number of other reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the code.