Staff Backend Engineer

Zego; City of London; On-site; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading insurtech company in London is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to provide technical leadership and drive architectural decisions. You will focus on Python-based backend systems and collaborate with cross-functional teams. Strong technical depth and leadership experience are essential. This is a full-time role with a focus on innovative solutions for motor insurance.

Qualifications

• Deep experience building scalable distributed systems, ideally in Python or mixed languages.
• Experience leading technical direction and mentoring across teams.
• Curiosity in AI, seeking to enhance work with new tools.

Responsibilities

• Own architecture and technical strategy across multiple squads.
• Solve complex technical challenges by leading implementation.
• Mentor and coach engineers to support their growth.

Skills

Hands-on technical depth

Leadership without authority

Strategic partner

Curious and growth-minded

Builders' mentality

AI-savvy

Tools

Python

Distributed systems

Job description

2 months ago Be among the first 25 applicants

At Zego, we know that traditional motor insurance holds good drivers back. It's too complicated, too expensive, and it doesn't take into account how well you actually drive.

That's why, since 2016, we've been on a mission to change all of that. Our mission at Zego is to offer the lowest priced insurance for good drivers.

From van drivers and gig workers to everyday car drivers, our customers are our driving force - they're at the heart of everything we do.

We've sold tens of millions of policies so far, and raised over $200 million in funding. And we're only just getting started.

About the role

We're looking for a Staff Backend Engineer to join Zego as one of our most senior individual contributors. This is a hands-on technical leadership role where you'll drive architectural decisions, set engineering standards, and shape the technical direction of some of our most important systems.

You'll operate across multiple squads, collaborating closely with Engineering Managers, Tech Leads, and cross-functional stakeholders. As a Staff Engineer, your influence spans both deep technical execution and broad strategic input — you'll be expected to contribute to business-critical decision-making, guide complex delivery, and mentor engineers across teams.

Your primary focus will be Zego's Python-based backend systems, though you'll also support our Machine Learning initiatives and may partner with our Scala and Mobile teams depending on your interests and experience. This is a rare opportunity to play a foundational role in defining what great technical leadership looks like at Zego.

What you will be doing

• Own architecture and technical strategy across multiple squads, making sound, scalable decisions and seeing them through from whiteboard to production.
• Solve complex technical challenges end-to-end, often building the most critical parts of the system yourself to lead by example.
• Set the engineering bar for design, implementation, testing, reliability, and scalability across teams. You'll define and champion technical excellence.
• Collaborate deeply with stakeholders across Product, Data, Strategy, and Business to align on priorities and ensure technical plans support wider business goals.
• Mentor and coach engineers and tech leads, providing both technical and leadership guidance to help them grow.
• Act as a multiplier — bring clarity to ambiguous problems, unblock teams, and help others make sound decisions through deep technical context and crisp communication.
• Contribute to company-wide technical standards, identifying opportunities to improve processes, practices, and tooling that benefit the entire engineering org.

About you

• Impact-oriented — You focus on business and user value over pure technical output. You care about measurable outcomes and strive to make the biggest difference with your work.
• Hands-on technical depth — You have deep experience building scalable distributed systems, ideally in Python or a mix of statically and dynamically typed languages. You write high-quality, production-ready code and have strong instincts around architecture, observability, and system design.
• Leadership without authority — You've led technical direction across multiple teams or orgs, driving alignment without needing formal reporting lines. You elevate the work of others through mentoring, feedback, and leading by example.
• Strategic partner — You're comfortable talking to senior product and business leaders as well as reviewing pull requests. You proactively spot opportunities to improve both what we build and how we build it.
• Curious and growth-minded — You're excited by areas you may not be an expert in yet (e.g. ML systems, mobile integration) and seek to expand your influence by learning and partnering with others.
• builders' mentality — You enjoy diving deep into code, systems, and product to understand trade-offs and unblock teams. You're hands-on, pragmatic, and not afraid to ship.
• AI-savvy — You are curious about how AI can enhance your work, keen to experiment, learn quickly, and apply tools that improve productivity and unlock new ways of thinking.

We’re equal opportunity employers. We value diversity at our company and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability.

About us

At Zego, we know that traditional motor insurance holds good drivers back. It's too complicated, too expensive, and it doesn't take into account how well you actually drive.

That's why, since 2016, we've been on a mission to change all of that. Our mission at Zego is to offer the lowest priced insurance for good drivers.

From van drivers and gig workers to everyday car drivers, our customers are our driving force - they're at the heart of everything we do.

We've sold tens of millions of policies so far, and raised over $200 million in funding. And we're only just getting started.

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Industries

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