Lead Backend Engineer in London

DescriptionAbout ZegoInsurance hasn't changed much in over a century. The way we live, work and travel has.Good drivers are the entire point of Zego. Seven in 10 drivers on the road are consistently good, but until telematics came along there was no way to prove it, so nearly everyone paid a price based on averages. Zego is the company built to change that.At Zego, we're leading the AI evolution in insurance.We move fast, without the layers that usually slow things down. AI takes the routine work off every team, from Finance to Product to Marketing, so people ship real code and launch custom dashboards in minutes. Engineering commits are entirely AI-assisted, which shifts the focus from team size to the quality of your thinking and our data warehouse connects directly to an AI assistant for instant answers. Backed by a modern tech stack (Claude Code, Snowflake, Figma and Zapier) and a commitment to adopting new tools in days rather than quarters, you get complete ownership to do the most impactful work of your career.What you will be doingLead several engineers within a team or workstream, guiding their work towards user value and business opportunityDesign, build and own the Python microservices that power our insurance platform: secure, observable and built for scaleDrive architectural discussions and decisions across multiple teams, shaping the future of our backend systemsDeliver large, complex technical initiatives end to end, with clarity on scope, sequencing and impactRaise the bar on engineering excellence: testability, reliability, scalability and clean codeCoach and mentor engineers, sharing context, feedback and support so the whole team levels upImprove how the team works, from CI/CD pipelines to incident response, investigating root causes and fixing them pragmaticallyWhat you will need to be successfulDeep backend expertise - Hands-on experience building cloud-native microservices, Python preferred, though strong experience in another language works too!Systems at scale - You have built distributed architectures and understand performance tuning and observability, on top of solid fundamentals in data structures, algorithms and system designYou strive for simplicity - You build systems that are easy to understand, test and maintain, and you weigh trade-offs rather than reaching for complexityYou lead by example - Through mentoring, clear communication and a collaborative mindset, plus the tenacity to find a way forward through ambiguity or tough technical problemsYou are proactive with people beyond engineering - You raise concerns early, engage the right people, and explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholdersYou work AI-first - You will use AI daily here, and we mean daily. You do not need to arrive an expert, but you do need to arrive curious, experiment fast, and take ownership of getting good quickly. People who wait to be trained will find this uncomfortableWhat’s it like to work at Zego?At Zego, we operate like a high-performing sports team. We come together as one, driven by ambition, backed by real support and united by a shared mission to win.Working here means having the backing, the coaching and an inclusive community of Zegons across the UK and Europe, who celebrate your wins and raise your game. It also means holding ourselves to high standards: moving with urgency, taking complete ownership and embracing honest feedback that helps us continuously learn and evolve!This is your opportunity for a career-defining experience and one you will own.Do not take our word for it - Read what Zegons say about us on Glassdoor.The Zego ways of workingTeams work better with time to collaborate and space to get things done. We call it Zego Hybrid: some of us are in our central London office weekly, others monthly or quarterly. It is about finding the balance between face time and focus that produces great work and a healthy life around it.We also make a point of getting everyone in the same room. Teams come together every quarter and once a year the whole company does, properly. It is a serious investment and consistently one of the best parts of the year - Here is what the last one looked like.BenefitsMarket-competitive salary, benchmarked against your function and reviewed every yearAnnual performance bonus, linked to company performance and your contributionShare options, a real stake in the company and a share in the future you buildPrivate medical insurance, for you and your familyPension, generous holiday and 1,000 a year to spend on getting to the office or learning something newCutting-edge systems and tools, so you always have what you need to drive your impactIf you're ready to help build the real-time, data-driven infrastructure for an intelligent world, we want to hear from you.Zego, leading the AI evolution in insurance.There's more to Zego than just a job. Check out our blog for insights, stories and more.We were also named Best Insurance Company 2025.We're an equal opportunity employer and we value diversity at our company. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, or disability status.#LI-IL1#LI-Hybrid#LI-BM1Job SummaryID: 6C975B0601Department: Data and EngineeringType: full time