Lead Backend Engineer

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.

Location: Portugal | Compensation Package: €70,000 - €90,000 base + bonus + share options + benefits | Ways of Working: Remote with quarterly visits to our London office

About the role

We’re looking for a Lead Backend Engineer to help shape the future of Zego’s platforms and services. This role is ideal for someone who thrives on solving complex problems, working at scale, and acting as a technical leader within a cross-functional product team.

As a Lead Engineer at Zego, you’ll bring deep backend expertise driving delivery, influencing architecture, and mentoring others. You'll play a key role in evolving our microservices ecosystem and ensuring we build software that’s resilient, scalable, and impactful.

What you will be doing

• You will be leading multiple engineers working in the same team or workstream and guiding their work to deliver user value and go after business opportunities.
• Design, build and own Python microservices that power our insurance platform-secure, observable, and built for scale.
• Drive architectural discussions and decisions across multiple teams, shaping the future of our backend systems.
• Champion engineering excellence: testability, reliability, scalability, and clean code.
• Collaborate with engineers, product managers, designers and data analysts to deliver user and business value fast.
• Lead and coordinate the delivery of large, complex technical initiatives with clarity and impact.
• Actively coach and mentor engineers- sharing context, feedback and support to raise the bar.
• Identify problems, investigate root causes, and implement pragmatic solutions with autonomy.
• Continuously improve how we work as a team: from CI/CD pipelines to incident response and everything in between.
• Stay curious about how AI can enhance our work, adopting tools and workflows that unlock better productivity and insight.
  

About you

• You’re a strong backend engineer with hands-on experience building cloud-native microservices (Python preferred, but open to strong experience in other languages
• You bring deep knowledge of programming fundamentals- data structures, algorithms, system design.
• You’ve built systems at scale and understand distributed architectures, performance tuning and observability.
• You lead by example: through mentoring, clear communication, and a collaborative mindset.
• You’re tenacious and resourceful-you know how to find a way forward, even through ambiguity or tough technical challenges. You bring a calm, pragmatic mindset and consistently uncover solutions that balance speed, simplicity, and scalability.
• You strive for simplicity. You build systems that are easy to understand, test, and maintain- avoiding unnecessary complexity.
• You’re proactive by nature. When something isn’t working or could be improved, you step in- raising concerns early, engaging the right people, and helping the team align on a path forward. You don’t wait to be told there’s a problem- you anticipate, communicate, and act.
• You’re comfortable engaging stakeholders beyond engineering and explaining technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders. 
• You understand trade-offs and apply judgement to choose the right approach for the problem.
• You’re excited by the opportunity to shape a product that impacts thousands of drivers daily.
• You will be someone who’s actively curious about how AI can enhance your work - keen to experiment, learn quickly, and apply tools that improve productivity, streamline tasks, or unlock new ways of thinking. Whether you’re already hands-on or fast building confidence, you take ownership of staying ahead and working smarter

What’s it like to work at Zego?

Joining Zego is a career-defining move. People go further here, reaching their full potential to achieve extraordinary things. 

We’re spread throughout the UK and Europe, and united by our drive to get things done. We’re proud of our company and our culture – a friendly and inclusive space where we can lift each other up and celebrate our wins every day.

Together, we’re setting the bar higher, delivering exceptional work that makes a difference. Our people are the most important part of our story, and everyone here plays a role. There’s loads of room to learn and grow, and you’ll get the freedom to steer your career wherever you want.

You’ll work alongside a talented group who embrace each other's differences and aren’t afraid of a challenge. We recognise our achievements, learn from our mistakes, and help each other to be the best we can be. Together, we’re making insurance matter. 

How we work

We believe that teams work better when they have time to collaborate and space to get things done. We call it Zego Hybrid. While some of our team choose to come into our central London office once a week, we’re flexible - some people prefer being in once a month or even quarterly. It’s all about finding the right balance between collaborative face time and focused home-working, so we can achieve great results while maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

Our approach to AI

We believe in the power of AI to meaningfully improve how we work - helping us move faster, think differently, and focus on what matters most. At Zego, we encourage people to stay curious and intentional about how AI is leveraged in their work and teams to drive practical impact every day. This is your chance to do the most meaningful work of your career - and we’ll provide you with the tools, support, and freedom to do it well.

Benefits

We reward our people well. Join us and you’ll get a market-competitive salary, private medical insurance, company share options, generous holiday allowance, and a whole lot of wellbeing benefits. We also offer an annual flexible hybrid working contribution, which you can use to support with your travel to the office or towards your own personal development. And that’s just for starters! 

Pay Transparency

At Zego, we are committed to pay transparency and equal pay practices. In compliance with EU pay transparency regulations, we proactively disclose salary information for all open positions to ensure fairness and clarity in our recruitment process. We believe transparency builds trust and helps candidates make informed decisions about their careers with us.

There’s more to Zego than just a job - Check out our blog for insights, stories, and more.

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.

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