Software Engineer

Backend Engineer

Insurance 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.

Location: Portugal | Compensation package: €40,000 to €60,000 base + Bonus + Share Options + Benefits | Ways of working: remote with quarterly visits to our London office

Purpose of the role

In 18 months, you own backend services that customers use every day, and you are ready for the next level rather than waiting for it. This is a hands-on backend role in one of our product teams for someone early in their career who is already shipping code professionally and wants to get senior fast. It is not a role for someone who wants to sit at this level for years.

What you will be doing

• Building, testing and shipping backend services that power products our customers use every day
• Writing clear, well-tested code that you and your teammates will be happy to maintain
• Reviewing other engineers' code and learning from theirs
• Pairing with senior engineers on the harder problems and levelling up along the way
• Taking ownership of what you do not yet know, asking good questions and seeking feedback
• Using AI tools as part of your daily workflow (and helping the team get better at using them!)

What you will need to be successful

• Professional coding experience - You have been actively developing software in a professional setting. We do not mind which language: our stack is mostly Python and you will pick it up quickly
• Solid fundamentals - Data structures, basic algorithms, object-oriented programming, testing and version control
• Growth mindset - You treat gaps in your knowledge as opportunities, not weaknesses and go and find what you do not know, rather than waiting to be told
• Hunger to progress - You want to be a Senior Engineer, you want to get there as fast as you reasonably can and you are up for putting in the work
• Good communication - You can explain what you are working on, ask for help when you are stuck, and give useful feedback in code reviews
• You 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 uncomfortable

What'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.

Teams 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.

Benefits

• Market-competitive salary, benchmarked against your function and reviewed every year
• Annual performance bonus, linked to company performance and your contribution
• Share options, a real stake in the company and a share in the future you build
• Private medical insurance, for you
• Generous holiday, up to 90 days a year working from anywhere, and €1,000 a year to spend on getting to the office or learning something new
• Cutting-edge systems and tools, so you always have what you need to drive your impact

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.

If 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.

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.