Staff Software Engineer

Company Overview

Look at the latest headlines and you will see something Ki insures. Think space shuttles, world tours, wind farms, and even footballers' legs.

Ki's mission is simple: digitise and revolutionise a 335‑year‑old market. Working with Google and UCL, Ki has created a platform that uses algorithms, machine learning and large language models to give insurance brokers quotes in seconds, rather than days.

Ki is proudly the biggest global algorithmic insurance carrier, the fastest‑growing syndicate in the Lloyd's of London market, and the first ever to make £100m in profit in three years.

Ki's teams have varied backgrounds and work together in an agile, cross‑functional way to build the very best experience for its customers.

Role Overview

Io staff Software Engineer to join our Engineering team. You will provide technical leadership for both delivery squads and the wider engineering organisation.

Along with engineering leadership, you'll champion engineering excellence through continuous improvement, while being hands‑on and directly delivering new impactful software.

You will propose, design and execute initiatives independently, leading colleagues to deliver these goals.

Responsibilities

• Build robust and scalable software for business‑critical, web‑based applications.
• Design, build, test, document and maintain APIs and integrations.
• Develop new functionality in our core Kotlin‑based services, working in multi‑disciplinary teams.
• Ensure quality control using industry‑standard techniques such as automated testing, pairing and code review.
• Work with the Product team to understand end‑user requirements and translate them into effective technical solutions.
• Document technical design and analysis work.
• Assess current system architecture and identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
• Build mock‑ups or prototypes to explore and troubleshoot new initiatives.
• Explore new ideas and emerging technologies, developing prototypes quickly.
• Uphold and advance the wider engineering team's principles and ways of working.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement, positively influencing current ways of working.
• Serve as a domain expert in many of Ki's core technologies.
• Mentor and coach colleagues in engineering and business domain subjects towards building their own abilities and skills.
• Be opinionated regarding system architecture, suggesting improvements and changes required to support delivery of new functionality.

Requirements

• Experience as a senior‑level engineer working across a modern web stack.
• Strong software engineering principles (SOLID, DRY, ER modelling).
• Professional experience with a server‑side language, ideally JVM‑based.
• Comfortable working with cloud infrastructure, infrastructure‑as‑code, familiar with standard logging and monitoring tools.
• Experience with continuous integration or, ideally, continuous delivery.
• Strong familiarity with build tools such as Maven and version control tools such as Git/GitHub.
• Experience working in agile teams, following Scrum or Kanban, participating in regular ceremonies.
• Experience using project management and workflow tools such as Jira.
• Previous experience of software development in the financial markets, FinTech or InsurTech is preferable.

Recruitment Process

1) Initial recruiter screening call

2) Interview with hiring manager

3) Technical interview (may vary depending on the role)

4) Values interview

Ki Values

• Know Your Customer: Put yourself in their shoes, understand and balance the different needs of our customers, acting with integrity and empathy to create something excellent.
• Grow Together: Empower each other to succeed, recognise the work of our teams and celebrate individual success, embracing diverse perspectives.
• Be Courageous: Think big, push boundaries, embrace failure, test, adapt, improve and always strive to be better.

Culture & Inclusion

At Ki, we are committed to creating an inclusive environment where every colleague is valued and respected for who they are and can do the best work of their careers.

Inclusion is a critical foundation of our business and people strategies and supports our vision of becoming a market‑leading, digital and data‑led specialty insurance business. An inclusive workplace fuels innovation because creativity thrives when everyone feels valued, respected and supported to drive it.

Benefits

You'll receive a highly competitive remuneration and benefits package, kept under constant review to keep it relevant. We recognise and reward extraordinary effort by teams and individuals.

Job Specifics

Seniority level: Mid‑Senior level

Employment type: Full‑time

Industry: Insurance

Location: Greater London, England, United Kingdom

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