Head of Engineering

We are a product engineering led technology scale-up applying complex computer science techniques to change the way risk is determined within insurance, through our SaaS platform, Renew.

Renew has been carefully engineered to let users build and deploy mathematical models that can then harness complex data sets to drive better decision making in insurance.

To use a real-world example of how this has been applied - one client used Renew to price insurance for a Space X launch, wrangling all manner of weird and wonderful data to predict the risk/likelihood of every possible outcome, from arrival at the launchpad to breaking through each layer of earth's atmosphere, to a safe return home, and every potential obstacle along the way - including space debris!

After only four years we have a client-base ranging from niche specialty insurers up to some of the largest enterprise insurers globally - each with thousands of users. We achieved profitability after just three years, but given the opportunity we have to further disrupt the market and establish ourselves as the go-to modelling software/platform that can be used far beyond just insurance, we raised a Series A fundraise with Highland Europe (https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/30/london-based-insurtech-hyperexponential-closes-18m-round-led-by-highland-europe/) to help us scale to a team of 100 and together achieve this goal!

Product Engineering at hx

Our engineering department is a melting pot of some of the brightest (and kindest!) engineers in the industry.

The level of complexity of Renew requires a highly technical, true engineering mindset so an output of this is a deeply creative, innovative environment where we push technological boundaries, both through our work and our regular (and sometimes irregular!) hackathons.

As Head of Engineering, your mission will be to take ownership of the engineering team. You will own the three pillars of people, process and technology, and work with the VP Engineering and your peers in the product engineering leadership team to build this team into a high-functioning product engineering function.

Our product engineering structure is based around autonomous 5-6 person product teams, each with engineering and product managers. As a manager of managers, you will nurture, develop, coach and inspire the engineers through your management structure.

You will be ultimately responsible for the delivery of the product teams, and hold them to the highest bar for technical excellence and quality.

You will "own engineering" - in other words - you will be the engineering right hand for the VP engineering.

Goals and outcomes

1 month

• You have defined and implemented your leadership framework - setting expectations from your first line and the engineering team.
• You have taken ownership of the team structure and oversight of the pastoral management plans.

3 months

• You are aligned with the engineering cultural expectations and road-map and are an integral part of executing on that road-map with the engineering team.
• You have attained a technical understanding of the Renew platform and are able to provide guidance and veto on technical questions.
• You have become an effective member of the product engineering leadership team and are helping to deliver on VP Engineering led initiatives (milestones to be defined after you start).

6 months

• Have defined (and be executing on) the engineering strategy to make sure that Renew as a platform is ready to support the product and revenue goals for the next 3 years.
• Have delivered (in concert with your peers in the product function) a flexible delivery model with the product teams.
• You have taken ownership of the hiring strategy for engineering and are actively maintaining it with regular gap analysis of the product teams.

Remit and responsibilities

• "Own engineering" - you will be the engineering no. 2 for the VP engineering.
• Define the engineering strategy and road-map.
• Work hand in hand with the product function
• As a manager of managers, ensure that the pastoral care and personal development of all the engineers in your department is in place.

Persona

You are an owner -

you are the absorbing barrier between the VP Engineering and your department. Your team's output is your output. By the way you operate you are lifting yourself, pulling your team up and in turn, pushing the VPE up. You own and are accountable for your department in everything that it does and how it performs.

You are a leader -

your team respect you and you do not have to repeatedly tell them to uphold the standards and culture you set, and they can commit even when they disagree. Accountability and responsibility are dispersed across the team, not concentrated within a small number of key people. You understand the importance of balancing effectiveness and being liked - you deal with problems quickly and authoritatively.

You care deeply about helping people become better versions of themselves, constantly monitoring your team's workload to ensure nobody comes close to fatigue or burnout - a culture of open communication here will help us prevent this across hx!

You are able to gain a deep technical understanding of the architecture and technical implementation of a product and platform.

You are able to identify high performing output and are able to help drive that.

You have an open and empathetic management style, whilst holding your team to highest standards.

You are very much customer obsessed.

Qualifications and experience

• Leadership experience as a Director/Head of Engineering who has led through others, ideally at a fast-scaling technology organisation
• Significant experience developing advanced cloud-native applications and services
• Excellent knowledge and experience of fundamental CS/software engineering principles, including algorithms, data structures, complexity, testing, design patterns and architecture
• Strong understanding and significant experience working with and implementing modern software delivery practices including agile, lean, Kanban, organisational design and product engineering
• Demonstrable experience of strategic planning combined with effective delivery
• Proven experience attracting, motivating, developing and inspiring talented engineers
• Proven experience establishing principles, patterns and ways of working that eliminate friction and help teams deliver more than traditional thinking says is possible

What do we offer?

• Competitive salary + very staff-friendly EMI share options
• £5,000 for individual and group training and conference budget
• 25 days’ holiday plus 8 bank holiday days (33 in total)
• Company pension scheme via Penfold
• Mental health and therapy provision via Oliva
• Individual wellbeing allowance via Juno
• Private healthcare insurance through Vitality
• Top-spec equipment (laptop, screens, mechanical keyboards, etc)
• Regular remote hackathons, lunch & learns, socials and games nights
• Team breakfasts and lunches, snacks, drinks fridge, fun office @ The Ministry
• Annual team trip somewhere warm
• Huge opportunity for personal development and mastery as we grow together!

What’s next?

• Initial call with our Talent team to kick things off
• Introductory call with VP Engineering
• Practical skills assessment
• Meet the CEO
• We offer!

Diversity @ hx

We are committed to diversity and equal opportunity. We’re a talented and high-energy, but low-ego and kind team who believes that the more inclusive we are, the better our work and culture is. We are not yet where we want to be in terms of balance, but it is our mission to build a team that represents a variety of backgrounds and perspectives and we are working hard towards that goal.

PS - Check out our blog at https://www.hyperexponential.com/blog