Lead Python Engineer

CFC Underwriting; Greater London; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

CFC Underwriting seeks a Technical Lead - Python in London to lead a skilled engineering team at the Global Security Services department. You will shape how we design, build, and scale our platforms from concept to production, mentoring engineers and driving best practices across the team.

You will guide technical direction, manage complex challenges, and champion a culture of excellence, with a strong focus on Python, data, and scalable systems.

Qualifications

• Hands-on Python-focused engineering experience.
• Strong data handling with large-scale datasets.
• Ability to explain complex ideas to diverse audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead a talented engineering team to design, build, and scale platforms.
• Provide technical leadership and mentor engineers, guiding complex challenges.
• Address technical debt, manage risk, and drive CI/CD improvements.
• Ensure shipping of high-quality software that aligns with business goals.

Skills

Python

SQL optimization

PostgreSQL

SQL Server

Databricks

Git

Bash/Zsh

Vim

CI/CD

Data at scale

Education

Computer Science

Software Engineering

Data Science

Applied Statistics

Job description

Technical Lead - Python

Department: Global Security Services

Employment Type: Permanent - Full Time

Location: UK - London

Reporting To: Richard Jacobs

Description

At CFC, this role sits right at the intersection of technology, data, and real business impact. You’ll lead a talented engineering team and play a pivotal role in shaping how we design, build, and scale our platforms — from early concept through to production.

As a Technical Lead at CFC you will be responsible for guiding and mentoring a team towards the successful development of high-quality technical solutions that align with our business goals. Providing technical leadership, designing and implementing complex solutions, and ensuring the team adheres to best practices.Join us in shaping the technical direction of our projects and fostering a culture of excellence.

About the role

This is a hands‑on leadership role where you’ll set the standard for quality, guide engineers through complex challenges, and foster a collaborative, high‑performing team culture. You’ll actively tackle technical debt, manage risk, and drive continuous improvement across tooling, automation, and CI/CD — all while ensuring we ship software we’re proud of.

If you’re excited by solving complex problems, mentoring engineers, and building systems that operate at scale in a fast‑moving, innovative environment, this is a role where your impact will be visible from day one.

About you

You’re an experienced technical leader who enjoys rolling up your sleeves as much as setting direction. You’re comfortable explaining complex ideas to both technical and non‑technical audiences, and you instinctively balance pragmatism with long‑term thinking.

You bring strong, hands‑on experience as a Python‑focused engineer or technical lead, with a genuine love for working close to the data. You’re confident writing and optimising SQL (Postgres, SQL Server, Databricks), comfortable operating without an ORM, and familiar with the realities of handling data at scale.

You care deeply about engineering craft — from clean, well‑reviewed code to robust testing and automation. You’re at home in the command line, using tools like git, bash/zsh (and maybe vim), and you enjoy improving developer experience as much as delivering features.

You’re curious, analytical, and evidence‑driven, with the ability — and confidence — to interrogate data, draw insights, and share outcomes with clarity. Whether your background is Computer Science, Software Engineering, Data Science, Applied Statistics (or a closely related field), what matters most is your depth of understanding and passion for building great software.

Most importantly, you’re excited by the opportunity to grow with CFC — helping shape our technology, our teams, and the way we build for the future.

Core Values

Love what you do:

We show up each day ready to take on the world. Our passion and intensity set us apart and makes the difference to our colleagues, customers, brokers and carriers.

Challenge everything:

We’re never afraid to question the way that things are done and we constantly challenge ourselves and others to makes things better.

Have fun, be good:

Insurance is a serious business, but we don’t take ourselves too seriously. We make it fun to work at CFC, we welcome all viewpoints, and we treat everyone how we would expect to be treated.