Senior Data Engineer

Zego; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Company share options

Generous holiday

Wellbeing benefits

Hybrid working allowance

Job summary

Zego is seeking a Senior Data Engineer to advance our data platform as we scale. You will work across engineering, data science, analytics, and product to design, build and secure data systems that power analytics and operations.

In this hands-on role, you’ll mentor peers through code reviews and knowledge sharing while promoting best practices and an emphasis on CI/CD, observability, and IaC. The team operates in a hybrid model across the UK.

Qualifications

• 4+ years as a Data Engineer on scalable data platforms.
• Experience designing, building and operating ETL/ELT pipelines and large-scale architectures.
• Hands-on with Python, SQL, Snowflake, Iceberg, AWS S3, PostgresDB, Airflow, dbt, Spark; deployed via AWS, Docker, Terraform.

Responsibilities

• Act as a strong technical contributor within the Data Engineering team.
• Support and help less experienced engineers grow through pairing, code review, and knowledge sharing.
• Promote best practices in data engineering, including testing, CI/CD, observability, and IaC.
• Design, build, and maintain scalable and secure data pipelines, warehouses, and streaming systems.
• Ensure data is modelled and structured for analytics, data science, and operations.
• Contribute to evolution of data architecture to support current and future needs.
• Partner with teams to translate requirements into robust technical solutions.
• Identify opportunities for optimisation, re-architecture, or tool improvements.
• Contribute to delivery of the technical roadmap for data engineering.

Skills

Data engineering experience

ETL/ELT pipelines

Cross-functional collaboration

CI/CD

Observability

Infrastructure as code

Python

SQL

Cloud data platforms

AI awareness

Tools

Snowflake

Apache Iceberg

AWS S3

PostgresDB

Airflow

dbt

Apache Spark

Docker

Terraform

Job description

About Zego

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.

Purpose of the role

We're looking for a Senior Data Engineer to be a key technical contributor within our data engineering function, helping to build and evolve our data platform to meet Zego's ambitious growth.

This is a hands‑on technical role — you'll design and build scalable, resilient, and secure data systems, while supporting the wider team through knowledge sharing and collaboration. You'll work closely with peers across Engineering, Data Science, Analytics, and Product to ensure our data infrastructure is efficient and reliable.

While this role doesn't involve line management, you'll be expected to contribute to technical excellence within the team by sharing knowledge, reviewing code, and supporting less experienced engineers.

What you will be doing

Technical Delivery & Collaboration

• Act as a strong technical contributor within the Data Engineering team.
• Support and help less experienced engineers grow through pairing, code review, and knowledge sharing.
• Promote best practices in data engineering, including testing, CI/CD, observability, and infrastructure as code.

Platform & Architecture

• Design, build, and maintain scalable and secure data pipelines, warehouses, and streaming systems.
• Ensure data is modelled and structured to meet the needs of analytics, data science, and operational use cases.
• Contribute to the evolution of our data architecture, ensuring it can support both current and future business needs.

Collaboration & Delivery

• Partner with teams across the business to understand requirements and translate them into robust technical solutions.
• Identify opportunities for optimisation, re‑architecture, or tool improvements.
• Contribute to the delivery of the technical roadmap for data engineering.

What you will need to be successful

• Experience: 4+ years as a Data Engineer working on scalable data platforms, ideally in product‑led or high‑growth environments.
• Solid experience designing, building, and operating ETL/ELT pipelines and large‑scale data architectures.
• Hands‑on experience with modern data stacks — our tech includes Python, SQL, Snowflake, Apache Iceberg, AWS S3, PostgresDB, Airflow, dbt, and Apache Spark, deployed via AWS, Docker, and Terraform (experience with similar technologies is essential).
• Ability to work effectively with cross‑functional stakeholders, translating technical concepts into business value.
• Experience supporting other engineers through code reviews, pairing, and knowledge sharing.
• Pragmatic approach to balancing technical excellence with delivery needs.
• 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.

Nice to have:

• Experience building Data Mesh or Lakehouse architectures.
• Familiarity with Kubernetes, Docker, and real‑time streaming technologies (e.g. Kafka, Kinesis).
• Exposure to ML engineering pipelines or MLOps frameworks.

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!

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.