Tech Lead - Zurich Nova

Zurich Insurance; West of England; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

Annual bonus

Income protection

Life cover

Private medical insurance

Flexible working

Job summary

Zurich Nova is looking for an ambitious Tech Lead to join our engineering team. You will lead a high-performing group of associate software engineers, remain hands-on with development, and set technical direction to deliver high-quality software at pace.

You will mentor engineers, balance speed with quality, and collaborate with product and business stakeholders to turn ideas into valuable, AI-powered solutions. Join a team that combines startup agility with Zurich’s scale.

Qualifications

• Ambitious Tech Lead with hands-on engineering ability.
• Experience leading engineering projects and mentoring teams.
• Comfortable making technical decisions in evolving environments.
• Experience in fast-paced start-up, scale-up, fintech or technology-led settings.
• Able to balance speed with high engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Lead a high-performing associate software engineering team.
• Remain hands-on with design, development and delivery of production software.
• Set technical direction and help engineers make strong decisions.
• Drive pace and momentum from idea to working software.
• Coach, mentor and challenge engineers to improve capabilities.
• Collaborate with product, business and technical stakeholders to prioritise problems.

Skills

Hands-on coding

Engineering leadership

Mentoring engineers

Start-up/fintech experience

Technical decision making

Strong communication

AI tooling interest

Tools

AI tooling

Cloud platforms

Job description

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Working hours: This role is available on a part-time, job-share or full-time basis.

Salary: Attractive salary depending on experience plus an excellent benefits package

Location: Bristol, 3 days a week in the office with flexible hours

Closing date for applications: 29th October 2026

Build, lead and deliver at pace

At Zurich Nova, we’re combining the pace and ambition of a technology start-up with the scale and backing of one of the world's leading insurers.

Originally founded as an AI start-up and acquired by Zurich in 2023, Nova is focused on rapidly developing technology that solves real business problems. We work at pace, experiment with emerging technology and turn ideas into working products quickly.

We’re looking for a Tech Lead who can combine strong hands‑on engineering capability with the ability to lead and develop a high‑performing engineering team.

This isn't a traditional management role. You'll remain close to the technology, designing and building software while setting high standards for engineering quality, pace and delivery across the team.

We're particularly interested in engineers who have experienced fast-paced start-up, scale-up, fintech or innovation environments, where priorities evolve quickly and teams are expected to take ownership and deliver.

The opportunity

You’ll lead a small team of talented associate software engineers responsible for developing new products and solutions at pace.

Your role will be to create the conditions for the team to perform at its best. You'll provide technical direction, coach and challenge engineers, remove blockers and ensure the team maintains momentum while delivering high‑quality software.

You'll need to be comfortable making decisions with imperfect information, adapting quickly as priorities change and balancing technical excellence with the need to deliver.

We aren't wedded to a particular technology stack. What's more important is your ability to understand new technologies quickly, make good engineering decisions and lead others through ambiguity.

You'll also be encouraged to challenge how things are done. Whether that's adopting new AI tooling, improving development practices, automating processes or finding a faster route to value, we're looking for someone who naturally pushes engineering teams forward.

What will you be doing?

• Leading a high-performing associate software engineering team, creating clear expectations around quality, ownership and delivery.
• Remaining hands‑on with the design, development and delivery of production software.
• Setting technical direction and helping engineers make pragmatic, high-quality engineering decisions.
• Driving pace and momentum, helping the team move quickly from idea through experimentation to working software.
• Coaching, mentoring and challenging engineers to continually improve their technical capability and performance.
• Creating an environment of high accountability where engineers take ownership for outcomes.
• Working closely with product, business and technical stakeholders to prioritise problems and turn ideas into valuable products.
• Driving continuous improvement across engineering practices, tooling and ways of working.
• Exploring AI, Generative AI and emerging technologies to accelerate development and create new solutions.
• Making pragmatic architectural and technical decisions that balance speed, scalability and maintainability.
• Identifying blockers early and helping the team maintain delivery momentum.

What are we looking for?

We’re looking for an ambitious Tech Lead who enjoys building things, moving quickly and getting the best from other engineers.

You might already be a Tech Lead or Team Lead, or you could be a strong Senior Software Engineer who has naturally taken responsibility for leading projects and developing others and is now ready to formally lead a team.

We’d love to hear from you if you have:

• Strong experience in software engineering or software development.
• Experience working within a fast‑paced start‑up, scale‑up, fintech or technology‑led environment.
• Strong hands‑on coding skills and experience delivering production‑quality software.
• Experience leading engineering projects, mentoring developers or managing a small technical team.
• A track record of delivering software at pace, balancing speed with strong engineering standards.
• The ability to set high standards and help engineers consistently perform at their best.
• Confidence making technical decisions and providing direction when requirements aren't completely defined.
• Experience operating in environments where priorities and technologies can change quickly.
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
• An interest in AI, Generative AI, Large Language Models and emerging technologies.

Experience of automation, workflow technology, cloud platforms or modern Agile engineering environments would also be valuable.

The mindset we're looking for

You’ll thrive at Nova if you:

• Have a strong bias towards action and delivery.
• Enjoy working at pace and solving difficult technical problems.
• Set high standards for yourself and the engineers around you.
• Know how to challenge, coach and develop high‑performing engineers.
• Take ownership rather than waiting for direction.
• Are comfortable making decisions and moving forward when there isn't a perfect answer.
• Constantly look for ways to improve engineering practices and accelerate delivery.
• Are curious about emerging technology and quick to experiment with new approaches.
• Balance technical excellence with commercial thinking and practical delivery.
• Want to grow as an engineering leader while remaining technically credible and hands‑on.

This is an opportunity to join a team where engineering has the freedom to move quickly, experiment and build.

You’ll have the opportunity to:

• Lead and develop a talented engineering team.
• Build AI‑powered products that solve genuine business problems.
• Work with emerging technology and modern engineering approaches.
• Influence technical direction rather than simply implementing predefined solutions.
• Move quickly from concepts and prototypes through to working products.
• Develop your leadership capability while remaining hands‑on technically.
• Combine the pace and autonomy of a technology start‑up with the resources and reach of a global organisation.

Many of our employees work flexibly in a variety of different ways, including part‑time, flexible hours, job share, an element of working from home or compressed hours. Please talk to us at interview about the flexibility you may need.

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The financials

• 12% defined non‑contributory pension scheme.
• Annual company bonus.
• Income Protection.
• Life cover - four times your salary.

Time away

• 28 days holiday a year plus bank holidays.
• You can also request to swap UK bank holidays for days off that have cultural or religious significance to you.
• The option to buy up to an additional 20 days or sell some of your holiday.
• Three days paid volunteering.
• Up to 16 weeks' full pay for maternity, paternity and adoption leave.

Your health is important to us

• Access to Private medical insurance.
• Virtual GP appointments.
• Discounted gym membership.
• Free flu jab.
• Access to a wealth of support from our wellbeing partners.

We're making a difference

• Creating a brighter, more sustainable future underpins all that we do here in Zurich. We were the first insurer to sign the ‘UN Business Ambition for 1.5˚C’ pledge.
• Our charitable arm, Zurich Community Trust, has awarded grants and volunteered time to deserving causes in the UK valued at over £90 million.