Head of Data Engineering

Job description

🚕 Are you keen to work somewhere that’s stimulating and friendly, with loads of opportunities for growth and plenty of freedom to make a real impact? This could be the place for you!

We are looking for a Head of Data Engineering to join us at INSHUR! We’re based in New York City, Dallas, TX and Westlake, CA and our company embraces a hybrid working model, allowing you to thrive in both collaborative office settings and the comfort of your own home 🏠. You’ll have the opportunity to work remotely while also connecting with your colleagues at our NYC office at least twice a week, fostering a dynamic and supportive environment.

You’ll be working on re-inventing insurance in exciting markets across multiple territories including the UK 🇬🇧, US 🇺🇸, and the Netherlands 🇳🇱.

Supported by (and reporting to) the Chief Technology Officer, you’ll be joining a friendly team of 8 in Data who believe in empowering the business through robust, scalable data infrastructure and driving innovation with high-quality, actionable data to support advanced analytics and AI initiatives

We value high performance and care deeply about making INSHUR a place where everyone is building something special, that we can all be proud of, while enjoying the ride.

What you do

In this newly created Head of Data Engineering role, you will be responsible for architecting and executing a visionary data strategy that ensures robust, scalable, and accessible data foundations across all facets of the organization. In close collaboration with our Head of Data Insights, you will empower the business with high-quality, actionable data. You will drive the evolution of our global data infrastructure to support and accelerate advanced data science and AI initiatives, positioning INSHUR at the forefront of innovation within the industry.

You’ll be working on:

• Setting the vision for data at INSHUR: Craft and drive the execution of a bold, forward-thinking data engineering strategy that underpins our mission and fuels our AI-driven future.
• Inspiring and empowering a world-class team: Grow and guide a high-performing, globally distributed data engineering team—instilling a culture of innovation, curiosity, and excellence in all things data.
• Building the backbone of our data ecosystem: Architect and scale resilient, secure, and flexible data infrastructure—laying the groundwork for powerful analytics and cutting-edge AI capabilities.
• Elevating trust and integrity in our dat a: Champion rigorous data governance and quality standards, ensuring every decision at INSHUR is built on reliable, secure, and compliant data.
• Accelerating AI and machine learning innovation: Shape the data platforms and pipelines that enable rapid experimentation, development, and deployment of transformative AI/ML solutions.
• Bridging data with the business: Collaborate across teams—from Product to Engineering to Insights—translating strategic needs into scalable data solutions that drive real business impact.
• Designing intelligent data flows: Architect and optimize high-volume ingestion pipelines and sophisticated data transformations that fuel real-time intelligence and actionable insights.
• Leading with curiosity and foresight: Keep INSHUR at the forefront by scouting emerging technologies, testing their potential, and integrating innovations that future-proof our data capabilities.
• Safeguarding our most valuable asset: Uphold the highest standards in data privacy, security, and regulatory compliance—protecting both our customers and our business.
• Driving innovation with Google Cloud: Collaborate with Google Cloud to unlock the full potential of GCP, co-creating advanced, scalable solutions that propel our data strategy and business success.

🎯 While we prioritise aptitude and passion over a strict checklist of requirements, we’ve outlined a core set of skills we believe will deliver success in this role. To make things clear, we’ve categorised them into “essentials to thrive in the role” and “additional skills that could set you apart”.

We’d love to hear from you if you have

…these essentials to thrive in the role:

• Visionary Tech Leadership: A proven track record in leading data engineering teams—building high-performing cultures, mentoring talent, and delivering complex data platforms at scale.
• Domain Expertise in Insurance & Insurtech: A solid understanding of the unique data architecture, compliance needs, and transformation opportunities within insurance—ideally within a tech-forward, fast-paced insurtech environment.
• Enterprise-Grade GCP Architecture: Deep expertise in designing and deploying robust data solutions on Google Cloud Platform, leveraging tools like BigQuery, Dataflow, Dataproc, Pub/Sub, Vertex AI, and Looker.
• Advanced Data Pipeline Engineering: Deep, hands-on experience designing and implementing large-scale batch and streaming pipelines from diverse data sources, alongside sophisticated, analytics-optimised data models (e.g., dimensional, data vault).
• Track Record of Building Elite Engineering Teams: Demonstrated ability to hire, mentor, and scale high-calibre data engineering teams while fostering a collaborative, innovation-driven culture that consistently delivers business impact.
• Strategic Technical Communication: Ability to translate complex architectural decisions and technical concepts into clear, business-aligned narratives for senior stakeholders.
• Team Builder & Culture Shaper: A history of hiring, growing, and scaling globally distributed teams, fostering innovation, inclusion, and continuous learning.
• Modern Data Stack Expertise: Skilled in cloud-native data warehousing, ETL/ELT development, orchestration frameworks, data governance, and CI/CD for data platforms.
• AI/ML Infrastructure Insight: Experience designing data ecosystems that power machine learning—enabling efficient experimentation, model training, deployment, and monitoring.
• Strategic Systems Thinking & Executive Communication: Proven ability to distil complex technical architecturesand engineering strategies into clear, outcome-focused narratives—aligning senior stakeholders, influencing direction, and fostering collaboration across globally distributed teams

… Additional skills that could set you apart

• Embedded Insight Teams: Experience developing insight teams distributed across the business and globe, bringing data expertise closer to decision-makers and driving smarter, faster outcomes.
• Empowering Self-Serve Analytics: Created intuitive, self-service data tools and dashboards that unlock insights for all teams, reducing bottlenecks and increasing agility.
• Translating Data into Action: Skilled in making complex data easy to understand and actionable, turning numbers into clear, compelling stories that influence strategy.

You’ll love it here if you:

💡 Thrive navigating ambiguity and finding clarity in uncertain situations.

👏 Take pride in being accountable and owning your responsibilities.

🚀 Enjoy in a fast-paced environment where change happens quickly.

🔧 Are solutions-focused and driven to overcome challenges.

💪 Embrace resilience and adapt to setbacks with a positive attitude.

🧠 Are intellectually curious, constantly seeking to learn, explore new ideas, and not afraid to question and improve your understanding.

You may not enjoy working here if:

⏳ Prefer a more structured, slow-moving environment.

📝 Feel most comfortable when tasks and processes are clearly defined from the start.

🤔 Struggle with handling multiple challenges at once or adapting to frequent changes.

🚫 Tend to stick strictly to your defined role and avoid contributing outside of your responsibilities.

What to expect from the process:

Screen & Intro: 30-45 minute video call with the Head of Talent Acquisition to discuss the role and your experience.

First Interview: 60-minute video call with the CTO and Data Business Analyst, including team fit and technical questions along with an opportunity for you to ask questions.

Case Study: A brief take-home task followed by a 45-60 minute video interview with the CTO & Head of US Acturial to run and take follow up querstions.

Final Interview: 45-60 minute video interview with our CFO and Director of People assess motivations, management and values.

We encourage you to ask questions about the role and the company throughout the hiring process. We believe that this is as much an opportunity for you to interview us as it is for us to interview you.

What we offer

Our budget for this role is $180,000 to $250,000, depending on your experience and location.

That said, if you feel you’re a perfect fit and bring something extra to the table — we’d still love to hear from you. Exceptional talent doesn’t always fit neatly in a box.

We offer all our employees stock options. We’ve also built a benefits package that invests in our people’s long-term personal and professional growth and wellbeing. Here’s a sample of what this includes:

🌴 25 days of holiday (+5 days after 5 years), 5 sick days and 8 federal holidays

🩺 Medical, dental and vision health insurance plans

🛡️ Life insurance, short-term, and long-term disability benefits

🍼 13 weeks fully paid parental leave for all new parents, regardless of your gender

💵 401(k) with 4% company match

🚉 Commuter Benefits

🕐 Flexible working hours to fit your lifestyle

📚 $650 annual training allowance & learning opportunities

🧘‍♀️ $50 monthly wellbeing

📞 ²⁴⁄₇ Employee Assistance Program and mental health benefits

It goes without saying that we provide everyone with a laptop, monitor, top of the range kit, and any software you need.

About Us

🚕 INSHUR is on a mission to be the leader in insurance solutions for the on-demand economy, making coverage fair and accessible for drivers.

💡Cutting edge technology & deep insurance know-how underpins our revolutionary offering for on-demand drivers, keeping premiums affordable and delivering results for partners. With a focus on embedded insurance solutions, and complementary technology integrations for digital platform providers such as Uber, Amazon, Bolt, FREENOW and OLA, we’ve been helping drivers stay on the road since 2016 through our data, technology and in-house insurance expertise.

🚀 Backed by some of the most forward thinking VC’s including Viola Growth, JVP, Munich Re, Viola Fintech, MTech Capital, Antler, and MS&AD, we have secured over $70 million in funding  as well as the acquisition of American Business Insurance in 2023. We have exciting plans to continue growing our portfolio and product lines and expand to new territories in the future.

🌍 As a global team of around 250 people based across the US, UK, and the Netherlands, we value:

🤝 Generosity, inclusivity, open-mindedness, and diversity

🏆 Delivering great results and learning in the open

🎯 Freedom to make long-term, high-impact decisions

💙 The wellbeing of our teammates and the people around us

And… Enjoying the ride!

Equal opportunities

🌈 At INSHUR, we believe that having a diverse team where everyone can bring their authentic selves to work is key to our success. We’re passionate about creating equal opportunities and making the tech industry a better place for all and we don’t discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, marital status, disability, or age.

🌍 As of July 2024, our team consists of 43% women, 26% from BAME or BIPOC backgrounds, and 13% LGBTQ+ 🌈. We proudly represent 30+ nationalities and span multiple generations, including Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. We’re proud to have been recognised for Diversity and Inclusion by the British Insurance Awards 🏆.

🏢 We recognise that early-stage companies often hire people similar to the existing team—something we’ve worked hard to overcome. We follow a structured hiring process and ensure our interview teams are trained to foster inclusivity and equity.

⏰ While this position is advertised as full-time, we’re flexible on specific arrangements and happy to discuss options like part-time, job-sharing, or other flexible work setups for the right candidate.

🛠️ If you need any adjustments during the interview process, please let us know, and we’ll do our best to accommodate your needs.