While fintech is probably the first industry that springs to mind when you think of London’s tech ecosystem, insurtech has been steadily climbing the ranks.
According to a recent study by McKinsey, London has positioned itself as a global leader and boasts the same number of insurtech unicorns – private companies valued at more than $1bn – as the rest of Europe combined. It is second to Silicon Valley globally.
The report also estimates that the sector employs approximately 4% of the total UK insurance workforce, and brings in close to £3bn in revenue each year.
Some of the top companies in the world that secured unicorn status in 2022 are UK-based. These include Zego, ManyPets, Tractable and Marshmallow, which was conceived after its founders decided to address the disparity in car insurance quotes between UK-born drivers and non-nationals.
Additionally, the sector has some of the fastest-growing startups, which secured £1.56bn in funding between 2012 and 2022.
The good news for tech professionals is that the sector is actively hiring and not just in London—31% of the total workforce is based outside of the capital highlighting how remote work is facilitating a greater talent pool.
This has also had a positive knock-on effect surrounding diversity within the wider insurance industry as a whole, attracting a younger cohort—about 60% of the workforce is under 40.
Additionally, around 39% of workers are non-British.
Early adopters
Part of the success of the sector lies with end users and their willingness to embrace insurtech apps over traditional, more established brokers.
In the UK, one in 10 adults are using insurance apps to manage their policies, denoting a 40% increase in downloads.
British insurtechs are also surging ahead of their US counterparts with 63% of UK firms investing in the power of AI technologies to enhance insights, features and safety compared to 50% across the pond.
Interestingly, customer experience is where the chasm between the two locations is most prevalent—69% of UK insurers are investing in incentives for customers. This figure came in at just 42% in the US.
And when it comes to reducing fees, again the UK trumps the US—81% to 29% respectively.
So whether you’re currently working within the insurance industry or want to align your tech skills to an emerging sector with bright prospects, the UKTN Job Board is the perfect place to start your search for insurtech jobs, or check out the openings below.
Zego
Commercial motor insurer Zego is on a mission to make insurance for taxis, to self-employed scooter delivery drivers more affordable and accessible. The company has raised over $200m in funding since its launch in 2016 and is currently hiring for various roles in London.
These include a trading fleet underwriter to be accountable for underwriting decisions for all business quotes. You will work closely with and support the broker management team, partner with the pricing team and work closely with the technical underwriting team.
Propel
High-growth cyber insurtech Propel is looking for a .Net software enigneer to assist in maturing the business into a global technology player.
The company has recently closed $160m in funding and is viewing an IPO in the not-too-distant future.
In this role you will work alongside other experienced software engineers, applying your technical and problem-solving capabilities to build and maintain their applications.
You will be immersed in the full product engineering process, contributing to the technical design, implementation, testing, deployment, and ongoing support and maintenance of the software.
Tractable
Founded in 2014, Tractable is now the AI tool of choice for world-leading insurance and automotive companies. Its solutions can assess damage and accelerate claims and repairs while also making response times 10 times faster, even after full-scale natural disasters such as floods and hurricanes.
The company prides itself on its diverse team of over 40 nationalities and is now looking for a principal product manager to report to the VP of product.
You will be responsible for building the foundational platform that enables applications across multiple domains and use cases. As a result, you will work closely with technical teams, third-party partners, and developer customers to build highly available and reliable primitives that power customer-facing applications.
Explore your career opportunities today via the UKTN Job Board
This article is part of a paid partnership with careers marketplace Jobbio to share the most exciting UK tech jobs with UKTN readers.