Technical Lead UK Insurance (Hybrid, Contract)

About adesso

Our mission is to help our clients deliver results with clarity, fairness, and accountability. By combining deep technical and functional IT and digital expertise, we drive innovation, modernise systems, and strengthen the teams behind them. If you want your architecture decisions to have real business impact, not just live in a slide deck, we'd love to talk.

The Role

We're looking for an experienced Technical Lead to guide the design, build, and delivery of high-quality software and data solutions for our client's UK insurance business. You'll provide hands on technical leadership to engineering teams, setting standards, solving hard problems, and making sure what gets built is secure, scalable, and maintainable.

You'll work closely with solution architects, project managers, product owners, and business stakeholders, turning architectural designs and business needs into well engineered solutions. This is a role for someone who leads from the front: respected by engineers, trusted by stakeholders, and still close enough to the code to know what good looks like.

What You'll Do

• Provide day to day technical leadership to engineering teams, setting direction on design, coding standards, and best practice

• Translate solution architecture and business requirements into detailed technical designs and delivery plans

• Remain hands on where it matters, including prototyping, reviewing code, and resolving complex technical issues

• Lead the build of cloud native applications, integrations, and data solutions using modern engineering practices such as CI/CD, automated testing, and infrastructure as code

• Guide the integration of core insurance platforms, including policy administration, claims, billing, and customer portals, with wider systems and third-party services

• Mentor and coach engineers, raising capability and building strong, collaborative teams

• Ensure solutions meet security, resilience, performance, and regulatory expectations relevant to UK insurance, including FCA requirements and data protection

• Work with third party suppliers and delivery partners to ensure technical quality and alignment with internal standards

• Support technical governance, including design reviews, technical debt management, and documentation

• Evaluate emerging technologies and recommend practical improvements that enhance delivery and customer outcomes

What You'll Bring

• Extensive experience as a Technical Lead, Lead Engineer, or Senior Developer in complex enterprise environments

• Strong hands-on expertise in modern software engineering, with Java as a key strength, and experience in API and integration design

• Solid experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud), including security, networking, and cloud native design

• Proven track record leading teams to deliver scalable, resilient solutions, including legacy to modern migrations

• Insurance experience is a big plus, with an understanding of products, policies, claims, distribution channels, and customer journeys

• Good to have: experience with pricing and quotation engines, data enrichment, and software development testing (unit, integration, and automated test approaches)

• Experience with insurance platforms and packages such as Guidewire, Duck Creek, or similar (desirable)

• Excellent stakeholder management, communication, and influencing skills, with the ability to explain technical decisions to non-technical audiences

• Relevant certifications (highly desirable)

• Strong written and spoken English

Why Join Us

We combine deep domain knowledge with technical excellence, giving our architects the context to design solutions that actually fit the business, not just the technology. You'll work alongside experienced consultants who value clarity, fairness, and accountability as much as you do.