Building an insurtech talent engine: From legacy mindset to high-growth team

Written By Dena Hyett


Insurance doesn’t move slowly anymore. New MGAs, insurtech platforms and data-led products are coming to market all the time – and the difference between those that scale and those that stall is rarely the idea. It’s the people.

Whether you’re a new insurtech, a fast-growing scale-up or a digital venture inside an established insurer, you’re operating in one of the most heavily regulated industries around, while trying to behave like a product-led tech company. You can’t just stack your team with ex-startup generalists and hope for the best. You also can’t hire only traditional insurance profiles and expect them to thrive in a world of sprints, experimentation and constant change.

To grow sustainably, you need a talent engine that balances regulatory rigour, commercial acumen and genuine appetite for innovation.

Here are the non-negotiables we see in insurtech organisations that hire well, consistently.

1. Start with the risk and customer problem (not the job title)

In insurance, everything ultimately comes back to risk and the customer. Your hiring should be no different.

Before you jump to “we need an underwriter” or “we need a product manager”, get clear on:

  • What risk, workflow or customer problem are we actually trying to solve?

  • What must be true – operationally, technically, legally – for this to work?

  • Where do we genuinely need deep insurance expertise, and where do we need build / data / UX?

For example:

  • Are you entering a new line where you need someone who understands capacity, regulation and how brokers really think?

  • Or are you optimising an existing digital product, where you actually need a data scientist and a product designer before another senior hire?

When every role is tied back to a clear risk or customer outcome, you avoid “nice to have” headcount and focus on hires that move the dial.

2. Blend insurance DNA with product and data skills

The strongest insurtech teams are rarely made up of one “type” of person. They’re a mix of:

  • People who understand the insurance market (broking, underwriting, capacity, claims, regulation, the realities of distribution)

  • People who know how to build and ship (engineering, product, UX, delivery)

  • People who can make sense of messy data (data science, analytics, pricing)

The balance of that mix changes as you mature:

  • In earlier phases, you might need senior hires who can sit with carriers, brokers and regulators and speak their language.

  • As you scale, the emphasis may shift towards engineering and analytics that can support more customers, markets and partners.

  • In more established teams, you might need operational leaders who can orchestrate multiple territories, products and joint ventures.

Your hiring process should reflect this blend. Don’t assess everyone like a traditional insurer would. Don’t treat everyone like a pure tech startup would either. Design interviews and scorecards that actually test for:

  • Comfort with regulation and scrutiny

  • Willingness to experiment and iterate

  • Ability to collaborate across “old” and “new” worlds

3. Design a hiring experience that builds trust (before they see a policy)

Trust is everything in insurance – and candidates are paying attention long before they become employees.

A rushed, inconsistent hiring experience sends the wrong signal in a regulated space. If you want people to believe you take risk, compliance and customers seriously, your hiring journey needs to feel:

  • Structured – clear stages, clear expectations, no surprise panels

  • Considered – interviewers prepared, questions relevant, feedback specific

  • Transparent – clarity on the product, growth plans, regulatory status and the real challenges ahead

That doesn’t mean a heavy, bureaucratic process. It means:

  • A simple, repeatable flow for every permanent hire

  • Defined decision-makers for each role

  • A short, sharp set of interviews that map to the work and behaviours you need

When candidates leave the process thinking “if this is how they hire, I trust how they run the business”, you’re on the right track.

4. Make compliance and governance part of the design - not an afterthought

Insurtechs don’t have the luxury of ignoring the boring bits.

Background checks, references, conduct rules, regulatory approvals, fit and proper assessments, data protection – they all matter. But they don’t have to kill your speed if you design for them early.

Build compliance into your hiring engine:

  • Agree, role by role, what checks are required and when they happen

  • Standardise how you store interview notes and decisions, so you have an audit trail

  • Make it easy for hiring managers to do the right thing with simple templates and workflows

  • Decide which roles must sit in certain jurisdictions or be registered with specific bodies

Established players often have policies but lack consistency in how they’re applied. Younger businesses often have speed but limited structure. The goal is to combine the best of both.

5. Hire for “regulated change” behaviours

Working in insurtech is neither purely “insurance” nor purely “tech”. It’s both, in a regulated context.

You need people who can:

  • Work within boundaries without getting frustrated

  • Spot risk but not default to “no”

  • Handle ambiguity, incomplete information and evolving strategy

  • Communicate clearly with technical, commercial and regulatory stakeholders

Your interviews should dig into real examples:

  • When did they work with a regulator, carrier or compliance team to get something across the line?

  • How do they make decisions when there isn’t a clear precedent?

  • What do they do when a piece of work is blocked by governance – escalate, collaborate, or give up?

You’re looking for people who respect the rules and enjoy finding creative ways to deliver within them – whether you’re at seed stage or managing multiple regulated entities.

6. Turn hiring into a shared habit – and track it

Insurtech teams, regardless of size, can fall into the trap of treating hiring as an occasional project. When it sits purely with founders, HR or a single talent partner, it will always be “fitted in” around everything else.

Treat hiring as a shared habit:

  • Leaders own workforce planning for their area

  • Interviewers are trained, briefed and given time to prepare

  • Teams use their networks, industry communities and events to attract talent

  • Hiring metrics are visible – time-to-hire, offer acceptance, source of hire, retention in role, diversity

You don’t need a huge tech stack to start. Even a light ATS and a simple dashboard will tell you:

  • Where you’re losing candidates

  • Which roles take longest to fill

  • Which markets or channels give you the best hires

From there, you can evolve – building internal talent capability, partnering on RPO/embedded models, or adding MSP/total talent solutions as your workforce mix becomes more complex.

Bringing it together

Insurtechs that grow sustainably, whether brand new or well-established, aren’t just good at product. They’re good at people decisions:

  • They link every role to a clear risk or customer problem

  • They balance insurance DNA with product, data and delivery skills

  • They use hiring as an early signal of how seriously they take trust and governance

  • They design for compliance without sacrificing pace

  • They treat hiring as a shared responsibility, not a side project

Get that right, and you’re not just building a team – you’re building a talent engine that can support innovation at every stage of your journey.

Need an insurtech talent engine that keeps up with your plans?

At Vermelo, we help insurtechs, MGAs and digital ventures inside insurers build hiring models that balance pace, regulation and real-world delivery.

Whether you need:

… let the Vermelo team help

Specialist Talent Solutions Specialist across insurance and insurtech

Book a discovery call | santa.benga@VermeloRPO.com | 07304 094171

Dena Hyett
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