Building an insurtech talent engine: From legacy mindset to high-growth team
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.
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 you're actually trying to solve, what must be true operationally, technically and legally for it to work, and where you genuinely need deep insurance expertise versus build, data or 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), and people who can make sense of messy data (data science, analytics, pricing).
The balance 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 shifts 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 that blend. Don't assess everyone like a traditional insurer would, and 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, and the 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, the hiring journey needs to feel structured (clear stages, clear expectations, no surprise panels), considered (interviewers prepared, questions relevant, feedback specific) and 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, and a short, sharp set of interviews that map to the work and behaviours you need. The people you don't hire are watching too; poor candidate experience costs more than most teams realise.
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 the 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, and we've set out the five bottlenecks that appear when regulated firms don't.
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 without defaulting to "no", handle ambiguity, incomplete information and evolving strategy, and 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, and hiring metrics are visible: time-to-hire, offer acceptance, source of hire, retention in role, diversity. (The startup version of this argument applies just as well to a digital venture inside an insurer.)
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, and which markets or channels give you the best hires. From there you can evolve: building internal talent capability, adding embedded recruiters or an RPO, or bringing contractors under an MSP as your workforce mix gets 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, balance insurance DNA with product, data and delivery skills, use hiring as an early signal of how seriously they take trust and governance, design for compliance without sacrificing pace, and treat hiring as a shared responsibility rather than 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. For the established-insurer version of the same thinking, see insurance hiring in 2026.
Need an insurtech talent engine that keeps up with your plans?
Vermelo helps insurtechs, MGAs and digital ventures inside insurers build hiring models that balance pace, regulation and real-world delivery, from embedded recruiters and RPO to contractor management and advisory. Not sure which fits? The Talent Solutions Finder takes two minutes, or get in touch.
Insurtech hiring, answered
A blend of three, and the mix changes as you mature. People who understand the insurance market: broking, underwriting, capacity, claims, regulation and how distribution really works. People who can build and ship: engineering, product, UX, delivery. And people who can make sense of messy data: data science, analytics, pricing. Early on you tend to need senior hires who can sit with carriers, brokers and regulators; as you scale, the weight shifts towards the engineering and analytics that support more customers and partners.
Dig into real examples rather than hypotheticals. When did they work with a regulator, carrier or compliance team to get something across the line? How do they decide when there's no precedent? What did they do the last time a piece of work was 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, and who can spot risk without defaulting to 'no'.
Start from the risk or customer problem, not the job title. If you're entering a new line and need someone who understands capacity, regulation and how brokers think, that's insurance experience. If you're optimising an existing digital product, a data scientist and a product designer will move the dial before another senior insurance hire does. Tie every role to a clear outcome and the answer usually becomes obvious.
Vermelo is a UK talent solutions specialist delivering RPO, Project RPO, MSP, embedded talent (RaaS), total talent and talent advisory & consultancy. Named Best Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Business at the Global Recruiter Awards 2025. Part of the GWV Talent Solutions Group which includes Gerrard White Consulting and FlarePeople.