Engineering Lead, Front-End Focused

Kin is redesigning insurance to be smarter, faster, and centered on the customer. We use intelligent pricing, offer seamless bundling, and make every step (from purchasing, servicing to claims) simple and friction-free, especially in the places traditional insurers often ignore.

We empower people to protect what matters most, starting with their homes and expanding to all they value, in a world where climate risks, rising costs, and outdated systems leave too many behind. Our approach has fostered amazing growth, attracted marquee investors, and earned us accolades, including being named to:

• Built In Chicago's Best Places to Work, Midsize Companies (2021-2025).

• Forbes' America's Best Startup Employers (2021- 2024, Ranked #37 in 2024).

• Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies.

• Forbes’ Fintech 50.

Simply put, our people are what make us great – we need forward-thinking, inspired game-changers like you to join us in our mission.

So, what’s the role?

We are looking for a passionate, entrepreneurial & hands-on engineering lead to lead one of our engineering teams. You should be comfortable working with geographically distributed teams and understand the nuances of being a team player. In this role, you will be responsible for leading a team of software engineers across both front-end and back-end to drive innovation in full-stack product development, while relentlessly improving performance, scalability, and maintainability.

A day in the life could include:

• Serve as a hands-on engineering leader and a technical expert

• Nurture and mentor a small team of top engineering talent

• Work with product management to develop and maintain a roadmap for your team

• Drive your team to innovate and deliver roadmap features with agility and high quality

• Writing clean, maintainable, and efficient code in Javascript/Typescript and familiarity with JS frameworks/libraries (Angular, React or Vue)

• Experience with backend development (Ruby/Rails, Node.js, or similar) and a strong understanding of full-stack architecture, APIs, and data flow between frontend and backend systems

• Leading pair programming sessions and providing mentorship to more junior team members

• Driving and fostering design or architectural tasks

• Participating in daily stands and weekly retros

• Collaborating with cross-functional team members, including Product and PMO

• Execute consistently, rapidly, and effectively to take ideas from concept to production and scale

• Maintain high availability of products and quick response to any production incidents

• Represent your team and product line in cross-functional discussions

I’ve got the skills… but do I have the necessary ones?

• Leadership experience in software development & strong computer science fundamentals

• Serves as the go-to person for key projects, proactively identifying and mitigating risks to ensure successful delivery.

• Experience leading a small team of engineers in a player coach role.

• Strong design and architecture exposure in building large scale software solutions using cloud technologies

• Experience in designing, implementing and maintaining high performance, high availability (24x7), large-scale web based software applications using modern programming languages

• Experience with Ruby and Rails is nice to have

• Experience designing accessible web applications with CSS and semantic HTML

• Experience with Relational and No-SQL databases, message queues/brokers

• Exposure to BI & big data technologies including Looker, BigTable is nice to have

• Strong communication skills and ability to grasp and convey complex product requirements or technical concepts

• Ability to work in a fast paced, iterative development environment

• Excellent command of software development life cycle activities including analysis, design, development, unit and system testing, production deployment and post-production support

• Knowledge of the Insurance Industry & Products is a big plus

Oh, and don’t worry, we’ve got you covered! 

We offer a comprehensive benefits program, allowing you to choose the

benefits that are best for you and your family including: Medical, Dental, Vision, Life Insurance, Short and Long Term Disability Insurance options, Employee Assistance Program, as well as elective voluntary benefits such as accident insurance, hospital indemnity, critical illness, legal assistance and pet insurance. Kinfolk become eligible for benefits on the first day of the month following their start date.

In addition to these benefits, we also are excited to offer the following:

• Competitive salary and company equity through Restricted Stock Units (RSUs), granted as part of our standard compensation package and based on role and level.

• 401K with company match of up to 4% of eligible earnings

• Flexible PTO for exempt employees (employees typically take 15-20 days annually), along with 8 company-observed holidays

• A paid parental leave program that provides 100% salary continuation of up to 14 weeks for birthing parents and 8 weeks for non birthing parents

• Continuing education and professional development opportunities

Kin will accept applications for this role until December 31

For Sales Agents and Customer Service Agents: These roles sit in any of the following 30 states: AL, AZ, CO, FL, ID, IL, IN, KS, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MO, MT, NC, NE, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, and WI.

For all other positions, these roles can sit in any of the following 40 states: AL, AR, AZ, CA (exempt only), CO, CT, FL, GA, ID, IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MA, ME, MD, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NE, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VT, VA, WA, and WI. Please only apply if you are able to live and work full-time in one of the states listed above.

State locations and specifics are subject to change as our hiring requirements shift.

Kin is the only pure-play, direct-to-consumer digital insurer focused on the growing home insurance market. We make policies convenient and affordable through a technology platform that delivers a seamless user experience, customized options for coverage, and fast, high-quality claims service. Kin is a fully licensed carrier that offers coverage through its reciprocal exchanges which are owned by its policyholders. To learn more, visit www.kin.com.

Kin is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer. We don't just accept difference – we honor it, nurture it, and celebrate it. We don’t discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.