[Hiring] Product Lead @Kota

Role Description

We're hiring a Product Lead to own a product area at Kota. You'll set the vision and strategy, make the calls on what gets built, and lead the engineers who build it. Product Leads managing their own engineers is unusual and it's deliberate: one person accountable for the product and the team shipping it.

You'll start in Insurances, which powers how employers offer and manage group cover: health, dental, vision, critical illness, life and income protection. It's our most complex area, and the work is turning underwriting and compliance rules into flows an employee can finish in minutes.

That won't be the whole of it. Our teams are loosely split between Insurances and Core/Finance, and people work across the problem set. As we add products and move into new countries the areas will change, so we want someone adaptable and opportunistic who'll own whichever part matters most as we grow. The remit is broad with little structure around it, so it suits a high ownership drive.

What You'll Do

• Own the vision and strategy for your area, and make the product calls on what gets built
• Lead and grow a group of product engineers, coaching them on scope and delivery decisions rather than assigning tickets
• Shape and lead 6-week Shape Up cycles for new features and provider integrations
• Simplify insurer onboarding, plan setup, premium management and benefit workflows
• Translate compliance and underwriting complexity into flows people complete
• Work across the whole business. Support, success, sales and operations all have a stake in what you own
• Help shape what the product areas become as we add products and enter new markets
• Ship fast at a high quality bar, and hold the team to it

Qualifications

• Product experience at lead, staff or principal level. Strong senior candidates are in scope if the rest lines up
• An entrepreneurial streak. You've founded something, worked at an early-stage startup, or spent time in engineering before moving into product
• You've owned the vision and strategy for an area, not just executed against someone else's
• Comfortable with fluid scope. You've picked up an unfamiliar domain before and become useful quickly
• Genuine cross-business collaboration. You've worked with support, success and sales, not only with engineers and designers with the occasional customer call
• You come from an environment with a high quality bar. It usually shows in the product itself
• Clear, concise communication, spoken and written, focused on value and outcomes rather than process
• Scale-up experience, roughly Series A to D. Seed-stage experience on top of that is a plus
• Comfortable managing people, or ready to start
• Domain experience. Fintech or Insurtech is the closest match to what you'll work on, then HR tech, benefits, employee expenses or travel. Anything sold to an employer that employees then use
• Not every box needs ticking. We'd rather see someone strong on several of these and light on others than someone who technically matches everything

Benefits

• Health Insurance via Kota
• Workplace Pension with matched contributions up to 5% via Kota (country dependent)
• WFH stipend to support your home office needs
• Generous paid time off, work hard and take the time you need
• Annual company-wide offsite and dedicated team offsite

Our Values

• Have Integrity. We care deeply about our why and it won't jeopardise our how.
• Care Deeply. Our products are our story, we look at the details, go the extra mile to delight customers.
• Own Your Ship. Ask why, do the work, get the data, solve the problem, be an owner.
• Raise the Bar. We continuously look to push past good enough. Expect more, move faster, and never stop raising your and the team's standards.
• Play to Win. We exist because we decided to say no to the norm, now we do this every day.

Our Hiring Process

• Screening call (30 mins) with our talent team: your background, what you're looking for, and the practicalities
• Competency interview (60 mins) with one of our Product Leads, covering how you work, what you've owned and how you make product calls
• Task session (60 mins) with our GM and one other, working through a real Insurances problem together
• Call with founders (30 mins) with our CEO and CTO: our vision, and your thoughts on it