Tech Lead Manager - Core UX (Europe)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Tech Lead Manager - Core UX (Europe)

Company: Kalepa

Location: Europe (Full Remote)

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Engineering Management / Software Development

Date Posted: January 08, 2026

Experience Level: 10+ Years

Remote Status: Full Remote

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead a team of world-class engineers in building and refining core Kalepa functionalities, focusing on delivering an exceptional and consistent user experience.

• Drive the technical strategy and execution for the Core UX team, ensuring high-quality code delivery within a fast-paced, growth-oriented environment.

• Act as a 'player-coach,' spending approximately 50% of your time on hands-on coding and the remaining time on people management, strategic planning, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Cultivate a results-driven, high-performance engineering culture aligned with Kalepa's core values of Hustle & Grit, Customer Focus, Meritocracy, Transparency, and Experimentation.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Tech Lead Manager, indicating a blend of technical leadership and people management. The emphasis on "Core UX" and "refining existing product functionality" suggests a focus on iterative improvements, performance optimization, and ensuring a premium, well-crafted user experience rather than entirely new feature development. The "player-coach" aspect highlights the expectation for significant hands-on technical contribution alongside leadership duties.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of software engineers, fostering their professional growth and development while ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality software.

• Define and execute the technical strategy for the Core UX team, aligning with broader product and company objectives.

• Oversee the end-to-end development lifecycle for core product features, from ideation and design to implementation, testing, and deployment.

• Drive iterative improvements to existing product functionality, focusing on user interface consistency, responsiveness, visual polish, and overall user experience.

• Collaborate closely with product managers, designers, and other engineering teams to ensure seamless integration and a cohesive product offering.

• Implement and advocate for best practices in system design, debugging, and problem-solving to maintain robust and scalable solutions.

• Actively participate in code reviews, architectural discussions, and hands-on coding (estimated 50% of time) to maintain technical leadership and contribute directly to development efforts.

• Manage complex projects that span multiple teams and involve various cross-functional stakeholders, ensuring clear communication and timely delivery.

• Proactively identify and mitigate technical risks, surface blockers, and communicate status updates effectively to keep stakeholders informed.

• Foster a culture of experimentation, encouraging the team to test, measure, and iterate quickly on novel solutions to complex problems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities explicitly mention a "player-coach" model, indicating that this role requires a strong individual contributor technical skill set alongside management capabilities. The focus on "refining existing product functionality" and "iterative improvement" points towards a need for meticulous attention to detail in UX/UI, performance optimization, and maintaining code quality for established features.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is listed, a strong technical background typically implies a Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience.

Experience: 8+ years of relevant software engineering experience, with a minimum of 2 years in full-time engineering people management.

Required Skills:

• Proven experience in full-stack software engineering, with a deep understanding of front-end and back-end development principles.

• Demonstrated ability to lead and manage complex software development projects that involve multiple teams and cross-functional partners.

• Strong track record of hiring, developing, and retaining talented engineers across different experience levels.

• Expertise in making strategic trade-offs to deliver high-quality code within the constraints of a fast-growing company.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to articulate technical concepts clearly, surface blockers proactively, and keep stakeholders informed.

• Hands-on experience with modern front-end frameworks, with a strong preference for React.

• Proficiency in serverless technologies (e.g., AWS Lambda, EC2) and understanding of asynchronous workflows.

• Experience working with cloud environments (e.g., AWS, GCP, Azure).

• Solid understanding of relational databases, with practical experience in PostgreSQL.

• Strong fundamentals in system design, debugging, and complex problem-solving.

• Embodies "hustle and grit," demonstrating excellence in craft and relentless pursuit of goals.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with LLMs (Large Language Models) and generative AI technologies.

• Familiarity with distributed systems architecture and best practices.

• Experience in the commercial insurance or FinTech industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "player-coach" requirement strongly suggests that candidates with a recent and significant hands-on coding background will be highly favored. The emphasis on "8+ years of relevant software engineering experience" combined with "2 years of full-time engineering people management" indicates a need for seniority and a proven ability to both build and lead.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase examples of successfully managed complex projects, highlighting your role in strategy, execution, and cross-functional collaboration.

• Present case studies demonstrating your ability to refine existing product functionalities, focusing on improvements in user experience, performance, and code quality.

• Provide evidence of your people management skills, including examples of team growth, mentorship, and fostering a high-performance culture.

Process Documentation:

• Demonstrate experience in defining and executing technical strategy for engineering teams.

• Illustrate your approach to iterative development and A/B testing for UX/product improvements.

• Showcase your methods for managing asynchronous workflows and integrating serverless technologies.

• Provide examples of how you ensure code quality, maintainability, and performance in a production environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the "player-coach" nature of this role and the focus on Core UX, a portfolio showcasing hands-on technical contributions (e.g., code samples, architectural diagrams for features you led) alongside evidence of management success will be crucial. Demonstrating an understanding of iterative improvement processes and system design for user-facing features will be key.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $140,000 – $185,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary commensurate with experience.

• Significant equity options package, offering ownership and potential upside.

• 401(k) plan with employer match, providing long-term financial security.

• Comprehensive benefits package including 100% covered medical, vision, and dental insurance for individuals and families.

• 20 days of Paid Time Off (PTO) annually, promoting work-life balance.

• Company-sponsored global team offsites (e.g., Cartagena, Lisbon, Buenos Aires, Rome), fostering team cohesion and cultural connection.

• Healthy living/gym stipend to support employee well-being.

• Mobile phone bill stipend for essential communication.

• Continuing education credits to support ongoing professional development and skill enhancement.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours, estimated at 40 hours per week, with flexibility expected given the remote, global nature of the team and the "hustle and grit" culture.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is provided in USD, indicating that compensation will be benchmarked against US standards, even for a remote European-based role. The explicit mention of "geographic location" influencing final compensation suggests that cost of living differences within Europe might be a factor. The benefits are extensive, covering health, financial planning, professional development, and unique global team-building events, all highly attractive to senior tech professionals.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Commercial insurance technology (InsurTech), specifically focusing on AI Underwriting Platforms. Kalepa aims to modernize a traditionally complex and analog industry.

Company Size: Kalepa is a fast-growing startup, backed by prominent investors like IA Ventures and Inspired Capital. While not explicitly stated, the team size is likely to be in the range of 50-200 employees, indicating a dynamic startup environment with significant growth potential.

Founded: The founding date is not explicitly stated, but the company's progression with multiple global offsites suggests it has been established for several years and is in a significant growth phase.

Team Structure:

• The Core UX team is a specialized engineering unit focused on the user-facing aspects of Kalepa's AI Underwriting Platform.

• This role reports into a higher level of engineering leadership, likely a Director or VP of Engineering.

Methodology:

• Kalepa emphasizes a data-driven approach, utilizing AI to provide risk insights and improve decision-making for insurers.

• Their core values highlight a "hustle and grit" mentality, encouraging relentless pursuit of craft and results.

• "Experimentation" is a key value, meaning the team is expected to quickly test, measure, and iterate on solutions for novel problems.

• "Transparency" is vital, fostering open communication and direct problem-solving.

Company Website: https://www.kalepa.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Kalepa's culture is explicitly defined by its five core values, which are integral to how the company operates and how employees are expected to perform. The emphasis on "hustle & grit" and "experimentation" suggests a demanding but rewarding environment for high-achievers. The global remote nature of the team, coupled with regular in-person offsites, indicates a deliberate effort to build strong team cohesion despite geographical dispersion.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is at a senior individual contributor and first-level management level, often referred to as a "player-coach" or "Tech Lead Manager." It bridges the gap between hands-on technical work and team leadership, offering significant scope for impact on core product development.

Reporting Structure: The Tech Lead Manager will report to a senior engineering leader (e.g., Director or VP of Engineering). They will be responsible for managing a team of 5-10 engineers.

Operations Impact: The Core UX team's work directly impacts the usability, efficiency, and adoption of Kalepa's AI Underwriting Platform. By refining existing product functionality and ensuring a premium user experience, this role's impact is critical to customer satisfaction, retention, and the overall success of Kalepa's AI-driven solutions in the trillion-dollar commercial insurance market.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Opportunities to deepen expertise in modern FE frameworks (React), serverless architectures, cloud technologies, and potentially LLMs/generative AI, contributing to Kalepa's cutting-edge AI platform.

• Leadership Progression: Potential to grow into higher-level engineering management roles (e.g., Engineering Manager, Director of Engineering) as the company scales, taking on larger teams and broader responsibilities.

• Strategic Influence: As a key leader in Core UX, there's a chance to influence product direction, architectural decisions, and the overall engineering culture.

• Industry Expertise: Development of specialized knowledge within the InsurTech sector, a rapidly evolving and high-impact industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "player-coach" model is a common stepping stone for senior engineers looking to move into management. This role offers a direct path to leadership while maintaining technical relevance. The company's rapid growth and focus on AI suggest ample opportunities for career advancement and skill development in high-demand areas.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: This is a fully remote position, offering flexibility and the ability to work from anywhere within Europe.

Office Location(s): While the role is "Europe (Full Remote)," Kalepa also has a presence in New York. The company invests in bringing its global remote employees together for regional meetups and global offsites. Past offsite locations include Playa Del Carmen, Rome, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, and Cartagena, indicating a commitment to in-person team building.

Workspace Context:

• The work environment is characterized by a global, remote team, fostering diversity of thought and experience.

• Collaboration is expected to be high, leveraging digital tools for communication and project management.

• Employees are encouraged to maintain a healthy lifestyle, supported by a gym stipend and mobile phone bill stipend.

• The culture emphasizes "hustle and grit," suggesting a dynamic and demanding work pace where high performance is expected and rewarded.

Work Schedule: Standard full-time engagement (approximately 40 hours/week). Given the global distribution of the team, some flexibility in working hours may be required to accommodate cross-timezone collaboration, but core working hours will likely align with European business days for team interactions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote nature of the role, combined with significant investment in global offsites, suggests a company that values both flexibility and in-person connection. Candidates should be comfortable with asynchronous communication and proactive engagement across different time zones.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A conversation with a recruiter to assess basic qualifications, cultural fit, and alignment with Kalepa's values.

• Hiring Manager Interview: A technical deep-dive with the hiring manager, focusing on leadership experience, system design, problem-solving, and people management philosophies.

Expect to discuss past projects and team dynamics.

• Technical Interviews: Multiple sessions with engineers from the Core UX team and potentially other engineering leads. These will likely include:

  • Coding Challenges: Hands-on coding exercises, potentially live or take-home, focusing on React, serverless technologies, and problem-solving.
  • System Design: Discussions on designing scalable and robust systems, particularly for user-facing applications and core functionalities.
  • Debugging & Problem Solving: Scenarios to assess your approach to diagnosing and resolving complex technical issues.

• Portfolio Review: A dedicated session where you will present examples from your portfolio, showcasing your technical contributions, leadership achievements, and impact on product development.

• Cross-functional Interview: A meeting with a product manager or designer to assess collaboration skills and understanding of UX principles.

• Final Round: Potentially a conversation with a senior executive (e.g., VP of Engineering or CTO) to discuss strategic vision, cultural alignment, and overall fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase "Player-Coach" Skills: Include projects where you were both a lead technical contributor and managed a team. Quantify your impact with metrics on code quality, performance improvements, and team velocity.

• Focus on Core UX: Highlight projects involving iterative product refinement, UI/UX enhancements, performance optimization, and ensuring a cohesive user experience.

• Demonstrate Leadership: Present case studies of how you've mentored engineers, managed complex projects, hired talent, and fostered a high-performance culture.

• Technical Depth: Be prepared to walk through architectural decisions, trade-offs made in system design, and debugging challenges you've overcome.

• Alignment with Values: Weave Kalepa's values (Hustle & Grit, Customer Focus, Meritocracy, Transparency, Experimentation) into your portfolio presentations by providing examples of how you embody them.

Challenge Preparation:

• Coding: Practice common React patterns, asynchronous JavaScript, and algorithms. Be ready to implement solutions for UX-related problems.

• System Design: Prepare to design scalable front-end architectures, API integrations, and systems involving serverless components. Consider how to ensure responsiveness and performance.

• Behavioral: Prepare STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) responses for questions related to leadership, conflict resolution, project management, and overcoming challenges, always linking back to Kalepa's values.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to thoroughly assess both technical leadership and hands-on coding capabilities. The portfolio review is a critical component, so candidates should meticulously curate examples that demonstrate their ability to lead teams while also being deeply technical and focused on user experience improvements.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Front-end Framework: React (highly preferred)

• Cloud Platforms: AWS (Lambda, EC2), potentially GCP or Azure

• Databases: PostgreSQL (relational databases)

• Development Tools: Version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, testing frameworks

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Kalepa's platform for insurers likely involves complex data workflows. Experience with workflow automation tools or custom-built automation solutions on cloud infrastructure would be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack emphasizes modern, scalable, and cloud-native solutions. Proficiency in React, serverless technologies, and PostgreSQL are essential. Experience with LLMs and generative AI is a significant plus, indicating Kalepa's forward-looking approach.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Hustle & Grit: Expect a fast-paced environment where hard work, dedication, and relentless pursuit of goals are paramount. This translates to a proactive approach to problem-solving and exceeding expectations.

• Customer Focus: All work is driven by the need to solve strategic problems for clients, leading to a focus on delivering tangible value and measurable improvements in efficiency and profitability for insurers.

• Meritocracy: High performers are recognized and rewarded with rapid promotions and compensation growth. This culture encourages individuals to excel and take ownership of their career progression.

• Transparency: Open and honest communication is valued. Expect direct feedback, clear expectations, and a willingness to tackle challenges collaboratively without political maneuvering.

• Experimentation: The company embraces a culture of innovation where testing new ideas, measuring results, and iterating quickly is the norm, especially for problems that haven't been solved before.

Collaboration Style:

• Global & Remote: Collaboration occurs primarily through digital channels, requiring strong asynchronous communication skills and proactive engagement.

• Cross-functional: Close collaboration with Product, Design, and other engineering teams is essential to ensure a cohesive and high-quality product.

• Results-Oriented: The emphasis on "hustle and grit" and "meritocracy" suggests a collaborative style focused on achieving shared goals efficiently and effectively.

📝 Enhancement Note: Kalepa's culture is deliberately distinct and demanding, aiming to attract individuals who thrive in a high-achievement, rapidly evolving environment. Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate how they align with and contribute to these specific values.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Balancing Hands-on and Management: Successfully managing the ~50% coding requirement while fulfilling people management duties requires exceptional time management and prioritization skills.

• Scaling a Fast-Growing Platform: Contributing to the development and refinement of core functionalities for a rapidly scaling AI Underwriting Platform presents complex technical challenges.

• Cross-Time Zone Collaboration: Effectively leading and collaborating with a globally distributed team requires strong communication strategies and flexibility.

• Innovating in a Traditional Industry: Driving technological advancement in the established commercial insurance sector requires a deep understanding of both cutting-edge tech and industry-specific needs.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced Technical Skills: Deepen expertise in React, serverless architectures, cloud infrastructure, and potentially gain exposure to LLMs/generative AI through hands-on project work.

• Leadership Development: Gain experience in people management, strategic planning, and fostering a high-performance culture within a dynamic startup environment.

• Industry Insight: Develop specialized knowledge in the InsurTech sector, a critical and growing area of financial technology.

• Mentorship: Opportunities to learn from experienced leaders within Kalepa and potentially through company-sponsored continuing education.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers significant opportunities for both technical and leadership growth in a high-impact industry. The challenges are characteristic of high-growth tech startups, requiring adaptability and a proactive approach to problem-solving.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Technical Leadership & Management: "Describe a time you had to balance hands-on technical contributions with managing your team's workload. How did you prioritize?" "How do you approach setting technical strategy for a team, especially when dealing with novel problems?" "How do you foster a culture of experimentation and learning within your team?"

• Problem Solving & System Design: "Walk us through the process of designing a highly responsive and performant user interface for a complex application." "Describe a challenging bug you encountered and how you systematically debugged and resolved it." "How would you approach integrating LLM capabilities into our existing platform to enhance user experience, considering potential performance and scalability implications?"

• Team & Culture: "How do you approach hiring and developing engineers to build a high-performing team?" "Describe a situation where you had to deliver difficult feedback to a team member. What was your approach and the outcome?" "How do you ensure your team embodies Kalepa's core values, especially 'Hustle & Grit' and 'Customer Focus'?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• Research Kalepa's AI Underwriting Platform and its impact on the commercial insurance industry.

• Understand the company's core values and be ready to provide specific examples of how you've demonstrated them in your career.

• Familiarize yourself with the competitive landscape of InsurTech.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Begin with a high-level overview of the project, your role, and the key business problem solved. Then, dive into specific technical contributions, design decisions, and leadership actions.

• Quantify Results: Use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your work (e.g., "% improvement in user engagement," "% reduction in bug reports," "delivered X features ahead of schedule").

• Showcase "Player-Coach" Balance: Clearly delineate your individual contributions from your team management responsibilities.

• Highlight UX Focus: Emphasize how your technical decisions and leadership directly contributed to a better user experience, consistency, and product polish.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your technical choices, trade-offs, and problem-solving approaches.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating a strong blend of technical acumen, leadership capability, and alignment with Kalepa's specific values. The portfolio review is a critical opportunity to showcase this balance.

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📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Tech Lead Manager position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Greenhouse.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your resume and any portfolio materials to highlight your experience in full-stack engineering, people management, and especially your contributions to core UX and product refinement. Emphasize projects where you acted as a "player-coach."

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 8+ years of software engineering experience and 2+ years of people management. Use keywords from the job description, such as "React," "serverless," "system design," "user experience," and "team leadership." Quantify your achievements whenever possible.

• Interview Preparation: Practice answering behavioral and technical questions using the STAR method. Prepare specific examples that showcase your alignment with Kalepa's values and your ability to lead and code. Rehearse your portfolio presentation to be clear, concise, and impactful.

• Company Research: Deeply understand Kalepa's mission, its AI Underwriting Platform, and its unique company values. Be prepared to discuss how your experience and approach align with their strategic goals and culture.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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