Shepherd · San Francisco
Software EngineeringEPDFullTimeposted 14mo ago
Yesterday's insurance wasn't built for today's risk. We see it in the data and we feel it in the field. Emerging technology can reinvent how risk is priced and managed, faster and smarter, anchored in proven expertise. First-movers will define the next era of commercial risk management, and Shepherd is building it.
Shepherd is a technology-driven Managing General Underwriter (MGU) transforming commercial Property & Casualty insurance for high-hazard industries. Our mission is to make risk frictionless for the builders and operators shaping the physical world, protecting progress from concept through construction and into decades of operation.
We're building the fastest, smartest commercial risk platform, where underwriting expertise, data, and automation work together to deliver:
Faster decisions
Smarter, more accurate pricing
Better risk outcomes
With Shepherd, safety, speed, and quality no longer trade off against one another. They compound. We're not just modernizing insurance products. We're building the risk infrastructure for the next generation of financial services, where technology, underwriting, and partnerships operate in harmony to support the world's most important industries and the progress they make possible.
In March 2026, Shepherd raised a $42M Series B — bringing total funding to over $60M — led by Intact Private Capital, the investment arm of one of the largest insurers in the world. Intact is not only our lead investor but also a carrier partner, a testament to the confidence the incumbent industry has in what we're building. Our investors:
Intact Private Capital, led our Series B round
Costanoa Ventures, led our Series A round
Spark Capital, led our Seed round
Susa Ventures, lead our Pre-Seed round
And several others
We're a team of technologists and insurance enthusiasts, bridging the two worlds together. Check out our About page to learn more.
We’re hiring a Software Engineer to build the core infrastructure behind underwriting, pricing, and policy workflows. This is high-leverage work. The systems you build will directly impact revenue, loss ratios, and how we scale.
You’ll work closely with engineers, actuaries, and underwriters to turn messy real-world logic into clean, durable systems. A lot of what we do starts in Excel and ends in production code. We care deeply about correctness, clarity, and speed.
This is an ownership-heavy role. You’ll be expected to reason from first principles, ship quickly, and improve things that feel broken.
Build and own backend systems that power pricing models, underwriting workflows, and policy lifecycle infrastructure
Translate complex actuarial and underwriting logic into maintainable, production-grade services
Improve the performance and reliability of our core rating and decision systems
Contribute to architectural decisions that set the foundation for how we scale
Work directly with domain experts to define the right abstractions, not just implement tickets
Hold a high bar for code quality, simplicity, and long-term maintainability
4+ years of professional software engineering experience
Strong backend experience in TypeScript, Python, or similar
Experience designing APIs and working with data-heavy systems
Comfort operating in ambiguous, high-responsibility environments
A bias toward ownership and shipping
Good judgment – knowing when to move fast and when to slow down
Our Tech Stack
Frontend
React & Next.js
Typescript
GraphQL w/ Apollo
Backend
Node.js
Postgres & Redis
Typescript
GraphQL APIs
You like building foundational systems, not surface-level features
You enjoy working at the intersection of business logic and engineering
You want your work to directly impact company outcomes
You prefer small teams, high standards, and real accountability
You care about building something durable
We’re still early. The decisions we make now will shape the company for years. If you want to build core infrastructure, work closely with domain experts, and help modernize a massive industry, this is a rare opportunity to do it at the right stage.
Shepherd runs on four values. Here's what each one means in this seat.
Think big, build big. We exist to protect progress and the industries that rely on it. The work here is aimed at a system that runs on its own, and the roadmap gets sequenced backward from that rather than forward from what's easy.
Win together. We rise as one. We support each other, raise the bar, and celebrate collective success. As the first PM you set a standard the rest of the team inherits, and the milestones belong to the team rather than to product.
Cross the aisle. Collaboration wins. We listen deeply, work across boundaries, and prioritize shared success over individual lanes. The best product calls here come from engineers who've sat with underwriters and underwriters who understand where the model breaks, and much of this job is listening closely enough on both sides to make that happen.
Go get it. We act with urgency, move with confidence, take smart risks, and push forward with intention. Nobody hands you the roadmap, the data, or the meeting invite. You pull the failing runs, book the time with the underwriters, and decide what matters.
🏥 Premium Healthcare
100% contribution to top-tier health, dental, and vision
🥕 Fertility benefits and family building support
🏖️ Unlimited PTO
Flexibility to take the time off, recharge, and perform
🥗 Daily lunches, dinners, and snacks
We work together, and enjoy meals together too
🖥️ SF, NYC, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and LA Offices
📚 Professional Development
Access to premium coaching, including leadership development
🏦 Competitive 401(k) Plan
🐶 Dog-friendly office
Plenty of dogs to play with and make friends with in the SF office