Why This Job is Featured on The SaaS Jobs
This backend engineering role stands out in the SaaS landscape because it sits at the intersection of a product platform and a regulated, data intensive domain. Shepherd is building software that turns underwriting workflows into repeatable systems, which is a common pattern in vertical SaaS and fintech adjacent platforms where product capability is tightly coupled to operational decisioning.
From a career standpoint, the work maps well to the skills that compound across SaaS companies: designing APIs and data models that support evolving product surfaces, balancing iteration speed with reliability, and making architectural choices that can accommodate new lines of business. The stack and scope also suggest meaningful exposure to end to end delivery, where backend decisions directly shape customer facing experiences and internal tooling.
This role is best suited to engineers who prefer ownership over narrowly scoped tickets and who are comfortable collaborating across engineering, product, and domain experts. It fits someone who wants to be close to product strategy and is motivated by translating complex real world rules into software, rather than optimizing in isolation from the business context.
The section above is editorial commentary from The SaaS Jobs, provided to help SaaS professionals understand the role in a broader industry context.
Job Description
What We Do
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:
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.
Our Investors
To date, Shepherd has raised over $20M from leading investors, including:
Our Team
We're a team of technologists and insurance enthusiasts, bridging the two worlds together. Check out our About page to learn more.
The Role
We're looking for a talented software engineer who's passionate about what we're building and ready to do the best work of their career. You thrive on ownership, drive results, and care deeply about both technical excellence and customer impact.
You would be our dream candidate if...
You aren't afraid of ambiguity, and it may even excite you
You enjoy shipping product every day (maybe multiple times a day) while maintaining high quality standards
You enjoy wearing multiple hats while solving problems; as an engineer, product manager, and designer
You take end-to-end ownership of features and systems, from conception through release
You care about the built-world and how to improve construction safety and productivity
You care about others' growth and welcome mentoring other engineers — you've led or been a major contributor on significant projects
You have strong opinions, weakly held — you advocate for your ideas but adapt when presented with better solutions
You communicate technical concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
You have some experience with insurance – either from a prior InsurTech role or actuarial role
You have experience working with Javascript/Typescript (backend and/or frontend)
You have at least 5+ years of working experience (preferably as a full-stack engineer) with a track record of delivering high-impact products
About the Role
Shepherd's platform consists of three primary elements: data collection, automated underwriting, and policy administration.
You will lead major initiatives and own a large area of Shepherd's product experience, in each vertical while driving technical decisions for your domain
You will work across the stack, even across different disciplines (e.g. underwriting, design, product management)
You will play an integral role in building our culture as the company grows and mentor other engineers as we scale the team
You will balance innovation with pragmatic delivery — staying current with emerging tech while shipping quality products
You will contribute to product strategy and architectural decisions, not just implementation
You will collaborate closely with PM, Mo (CTO) and the insurance team (underwriters, actuaries and more!)
Our Tech Stack
Frontend
React & Next.js
Typescript
GraphQL w/ Apollo
Backend
Node.js
Postgres & Redis
Typescript
GraphQL APIs
Benefits
🏥 Premium Healthcare
100% contribution to top-tier health, dental, and vision
🏖️ 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, or Dallas-Fort Worth Offices
Premium office spaces on both coasts with daily lunches provided
📚 Professional Development
Access to premium coaching, including leadership development
🏦 401(k) Plan
Competitive 401(k) plan offered
🐶 Dog-friendly office
Plenty of dogs to play with and make friends with in the SF office
