Job Specifications
Insurance Expert in Residence
Location: Remote (UK-based, with occasional paid travel to our offices in Shoreditch or Leamington Spa)
Time commitment: Flexible advisory role (approx. 4-10 hours/month initially)
Compensation: Paid day rate (dependent on experience). Potential for equity if the venture launches. Travel expenses covered where needed.
About Ideas Lab
Ideas Lab incubates and funds new ventures. We test ideas quickly, validate demand, and scale the ones that show strong traction.
About the venture
We are building a UK-focused insurance MGA (Managing General Agent) to make business insurance for startups faster, clearer and more affordable, especially for companies that are often routed to “specialist review” (deep tech, MedTech, fintech, mobility, regulated sectors).
Today, founders and finance teams often face:
Confusing questions that do not fit their business model
Inconsistent underwriting requirements across carriers
Slow back-and-forth over documents and risk details
A bias against anything non-standard (healthcare, fintech, industrial/deep tech, mobility, drones, etc.)
Our goal is startup-native risk capture and submission design that improves underwriting quality, not just speed.
About the role: Insurance Expert in Residence
We are seeking a senior insurance professional to join in an Expert in Residence capacity, someone who understands how underwriting decisions are made, what carriers need to see, and how brokers/MGAs operate day to day.
This is advisory at first: shaping the product, workflows, and underwriting interface, not placing business, or selling policies.
You will work closely with the venture lead and technical lead at Ideas Lab to:
Validate product concepts against real underwriting and distribution constraints
Define what “good risk data” looks like for startup segments
Shape intake flow logic, evidence requirements, and submission structure
Review prototypes and improve underwriter readiness
Identify regulatory and compliance risks early
Help avoid common tech-first mistakes in a relationship-driven market
Develop a practical pathway to FCA authorisation
This role is intentionally light-touch and flexible but could expand significantly if we proceed to build and launch.
Who this role is for
Must have:
Have a strong network of brokers and/or insurance carriers
5+ years of experience in a hands-on experience in UK business insurance, gained in at least one of these settings: an insurance broker, an MGA, an insurer/carrier, or the Lloyd’s/London Market.
Direct exposure to underwriting decisions and submission quality standards
Strong judgement on broker-MGA-carrier incentives and capacity realities
Nice to have:
Experience with complex or regulated startup risks
Built or scaled MGA workflows
Entrepreneurial mindset and an interest in early-stage company building
Formal qualification e.g. ACII or equivalent
How to apply
Please email henry@ideaslab.uk with:
A short paragraph on your experience (roles, lines of business, and startup/specialty exposure), and
Why this role and this problem matter to you
Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.
About the Company
The Ideas Lab is a brand-new type of independent, agnostic venture builder, dedicated to resourcing, seeding and launching multiple startups simultaneously in a new way.
The brain-child of Exited Founder Matthew Adam, ventures are gleaned from our own idea-set over a decade of learning specific market pain points across all sectors. Following a £500k seed round we launched in early 2025 and hired our new team.
Working through a huge pipeline of initial ideas, our first 3 ventures are being trialed right now!
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