featuredhow we work · team · 3 min read
Hello, world. We are death.tech
Every engineer’s first program says hello. This is ours, from the team that builds software for one of the few certainties in life.
Leehead of technology ·
A small team, building
for the end of life
We’re death.tech, the engineering team at Octopus Legacy. We don’t sell tools to lawyers. We build the service itself: a will that says what someone means, or probate handled when a family needs it. Software handles the rules, our specialists make the judgement calls, and every time the models improve, so does what families get.
Command: whoami
guest — curious engineer, probably.
Command: ls roles --open
[1] senior-software-engineer python hybrid
[2] software-engineer python hybrid
[3] design-engineer react hybrid
[4] engineering-manager people hybrid
Command: explain s.33
A gift to a child who died first usually passes
to their children. We model this. Carefully.
The law behind the code
Most of what we model comes from the Wills Act 1837 and the intestacy rules. A lot of it is rules: complex, but rules, and software handles those well. The rest is judgement, and that stays with our legal specialists. As we learn, some of those calls turn out to be rules after all, and the line moves. We only move it when we’re sure. Below is a simplified example. Two rules we model, and two calls we leave to a specialist:
- Hover over, tap or tab to an underlined term to see the rule behind it
- The intestacy.py tab covers what happens when there’s no will
- The handoff.py tab shows where a specialist takes over
beneficiaryWills Act 1837 · s.15- Anyone the will leaves something to. One catch: if they, or their spouse or civil partner, witnessed the will, their gift fails.
predeceasedWills Act 1837 · s.33- If a gift is to a child who died first but left children of their own, it usually passes to those grandchildren instead — unless the will says otherwise.
capacity_in_doubtBanks v Goodfellow · 1870- A will is only valid if the person making it understands what it does, roughly what they own and who might expect to inherit, with no mental disorder distorting their choices. Whether they do is for a person to judge, never the software.
leaves_out_dependantInheritance Act 1975 · s.1- People can leave their estate to whoever they like. But under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a spouse, a child or someone they were supporting can ask a court for reasonable financial provision. Weighing that risk takes judgement.
@dataclass(frozen=True)class Gift: : Person share: Fraction : Person | None = Nonedef resolve(gift: Gift, : Estate) -> Recipient: # Beneficiary died before the will-maker. # Lapse? Pass to their children? It depends. if gift.beneficiary.(estate.): # TODO(you): s.33 Wills Act 1837 return gift.substitute or estate. return gift.beneficiaryHow we’re organised
We work in pods: small, long-lived teams that each own a product area, from the first idea to production. Each one has a pod lead.
pod01
Estate Planning
Wills, lasting powers of attorney and planning ahead. Helping people get their affairs in order while they can.
pod02
Probate
Helping families deal with an estate after someone dies, and turning a pile of admin into steps they can get through.
pod03
Web
Our websites, front-end foundations and the shared components every pod builds on.
pod · not public yet
Stealth Fintech Product
not public yet
A new product, built from scratch. We can’t say much yet, so ask us about it in your first call.
How we work
Agents take a lot of the typing. The job is the judgement: what to build, where the rules run out and when it’s right. Here’s what a normal week looks like, and what we expect of each other.
Small team, short feedback loops
There aren’t many of us, so nothing sits in a queue. You’ll talk to the lawyers, advisors and consultants who use what you build, and hear how it’s going within days.
You own what you build
Each pod owns its area end to end: what to build, how to build it and when to ship it. You’ll make real decisions early, and see them through.
Simple first, then improve
We’d rather put something simple in front of people this week than spend a month polishing the wrong thing. The legal rules get the care they need; everything around them can start rough and improve once we’ve seen it used.
Small changes, often
Around 115 pull requests merged a week across the team, most of them small. Small changes are easier to review, easier to undo and quicker to learn from.
We’re all in on AI
Agents work at every step of a change, from the spec to production, and you make the call at each one. You spend more of your day on the interesting problems.
You watch the problem with the probate team, then write the spec: what it does and the edge cases, with a test for each. Claude pokes holes in it until an agent could build from it without guessing.
- you
- frame the problem and write the spec
- agents
- find the gaps and draft the test cases
You lay out the modules and name the tests. Claude Code or Cursor writes the first pass inside that structure, and you read it line by line. You know why the code is shaped that way, because you shaped it.
- you
- design the modules and read all of it
- agents
- write the first pass and run the tests
Greptile reads the pull request within minutes and flags what it finds. A teammate reads it next, for the things a model can’t weigh, and the teammate has the final say.
- you
- judge the change, approve or push back
- agents
- catch the missing substitute case first
Front-end changes get a preview to try first. Merged changes reach production in minutes, 20+ times a day. Sentry and CloudWatch show how they’re doing, and if something you shipped throws errors, Claude reads the trace and drafts a fix. You decide whether it’s the right one.
- you
- merge it, then judge the fix
- agents
- read the trace and draft the fix
01 · shapeClaude
Start with the problem, end with a spec
You watch the problem with the probate team, then write the spec: what it does and the edge cases, with a test for each. Claude pokes holes in it until an agent could build from it without guessing.
- you
- frame the problem and write the spec
- agents
- find the gaps and draft the test cases
02 · buildClaude CodeCursor
You set the structure, the agent types
You lay out the modules and name the tests. Claude Code or Cursor writes the first pass inside that structure, and you read it line by line. You know why the code is shaped that way, because you shaped it.
- you
- design the modules and read all of it
- agents
- write the first pass and run the tests
03 · reviewGreptileGitHub
Two reviews, one of them human
Greptile reads the pull request within minutes and flags what it finds. A teammate reads it next, for the things a model can’t weigh, and the teammate has the final say.
- you
- judge the change, approve or push back
- agents
- catch the missing substitute case first
04 · shipVercelSentryClaude
Ship it, then see it through
Front-end changes get a preview to try first. Merged changes reach production in minutes, 20+ times a day. Sentry and CloudWatch show how they’re doing, and if something you shipped throws errors, Claude reads the trace and drafts a fix. You decide whether it’s the right one.
- you
- merge it, then judge the fix
- agents
- read the trace and draft the fix
Who you’d work with
Some of the team, in their own words. Swipe for more.
Dan
Senior Software Engineer & Pod Lead
- Joined
- April 2025
- Funeral song
- River Man — Nick Drake
- Why Octopus Legacy
- A genuine trust from leaders and freedom to tackle challenges how we think is best. Coming from a creative agency background, working with stakeholders is second nature, and the opportunities at Octopus Legacy to get involved and understand problems in new areas are never ending. I truly feel like I’m doing my best work here, oh and of course the lovely team makes it all worth it.
Guy
Lead Data Analyst
- Joined
- January 2026
- Funeral song
- Special — Chesus
- Why Octopus Legacy
- We’re bringing much-needed change to an industry that’s been crying out for it for years. It’s rare to work somewhere that combines a mission to make a genuinely positive difference to people’s lives with cutting-edge technology and the ambition to rival any tech company in the UK.
Joe
Software Engineer
- Joined
- August 2026
- Funeral song
- Joy — Sleeping At Last
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I work at Octopus Legacy because they are an ambitious team working on a product that makes one of the worst times of your life that little bit easier. The tech team is driven and knowledgeable, which are exactly the people I want to surround myself with. From very early on I was contributing which shows the implicit trust between everyone; that is the sign of a healthy team, and exactly what I was looking for.
Lee
Head of Technology
- Joined
- December 2024
- Funeral song
- Wait — M83
- Why Octopus Legacy
- A clear mission, an industry that has barely changed in generations, and a team with the ambition to change it. Very few places offer all three. This one does, and building the team to take it on is the best work of my career.
Louis
Lead Software Engineer
- Joined
- August 2025
- Funeral song
- Baby I’m Burnin’ — Dolly Parton
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I’ve been trusted with problems that actually matter, and given the room to solve them the way I think is right. I was encouraged to get involved, ask the awkward questions, and try something. There’s no sense of waiting for permission here. The work moves quickly, the ambition is real, and the people around me make it a joy to show up.
Lowie
Software Engineer
- Joined
- April 2026
- Funeral song
- Send Me On My Way — Rusted Root
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I was looking for a change of pace from the established business I was working in before. Things move a lot faster at OL and there is always something new to think about or work on. Whilst all that change can sometimes be a bit chaotic, I love seeing how quickly the features we’re building are adopted by other teams and being able to rapidly improve on a first pass based on their feedback.
Maddy
Product Operations Manager
- Joined
- February 2025
- Funeral song
- Send Me On My Way — Rusted Root
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I work here for the opportunities for progression, and the fast-paced environment. I need a job where my brain is engaged, and OL is great for challenging me in interesting ways. The people here are awesome too.
Maria
Software Engineer
- Joined
- January 2026
- Funeral song
- Centuries — Fall Out Boy
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I wanted my code to actually matter to someone. Octopus Legacy helps families through some of the hardest moments they’ll face, and building tools that make that a bit easier felt worth doing. I was also drawn to the team: they are a small group of good, passionate people who own their work and always have each other’s backs.
Rob T.
Senior Product Manager
- Joined
- November 2025
- Funeral song
- Low Sun — Hermanos Gutiérrez
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I like that there’s no ceiling on ambition here. When I’ve had a good idea, I’ve been encouraged to run with it, and things have moved quickly. We’d rather try something than plan it for months, and I’ve been trusted to take ownership of real business problems. On top of that, I get to do it alongside a team of lovely people.
Rob
Senior Software Engineer
- Joined
- April 2024
- Funeral song
- Gone Away — The Offspring
- Why Octopus Legacy
- I love working somewhere fast-paced where I’m trusted to just get on with things. Octopus Legacy gives me exactly that. Plus, the team is great and the socials are always a laugh, so it’s a great place to be.
Tom
Lead Software Engineer
- Joined
- May 2025
- Funeral song
- Bullet Proof … I Wish I Was — Radiohead
- Why Octopus Legacy
- Where meaningful purpose meets state-of-the-art tech. I know how hard death is for families, and building tools that take the weight off them is the most rewarding work I’ve done.
Pick someone to meet them
Who they are, when they joined, why they’re here and the song they’d want at their funeral.
Arrow keys move between people and open their cards. Enter opens or closes one.
How we review
A few changes and the reviews that shaped them. Comments come from other engineers, an AI reviewer and the people who’ll use the change. Open one to see the diff and the conversation.
Illustrative, based on real changes
3a8d893feat(probate)Read VAT and copy counts from court fee statements, see the diff and its review3c936ebfeat(amendments)Let advisors assign a new will amendment case to themselves, see the diff and its review054a6f9fix(orders)Scroll long customer search results, and keep the dialog usable on short screens, see the diff and its reviewb64db27fix(customers)Make optimistic locking work: ETags follow the record version, see the diff and its reviewb1cb46ctest(appointments)Stop a travel-time mock failing the appointment API tests, see the diff and its review
Our stack
Python and FastAPI on AWS Lambda, PostgreSQL, Next.js and Swift. We define our cloud infrastructure in Terraform, and coding agents are part of everyday work. The radar shows what we’re adopting, what we’re trying and what we’re moving away from.
- python46%
- typescript28%
- php11% · shrinking
- hcl4%
- vue3%
- swift2%
- other6%
- adopt
- Python 3.12 · FastAPI · SQLAlchemy & Alembic · Next.js & React · Tailwind & shadcn/ui · Swift & SwiftUI · AWS Lambda · PostgreSQL · Terraform · GitHub Actions · uv · ruff & mypy · bun · pytest & Vitest · Playwright · Sentry · Bruno · Coding agents · AI code review · Structured logs, no PII · Infrastructure as code, always
- trial
- Vercel AI SDK · Vercel · Supabase · Stacked pull requests · Feature flags · LLM evals
- assess
- MCP servers
- hold
- PHP, Laravel & Vue · DigitalOcean Droplets · npm & pnpm
01 · languages & frameworksadopt
Python 3.12
Our backend language. New services are Python, with types checked by mypy.
why it’s on adopt
One backend language keeps reviews and tooling simple, and it’s the natural home for anything involving data or LLMs.
1 of 31
Use the arrow keys to move between items, Home and End for the first and last.
Open roles
Now hiring
How hiring works
Four stages, about two weeks end to end. You’ll hear back within two working days of each one, whatever the outcome.
01 · 30 min · video
Intro call
A relaxed conversation with the hiring manager about what you’ve worked on and what you’re looking for. Ask us anything.
02 · 30 min · video
Meet our People team
A conversation about how you like to work, what you need from a team to do your best work, and the practical stuff: start dates, adjustments, anything you’re unsure about.
03 · ~2–2.5 hours · on site
A session for your role
- Pairing and design
- Portfolio and build session
- Delivery and people session
04 · 45 min · video
Final conversation
Meet our founder. Talk about where Octopus Legacy is going, where you’d fit in it, and anything you still want to know. It runs both ways.
Not looking right now?
Leave your email and one of us will write when a role comes up that fits your experience. No newsletter.