Zoopla — Property Platform Modernization & Engineering Transformation
Client
Zoopla (UK Property Portal)
Engagement Period
Aug 2019 – Sep 2021
Overview
Protize collaborated with Zoopla to guide large-scale engineering transformation across multiple products and teams.
The engagement focused on architecture modernization, delivery acceleration, software quality, security readiness, and operational reliability for a platform serving millions of users.
Business Context
Zoopla is one of the largest property portals in the UK with high user traffic, fast release expectations, and strict reliability requirements.
The platform needed stronger engineering standards, better testing discipline, improved observability, and modern infrastructure practices to sustain rapid growth.
Challenges
- Legacy engineering patterns slowing down delivery
- Inconsistent practices across multiple teams and projects
- Need for stronger quality gates and faster release confidence
- Security and infrastructure risk exposure at scale
- Requirement to improve uptime, experimentation, and conversion outcomes
Protize Scope
- Coaching and agile transformation across engineering functions
- Hiring support and capability development
- Architecture strategy and modernization planning
- QA strategy, automation standards, and release governance
- Observability, security risk evaluation, and experimentation frameworks
- Mentorship programs for junior and mid-level engineers
Technology Stack
React, TypeScript, GraphQL, Next.js, Serverless, Terraform, CloudFront, Docker, CI/CD, Apache Spark, Cypress, Jest, FastAPI, AWS
What We Delivered
- New architecture strategy and modernization roadmap
- Agile operating model to improve engineering throughput
- Multi-layer testing suites and structured error reporting setup
- Threat-risk model evaluation for infrastructure and release readiness
- Observability implementation to improve service health monitoring
- A/B testing standards for product experimentation and UX optimization
- Structured mentorship and onboarding acceleration programs
Outcomes
- Software delivery lifecycle improved by ~70%
- More than $1M in opportunity cost saved via quality and stability initiatives
- Reliability improvements targeting ~99% uptime
- Better experimentation culture and measurable conversion improvements
- Some pages achieved ~2x increase in leads
- Engineer onboarding time reduced from 7 working days to ~4 hours
Team & Delivery Scale
Protize consulted and led delivery initiatives across numerous projects with 60+ engineers, aligning engineering quality, agile execution, and platform best practices.