Senior Data Scientist - Home Insurance

Job Title: Senior Data Scientist

Location: Leicester / Bexhill / Remote/Hybrid

Welcome to Hastings Direct

We’re a digital insurance provider with a clear strategy to become the best and biggest player in the UK market. As a company, we’ve made huge investments in our technology, pricing, data and analytics capabilities over the past few years, along with nurturing our 4Cs culture and substantial investment in our people. And as a Finance team, we're doing exactly the same – building a market leading finance technology platform, investing in our team and our approach to leadership development, with a real focus on commercially adding value to the business. 

The fact you’re now reading this job advert means we’ve tempted you to find out more about #lifeatHD. If you like what you see, we hope you'll consider joining our team.

We have high standards and understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they feel they tick every box. If you’re excited about joining us and think you have some of what we are looking for, even if you’re not 100% sure, we would love to hear from you.

Role overview  

As a Senior Data Scientist in the Market Pricing team, you will be reporting to the Head of Market Pricing, working closely with the Home Underwriting team, Home Retail Pricing team, Data and ML Engineering teams.

You will play a pivotal role in the development and deployment of machine learning models and data science solutions to extract the crucial predictive insight that underpins our pricing strategies and helps maintain our competitive edge. You will provide strategic guidance and tooling to benefit the wider Pricing, Data and Analytics community and support data-driven innovation.

Key Responsibilities

Developing, analysing, and overseeing the implementation of advanced statistical and machine learning models into live pricing.

Stretching the team’s capabilities in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and use of Cloud technologies.

Working cross-functionally with the wider Pricing, Data and Analytics teams to develop the Home data landscape.

Engineering powerful new features to be deployed into our pricing algorithms.

Advocating for data science and software development best practices.

Engaging commercial stakeholders to gather detailed business requirements and coordinating project activities.

Essential skills/experience:

Proven track record of delivering commercial value using supervised machine learning techniques.

Advanced Python programmer, and experience with data manipulation and analysis libraries (e.g., NumPy, Pandas, scikit-learn)

Advanced knowledge of data science technologies including tooling and platforms.

Proficient in SQL and Git.

Ability to drive projects from initiation to completion.

Keen interest in emerging Machine Learning techniques.

Desirable: Experience with Cloud deployments (e.g. Azure/AWS/GCP) and data processing frameworks (e.g. Apache Spark).

The interview process:

Our interview process involves the below: 

Recruiter screening call 

1st stage interview – Intro with Hiring Leader

2nd interview – case Study round with hiring leaders

As a Disability Confident employer, we’re committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are fully inclusive – what this means to you is if you’re applying for a job with us, you’ll have fair access to support and adjustments throughout your recruitment journey. We also welcome applications through the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS).For more information on the DCS, please visit our inclusive business page on our careers website

Benefits: in addition to a competitive salary and £5k car allowance you will also receive…

Flexible working – we champion a flexible hybrid working approach – please speak to your recruiter to discuss in more detail

Competitive bonus scheme - all colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus

Physical wellbeing – as a Band 4 colleague, Hastings pay for you to receive private medical Insurance (also known as PMI). This gives you flexibility and convenience to see a specialist or consultant and allows you to decide when and where you will be seen

Financial wellbeing – as well as providing you with 4x your salary with our life assurance cover, income protection at no extra cost, and matched pension contributions up to 10%, we are proud to provide you with an award winning package which includes – discounts, cashback, free independent mortgage advice and free access to financial wellbeing support

Mental wellbeing programme – we have the thrive mental health app, our colleague assistance programme available 24/7, our own in-house mental health first aiders, support groups and a dedicated team to make sure we are covering your needs

There's more! – 27 days annual leave + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one of your weeks, access to our health care cash back plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, Cycle to work and tech schemes, discounted and free onsite facilities, social events throughout the year and much more ….

Join us and you’ll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company and community. As one of our colleagues, you’ll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we’ll give you all the support, training and development you need. Our 4Cs principles are simple: we believe by creating the right culture for our colleagues and giving them the right tools to do their job, we’ll deliver good outcomes for every customer, helping us to grow the company profitably and sustainably and allowing us to invest in the communities we serve.

At Hastings Direct, we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, we encourage you to be open with us. Our recruitment team is here to provide the support you need to ensure a fair and accessible experience for all.

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