Senior Data Scientist

Job title: Senior Data Scientist

Location: London / Leicester / Bexhill

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  

The Senior Data Scientist will oversee projects and modelling exercises which deliver cutting-edge data assets and predictive models that feed into Hastings’ market-leading pricing activities. This role is within a combined team of Actuaries and Data Scientists, championing the adoption of the latest machine learning (ML) techniques to leverage powerful insights from vast amounts of customer information that traditional modelling techniques. 
 
The Senior Data Scientist will use their understanding of Data Science techniques to solve Insurance problems and to deliver claims cost models. Established traditional techniques, but we are looking to leverage advanced ML techniques to maximise commercial value, while ensuring a fair outcome for customers. The DS Manager would manage a small team, who would assist the creation of models and would require mentoring and support in their development. 

The role would suit a Data Scientist with a track record of delivering General Insurance pricing models, or a newly/nearly qualified Actuary with experience and a keen interest in Data Science.

Key Responsibilities

• Taking the technical lead in projects that create and maintain analytical tools to support our technical models with serve as the foundation for our premium.  

• Develop best in-class models to predict claims outcomes, fraud and other KPIs 

• Engineer powerful new rating factors to be deployed into our rating algorithms as well as understanding their impact and value 

• Identify, analyse and monetise new data sources 

• Manage and mentor more junior members of the Technical Pricing team 

• Ensure robustness of models across both traditional and non-traditional model types  

Essential skills/experience:

• Experience undertaking Predictive Modelling – including the use of GBMs – in a General Insurance pricing environment.  

• Experience in the creation and development of models in Python, using the main Data Science libraries 

• Keen interest in emerging ML techniques and the opportunities that these present for insurance companies 

• Experience in the delivery of large model reviews – from initial modelling to implementation.  

• Strong Structured Query Language (SQL) coding skills and being comfortable with data manipulation. 

• Stakeholder management and communication skills with the ability to present technical ideas to a non-technical audience  

Desirable 

• Experience in a Personal Lines pricing team (motor or home) 

• Experience with using GitHub for version control and as a code collaboration tool 

• Eagerness to work cross-functionally with Data Engineers, Data Scientists, Actuaries and Risk Pricing Analysts 

• Experience of the application of non-traditional techniques to pricing 

The interview process:

Our interview process involves the below: 

• Recruiter screening call 

• 1st stage interview – Initial Intro with hiring leader

• 2nd interview (Technical) will include panel

• 3rd call with Hiring Leader

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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