Algorithm Engineering Manager

Ki Insurance; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Ki Insurance in London is seeking an Algorithm Engineering Manager to lead and shape the underwriting algorithm team. You’ll guide architecture across algorithm domains, drive strategy, and ensure impactful collaboration with stakeholders across the business.

The role emphasizes leadership in ML-driven underwriting, data-product thinking, and building a robust engineering culture that can scale with the company’s ambitious, algorithmic platform development.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a STEM field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Commercially minded and business-savvy.
• Understanding of data products and how to apply them in real-world problems.
• Experience with Python programming and software design patterns.
• Direct experience with at least one cloud provider.
• Experience communicating with stakeholders on algorithmic value and execution.
• Experience managing data science or engineering activities across teams.
• Experience developing industrialised ML applications and services.
• Understanding of regulatory requirements relevant to insurance tech.
• Knowledge of building a strong engineering culture.

Responsibilities

• Act as an advocate for the vision of Ki’s Underwriting Algorithm within the team and wider community.
• Stay current with tech industry trends; advise executives on impact.
• Shape and execute the Algorithm Engineering team’s strategy.
• Collaborate on architecture across algo domains and interfaces with engineering.
• Explore new algorithmic underwriting strategies and emerging technologies.
• Help leadership communicate capabilities to guide investment and product strategy.
• Develop governance processes around model lifecycle management.
• Work with stakeholders to evolve the roadmap for Ki’s Underwriting Algorithm.
• Recruit and develop a high-performance Algorithm Engineering team.
• Improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Ki’s digital underwriting capabilities.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Machine learning

Data products

Python

Cloud platforms

Regulatory/compliance awareness

Engineering culture

Education

Bachelor’s degree in STEM

PhD in STEM (plus)

Tools

Python

Cloud platforms

Job description

Who are we?👋

Look at the latest headlines and you will see something Ki insures. Think space shuttles, world tours, wind farms, and even footballers’ legs.

Ki’s mission is simple. Digitally disrupt and revolutionise a 335-year-old market. Working with Google and UCL, Ki has created a platform that uses algorithms, machine learning and large language models to give insurance brokers quotes in seconds, rather than days.

Ki is proudly the biggest global algorithmic insurance carrier. It is the fastest growing syndicate in the Lloyd's of London market, and the first ever to make $100m in profit in 3 years.

Ki’s teams have varied backgrounds and work together in an agile, cross-functional way to build the very best experience for its customers. Ki has big ambitions but needs more excellent minds to challenge the status-quo and help it reach new horizons.

Where you come in?

We're looking for an Algorithm Engineering Manager to join our algorithmic underwriting team. In this role, you'll partner with our Head of Algorithm Engineering to build and guide an effective algorithm engineering team, while helping us shape the bold vision of our underwriting algorithm.

You'll collaborate with colleagues across our business to solve exciting organisational and technical challenges. Together, we'll answer questions like: How can we organise our algorithm engineers for the greatest impact? And how can we share our company's future vision clearly with our team to help them shape the direction of algorithm engineering?

We're a multi-disciplined, commercially-focused team that brings together deep expertise in specialty insurance and scalable algorithm product development. Our squads focus on delivering high-impact features, and we favour a highly iterative, analytical approach. We love discovering new possibilities, so we actively invest time in research and development, both internally and with leading academic institutions.

What you will be doing: 🖋️

• Act as an advocate for the vision of Ki’s Underwriting Algorithm both within the team and the wider community.
• Keep current with trends and issues in the technology industry. Advise, counsel, and educate executives and management on their competitive or financial impact.
• Help shape and execute Algorithm Engineering team’s strategy.
• Work with the algorithm and engineering leadership to shape the architecture across algo related domains and their interfaces with the rest of the engineering org and seek to reduce complexity and solve problems through it.
• Ensure that Ki is well positioned to explore new algorithmic underwriting strategies, and exploit emerging technologies.
• Help senior leadership to understand algorithm engineering capabilities and use to develop Ki’s product and strategy and guide investment to support this strategy.
• Work with colleagues to create and iterate governance processes around model lifecycle management, advocating and upholding model management best practices.
• Liaise with stakeholders to structure and evolve the roadmap for Ki’s Underwriting Algorithm.
• Managing and building a high-performance Algorithm Engineering team, influencing the hiring and development strategy of the team.
• Drive improvements in the way we operate as a digital underwriting capability.

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in a STEM field, or equivalent practical experience (a PhD in a STEM field is a plus).
• Commercially minded.
• Understanding of the control and management of data products.
• Experience with Python programming and various software design patterns.
• Direct experience with at least one cloud provider.
• Experience interfacing and communicating with stakeholders on the value and execution of algorithmic approaches to commercial problems.
• Managing data science or engineering activity via both people management and technical leadership.
• Experience developing industrialised machine learning applications and services.
• Understanding the importance of market compliance and core regulatory requirements.
• Understanding of what it takes to build a good engineering culture.

You’ll get a highly competitive remuneration and benefits package. This is kept under constant review to make sure it stays relevant. We understand the power of saying thank you and take time to acknowledge and reward extraordinary effort by teams or individuals.

What to expect during the recruitment process:

1. Initial recruiter screening call
2. Interview with hiring manager
3. Technical Interview (this may vary depending on the role)
4. Values Interview