Head of Data Science -Telematics

Hastings Direct; England; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£6k car allowance

Annual performance bonus

Private medical insurance

Life assurance

Matched pension contributions

Health-care cashback plans

Cycle-to-work scheme

Discounted health assessments

Flexible hybrid working

Annual leave: 27 days + bank holidays

Job summary

A digital insurance provider is seeking a Head of Data Science – Telematics to lead data-driven strategies, maximizing value from customer data to optimize pricing. This role requires strong leadership, technical coding skills, and the ability to enhance predictive data models. Successful candidates will have experience in regulatory environments and possess excellent communication skills. Offering a competitive salary, hybrid working options, and numerous employee benefits, this position aims to lead a forward-thinking team in pricing strategy.

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of what makes a profitable business.
• Intermediate technical coding skills required.
• Experience leading and motivating teams.
• Familiarity with governance and regulatory environments.
• Excellent at communicating complex concepts effectively.
• Relentless curiosity and drive for results.
• Strong pricing and commercial awareness.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities.

Responsibilities

• Lead a team to produce excellent results.
• Encourage exploration of new modelling tools.
• Enhance predictive power of data for pricing.
• Develop models for optimal pricing outcomes.
• Ensure data availability across the business.
• Identify new data sources for value addition.
• Collaborate with all pricing teams to meet business goals.

Skills

Commercial awareness

Technical coding ability

Leadership experience

Governance/regulatory experience

Effective communication

Curiosity and results orientation

Pricing and commercial acumen

Stakeholder management

Pragmatic decision-making

Job description

Job Title

Head of Data Science – Telematics

Department

Telematics

Reporting To

Director of Telematics

Location

Bexhill-on-Sea, London, Leicester

Seniority Level

Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type

Full‑time

Job Function

Management – Industry: Insurance

About the Company

We’re a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become the best and biggest in the UK market. We have made huge investments in our data and tech capabilities over the past few years, along with nurturing our 4Cs culture. We provide insurance for over four million customers, but we know there’s even bigger opportunity out there. If you’re excited about joining us and think you have some of what we’re looking for, even if you’re not 100 % sure we would love to hear from you.

Role Purpose

There are three major pillars to our success in Telematics – and maximising the value we create from the data our customers share with us is arguably the biggest. This role is the lead in turning that data into value for our customers by allowing us to out‑price the market and be profitable. Success in this role is increasing our ability to spot high and low risk drivers across multiple products and limiting our exposure to high risk (maximising exposure to low risk) while supporting the wider business to use the data we gather to improve pricing in all products.

Accountabilities

• Lead a team of 5–10, empowering them to produce great results and creating an engaging, interesting work environment.
• Encourage the team to explore new modelling tools and techniques and act as the key escalation point – delivering mainly through people.
• Constantly look for opportunities to enhance the predictive power of the data to improve competitive pricing and areas for offering a price without sacrificing margin.
• Access a huge and powerful dataset to create value and set the strategy with key stakeholders, including ExCo, securing approvals and aligning with near‑term plans.
• Hands‑on development of models using various data sets and techniques to deliver optimal pricing outcomes across a range of TM products.
• Ensure data flows into the business (working with CIO) and is available to all relevant teams.
• Build models that can be utilized at NB and make all data and learnings available across the business.
• Identify new data sources to maximise value and help build our own unique driving score that we control fully.
• Prepare for consuming data from multiple sources (e.g., OEM) to stay ahead as the landscape changes – highly technical.
• Collaborate across all pricing teams to achieve business goals.
• Serve as the “go‑to” for Telematics data, helping the group unlock value.
• Implement strong governance, creating clear processes, tracking and principles to explain decisions to regulators and customers.

Qualifications

• Commercial awareness and understanding of what makes a successful and profitable business.
• Technical coding ability – at least an intermediate level.
• Evidence of leading and motivating people.
• Experience working in an environment with governance or regulation, managing and reporting to regulatory bodies.
• Ability to interact effectively with a wide variety of individuals, both technical and non‑technical.
• Excellent communication skills; ability to grasp complicated concepts and translate them to meet the needs of a wide range of audiences.
• Relentless curiosity, driving himself and his teams to deliver results while finding opportunities to exceed expectations.
• Strong pricing and commercial acumen with a desire to deliver commercial outcomes.
• Ability to adjust priorities and workloads, managing communication with stakeholders to achieve business objectives.
• Pragmatic decision‑making skills in a rapidly changing marketplace.

Interview Process

• Recruiter screening call
• Initial interview with hiring leader
• Second interview with Senior HRBP
• Additional interview with Senior Leadership

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary and £6 k car allowance you will also receive a competitive bonus scheme – all colleagues are eligible for an annual 4Cs performance bonus. You will receive private medical insurance, life assurance cover, income protection at no extra cost, matched pension contributions up to 10 %, and an award‑winning package that includes discounts, cashback, free independent mortgage advice and financial wellbeing support.

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

Benefits also include physical and mental wellbeing programmes: private medical insurance (PMI), a thrive mental health app, colleague assistance programme available 24/7, in‑house mental health first aiders, and a dedicated team to support you.

Annual leave: 27 days + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell one week. Additional perks: health‑care cashback plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, cycle‑to‑work scheme, tech schemes, discounted and free on‑site facilities, social events, and more.

Equal Opportunities Statement

Hastings Group is an equal opportunities employer which means we treat people fairly. We welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of their gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status. Please also note that we have a thorough referencing process, which includes credit and criminal record checks.