Senior Data Scientist

hastingsdirect; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£5k car allowance

Private medical insurance (PMI)

Life assurance (4x salary)

Matched pension contributions up to 10

Flexible hybrid working

27 days annual leave + bank holidays

Job summary

Hastings Direct is seeking a Senior Data Scientist to join the Pricing team in London/Leicester. You will lead innovative pricing initiatives, work with large datasets, and deploy models that improve risk assessment and pricing accuracy across UK motor insurance.

Working in the Alternative Pricing Department, you will explore new data sources, validate approaches, and contribute to a high-performing data and analytics community. Flexible hybrid work and comprehensive benefits accompany the role.

Qualifications

• Proficiency in modern data science languages and platforms.
• Experience delivering ML projects from data exploration to deployment.

Responsibilities

• Challenge the status quo in insurance pricing by developing innovative pricing solutions
• Own the end to end delivery of pricing changes from concept to live deployment
• Seek out new data opportunities and work to extract value from them
• Develop best in-class models to predict claims outcomes, fraud and other risk KPIs
• Support the development of junior analysts within the team

Skills

Python

SQL

Azure ML

Git

Azure Cloud Services

Job description

Senior Data Scientist

Location - Location: London / Leicester

Welcome to Hastings Direct

We're a digital insurance provider with ambitious plans to become the best and biggest in the UK market. We've made huge investments in our pricing and data 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 - our Pricing, Data and Analytics community value curiosity, collaboration and constructive challenge.

We are always looking for new ideas and diverse perspectives to question established thinking and drive meaningful change. Great pricing is built on trust, innovation and precision, so our aim is to ensure customers receive a fair and accurate price based on their individual risk, supporting fair outcomes, while delivering sustainable and profitable growth for our company.

Pricing is more than just a number - it's a strategic capability. At the heart of Hastings is deep risk insight - continually improving how we assess, segment and price risk through data and analytics.

Job Description

Working as part of the Pricing team within the Alternative Pricing Department (APP) you will be central to the evolution of our pricing. You will have the opportunity to innovate through suggesting new approaches, exploring them using cutting edge technology and deploying them through market leading rating mechanisms. You'll have a vast array of datasets, some unique to Hastings, to work with to enhance our models and maintain our position as a leader in data and analytics in the UK general insurance market.

This role focuses on deep analysis of our portfolio through new and existing data to support iterative improvements to our pricing. We're looking for a curious mind that can explore our performance from many different angles and use this insight to propose changes to our approach.

Hastings has a pricing, data and analytics community of 200+ individuals with a huge breadth and depth of expertise. We're at the forefront of change and you'll have an opportunity play a part in this while learning from the best people in the market!

Accountabilities

• Challenge the status quo in insurance pricing by developing innovative pricing solutions
• Own the end to end delivery of pricing changes from concept to live deployment
• Seek out new data opportunities and work to extract value from them
• Develop best in-class models to predict claims outcomes, fraud and other risk KPIs
• Support the development of junior analysts within the team

Skills Knowledge & Experience

• Proficiency in Python, SQL, Azure ML, Git, Azure Cloud Services (Essential)
• Multiple track record of delivery of ML projects from EDA to deployment, post deployment evaluation and model refreshing. (Essential)
• Work accurately and independently with little supervision when required (Essential)
• 3 - 6 years' experience in data science roles (Essential)
• Knowledge of UK motor insurance market (Desirable)
• Nearly / newly qualified actuary (Desirable)

The interview process

• Recruiter screening call
• 1st stage interview - Initial Intro with hiring leader
• 2nd interview (Technical) will include panel
• 3rd Short 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 you