Senior Data Scientist

INSTANDA; London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job description

INSTANDA is the worlds first no code platform for Insurance. A pioneering Insurtech, we're revolutionising the insurance industry by offering insurers a versatile tool to create, manage, and distribute digital insurance products. Our innovative technology empowers insurance carriers to adapt swiftly to market demands and navigate the evolving landscape. Our Technology is consistently recognised as the best policy administration platform for innovative insurers, winning awards in both the UK and US.

INSTANDA has grown significantly in recent years and we are now a team of 200+ employees globally, with partnerships that operate worldwide. We're continuing to grow our business and our People Operations team is at the forefront of our growth plans.

The Role:

We're looking for a Senior Data Scientist to lead and scale our AI solution efforts. This role is perfect for an experienced professional who has consistently delivered high-impact AI and ML solutions, led cross-functional initiatives, and influenced strategic decisions through data. You'll have substantial autonomy, ownership, and a voice in shaping the product roadmap, with significant opportunities for growth and leadership.

This role is UK based, primarily remote working with some travel required to our London Office.

What you will do:

• Independently design, develop, and deploy robust, scalable AI/ML solutions tailored to business needs.
• Lead the full model lifecycle: problem formulation, data exploration, model development, validation, deployment, and monitoring.
• Collaborate with engineering and product teams to embed models into production systems and deliver end-to-end solutions.
• Act as a technical leader and mentor within the data science team, supporting the growth of junior colleagues.
• Identify model/data drift and implement retraining pipelines or adaptation strategies to ensure sustained model performance.
• Champion the use of interpretable AI and communicate insights clearly to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Engage with senior stakeholders to understand business objectives and translate them into data-driven strategies.
• Contribute to and evolve our AI/ML best practices, architecture, and toolchain.
• Stay ahead of AI/ML trends and evaluate new tools or methodologies for potential use.

Requirements

Essential:

• 5+ years of proven experience delivering AI/ML models in production environments.
• Advanced knowledge of machine learning, deep learning (e.g., XGBoost, LSTMs, transformers), and statistical modeling.
• Proficient in Python and machine learning libraries such as Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, etc.
• Hands-on experience with MLOps tools and practices: model tracking, drift detection, continuous learning.
• Strong background in data processing, feature engineering, and scalable ML pipelines.
• Experience working in cloud environments (Azure preferred) and with containerization tools (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Demonstrated success engaging with senior stakeholders and influencing decision-making with data.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills with the ability to convey complex concepts clearly.
• Strong leadership qualities: ownership, initiative, mentoring, and strategic thinking.
• Self-starter mindset with a track record of thriving in fast-moving, startup-like environments.

Desirable:

• Experience in the insurance or financial services domain.
• Familiarity with explainable AI (e.g., SHAP, LIME) and responsible AI practices.
• Knowledge of software engineering principles (CI/CD, version control, testing).

Benefits

• A high-autonomy role with substantial influence over AI strategy and execution.
• Opportunities for career growth into technical leadership or product strategy.
• A collaborative, startup-style culture that encourages innovation and rapid iteration.
• Access to cutting-edge tools and technologies across the AI/ML landscape.
• Competitive salary
• Generous 28 days holiday allowance, in addition to public holidays.
• For every year of service you complete, we'll give you an additional days holiday (max. 5 days)
• One Dynamic Day per month on top of your holiday allowance to spend time doing the things you want to do or simply catching up with life admin.
• Freedom Pass work up to 4 weeks of the year from anywhere.
• FlexiBank you decide when to use your public holiday allocation.
• Hybrid Working approach varying with the nature of your role.
• Life cover; income protection and participation in the company pension scheme
• All employees are included in the company discretionary bonus scheme
• £100 per month to put towards wellness activities.
• Annual learning & development allowance of £1,250
• Free access to LinkedIn learning and Microsoft ESI learning platform

If you're ready to make a meaningful impact and lead transformative AI initiatives in a dynamic tech environment, we'd love to hear from you. Apply now and shape the future of AI at INSTANDA.

Our company was built by looking at the world through a different lens and our culture today reflects that by encouraging you to be yourself, speak your mind, and share your opinions. We want people who want to push themselves, be part of something great, and be prepared to challenge if they think there is a better way. Collaboration sits at the heart of how we operate, it has fueled our growth enormously and our aim to be 'world class'.

We want everyone to be the best they can be throughout our recruitment process; if you require any additional adjustments please let us know. Visit instanda.com/careers for more information