Head of Data Science

🚀 We’re on a mission to make: The most successful insurance disruptor people want to stay with for life

Are you ready to transform the insurance industry with innovative technology? AtPolicy Expert , we are on a mission to revolutionize Home, Pet and Motor insurance, making it clear, fair, and great value for customers. Since our inception in 2011, our breakthrough thinking and proprietary tech, have won us over 1.5 million customers and the title of the UK’s No.1-rated home insurance provider for 9 years. 🏆

At Policy Expert, data is at the heart of everything we do, and our ambition is clear: our data and analytics will enrich every customer experience, optimize every business decision, and empower every colleague. The Exec and Board have committed significant investment to establish and mature our data capabilities, underpinned by a transformative Data Strategy built around three core pillars: Operating Model, Data & Analytics Platform, and Data Culture.

We have five disciplines – Data Management, Engineering, Science, Analytics, and Visualisation – that collaborate with the rest of the business to drive incremental value through data, operational excellence, and business agility.

This is an exciting time for our Data Science team. We’re expanding our work across claims, operations, underwriting, and marketing — and this is only the beginning.

Our models will power a best-in‑class customer experience, from acquisition through to claims, giving us deeper insight into who our customers are and what they need.

With strong support from our leadership team, we have the autonomy to move fast, make data‑driven decisions, and respond to an ever‑changing market. This agility gives us a competitive edge and positions us for scalable growth.

The next 24 months will be pivotal as Policy Expert embarks on an exciting new chapter — and our Data Science team will be at the center of it.

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• As Head of Data Science you’ll lead on our strategy and roadmap for using data science and ML initiatives to support our ambitious growth plans. Activities will include:
  
• Recruiting, leading and mentoring our Data Science team, and creating a community of practice to share knowledge and expertise.
  
• Work closely with our Head of Data products, building relationships across the organisation, to identify opportunities to apply machine learning and data science across to drive growth, solve problems and increase automation across the business.
  
• Develop and own a roadmap for implementing Data Science across our business areas.
  
• Continuously improving our engineering practices across data science products to operate at pace and at scale.
  
• Be a champion of data science and ML, communicating it’s value to colleagues across the business.
  
• Oversee, and contribute to, the development of machine learning models, working closely with the Machine Learning Engineers to ensure they are working as expected in production.
  
• Work closely with the Data Engineers and Analysts to source data needed from our systems and third‑party suppliers.
  

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• You are customer focused. You can find the right balance between outcome delivery and technical excellence.
  
• Experience leading and managing Data Scientists, while also doing hands‑on work while the team is small.
  
• Enjoy taking the initiative and thinking strategically to find innovative ways to apply data science that drives business value.
  
• Excellent communication skills with both technical and non‑technical audiences.
  
• Knowledge of the latest technologies in the Data Science and ML space, and enjoy sharing your knowledge with your team and colleagues.
  
• Experience building machine learning models and working with ML Engineers to deploy them into production.
  
• Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of data science tools and techniques, which you can use to solve problems creatively and to create opportunities for the business.
  
• Good programming skills with R or Python and good working knowledge of SQL and experience querying large datasets.
  
• Knowledge of the insurance industry would be an advantage but not essential.
  
• Ideally you will have experience working with AWS or GCP tools.
  

📍 This role will be based in our London office in a 50/50 Hybrid mode.

📚 Learning budget of £1,000 a year + Study leave (with encouragement to use it)

😁 Enhanced maternity & paternity

🚉 Travel season ticket loan

🎟️ Access to a wide selection of London O2 events and use of a Private Lounge

We pride ourselves on being an equal opportunity employer. We treat all applications equally and recruit based solely on an individual’s skills, knowledge, and experience. The quality and growing diversity of our team is a testament to this commitment.

At Policy Expert, we are committed to fostering an inclusive and supportive environment for all candidates. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the interview process to accommodate your needs, please do not hesitate to let us know. We are dedicated to ensuring every candidate has an equal opportunity to succeed and will work with you to provide the necessary support.

We aim to be in touch within 14 working days of your application – you will be notified if successful or unsuccessful. Please be encouraged to apply even if you do not meet all the requirements.

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