Junior Model Developer

We're disrupting the insurance industry with our platform Renew, which insurers use to build mathematical models to make complex pricing decisions. Solving questions such as:

• What are the chances that SpaceX's next launch will fail?
• What are the chances of Kanye West cancelling his sell-out tour?

Renew is self-serve - allowing insurance professionals to login to our development platform and build their own models in a "pro-code" environment, using the open source language of Python.

This role will work along side the rest of the hx Model Development Team (MDT). As such, you will work closely with our Product/Engineering teams as well as with our clients - we see model development work as a way to "eat our own cooking" and make our product better. You'll use and help develop cutting-edge tech, and work with super-bright, driven people (both inside hx and among our data, service and insurtech partners).

The hx Model Development Team is not a typical consultancy; the technical/actuarial work we do here is quite different from most places. We don’t take on traditional “transformations” ourselves (we have brilliant partners for that) – we specialise in handling the most difficult or interesting problems for our clients, where only a combination of the very best market expertise and Renew knowledge will do. Here are some example challenges we will take on this year:

• How do we make sure our clients are first-to-market with rapidly built, world class pricing models in Renew?
• What do we need to do to plug the gaps in the open-source libraries that cater to the specialty insurance sector?
• What are the novel datasets and techniques that should be par for the course in a modern set of pricing models?

Key Responsibilities

Note: hx is still a relatively early-stage business, and our culture prizes initiative highly - as such this section is a good indicator of your role, but the list isn’t exhaustive.

You will:

• Interact directly with customer actuarial teams, developers at our partners, and our internal development teams in solving their hardest coding problems in Python and beyond
• Work closely with the rest of the Model Development team to support our customers in building models that are seamlessly integrated and employing cutting edge approaches
• Develop assets to support the Sales process, specifically for Proof of Concepts and Demos, and lead the workshops with potential clients, demonstrating the power of the platform in live sessions (both virtually and face to face)
• Implement and improve our model development standards and ways of working - including helping as we build our world-class digital learning pathways
• Drive initiatives that increase the usage of Renew with our customers, both with core functionality and pushing the boundaries of the platform to pave the way for innovation in pricing and underwriting
• Will join hx at the most exciting stage of a rapid growth - we are scaling up across multiple business functions including Learning, Marketing, Sales and Customer Success - you will get to see this and contribute to that growth in many different ways. You can get stuck in many exciting initiatives such as hx University (where our engineers and model developers get introduced to the newest and most exciting tech tools and languages!) as well as the fun stuff like Social Committee or OKRs Champions!

Initial deliverables

You will:

• Within the first month
  • Be trained on the Renew platform and shipped your first models in Python
  • Including independently building your own “creative hacks” model - and demoing it to the team in our weekly Show & Tell!
  • Be consistently contributing to and improving our internal and external training & development materials
• Within 3 months
  • You will be working with our customers, whether building models as part of a PoC, client onboarding, or a live project
  • Be certified to train new hx team members and customers to build their own models within Renew
  • Completed hx’s sales enablement training, and be demoing our platform to potential new customers
  • When not working on customer or sales opportunities, you will be responsible for independently driving an initiative which increases the value all our customers get from modelling in Renew - this may include building a model suite all customers can use on day 1, delivering automated insurance pricing, working out how machine learning can accelerate our customers decision making, or researching and deploying an MI suite which automatically reports against regulatory standards

Competencies

If you're the right fit for this role, you will be able to show clear evidence that you are:

Eager to learn

This is an opportunity to work on meaningful projects for some of the world’s biggest companies. You’ll be innovating and collaborating with some of the most talented people in the market and in doing so will learn, grow and develop

Passionate

To drive best practice pricing and underwriting in the market, you'll need to demonstrate passion and enthusiasm around technology and how this can be adapted to solve our clients’ needs with bespoke model builds, creative coding and innovative ways of working with our platform

A problem solver

To deliver true benefits to our customers you will need to be agile in your thinking, adapt quickly to the changing world and be excited about disrupting the market with cutting edge technology and in doing so, solve our customers most difficult problems

Someone who reflects hx and our values

• Apply a thoughtful and customer-centric mindset to everything we do
• Learn deeply, by making things
• Keep going, when most people would stop
• Help move hx forward without being told
• Are usually nice, never disrespectful, and always kind

Experience and skills

hx is far less interested in counting years over evidence of delivery, and our requirements reflect this.

The right person for this role will need:

• A passion for coding, and experience specifically with Python
• An analytical approach with a desire to problem solve for our customers
• To be able to understand and relate tasks with the commercial context and hold your own when working with technical insurance experts
• A desire to level up, we will do everything we can to help you get to where you want to go – we value anyone passionate about mentoring and helping their colleagues in the process
• A self-starting attitude: you enjoy managing your own time and work, within a tight-knit, high-pressure but high-support environment. You proactively drive your own personal development and stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and challenges
• As a bonus, any awareness of insurance and reinsurance pricing techniques

What do we offer?

• Competitive salary + very staff-friendly EMI share options
• £5,000 annual learning & development allowance
• 33 days annual leave (inc. public holidays)
• £250 gadget-for-the-office budget
• Top-spec equipment (laptop, wireless keyboards, screens, etc)
• Huge opportunity for personal development and mastery as we grow together
• Regular remote hackathons, lunch & learns, socials and games nights
• Team breakfasts and lunches, snacks, drinks fridge, fun office @ The Ministry
• Annual team trip somewhere warm (currently on hold due to COVID19)

What’s next?

• Initial call with our Talent team to kick things off
• Introductory call with your future manager
• Practical interview + Meet the Team
• Meet your future manager in person
• Meet the CEO/Co-Founder
• We offer!

Diversity @ hx

We are committed to diversity and equal opportunity. We’re a talented and high-energy, but low-ego and kind team who believes that the more inclusive we are, the better our work and culture is. We are not yet where we want to be in terms of balance, but it is our mission to build a team that represents a variety of backgrounds and perspectives and we are working hard towards that goal.