Welcome to Hastings Direct – From our Group HR Director Pam Angel
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 data and tech capabilities over the past few years, along with nurturing our 4Cs culture. We’re proud of the journey we’re on as a company and know that our continued success will rely on the contribution of our talented colleagues.
We provide insurance for over four million customers, but we know there’s even bigger opportunity out there. The fact you’re now reading this job advert means we’ve tempted you to find out more about #lifeatHD – we really hope you like what you see, and you’ll join us to share in the success of the exciting chapter that lies ahead.
We understand some people may not apply for jobs unless they feel they tick every box. 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.
Job Title Head of Data Science - Telematics
Department Telematics
Reporting to Director of Telematics
Location Bexhill-on-Sea, London, Leicester
Role purpose
There are 3 major pillars to our success in Telematics - and maximising the value we create from the Telematics 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 (maximise exposure to low risk) – and supporting the wider business use the data we gather to improve pricing in all products.
Background
Telematics sends a shiver up the spine of some – but what’s really worrying is the amount of money people are paying for their insurance because there is a small minority of people doing some seriously bad things whilst they’re driving. Our customers are taking action by signing up to our Telematics products in big numbers and we’re now the biggest Telematics player in the UK.
We’ve got ample data and we’re only scratching the surface of its value. This role will sit on the Telematics leadership team and be responsible for a number of highly skilled data managers and analysts.
Accountabilities
Leading a team of 5-10, empowering them to produce great results and making the environment an engaging and interesting place to be
Creating thinking space, encouraging them explore new modelling tools, techniques and being the key escalation point – you’ll be delivering mainly through your people
The Main Goal: Constantly look for opportunity to enhance the predictive power of the data we collect to allow us to improve how competitive our pricing is / areas we can offer a price to without sacrificing margin – and support the group make use of this data too
You’ll have accesses to a huge and powerful dataset to create value in this way
You’ll be setting the strategy and talking through with key stakeholders (inc. ExCo) to gain approvals as needed – flexing that against near terms plans to deliver and demonstrate value creation
You’ll also be hands-on development of our models using various data sets and techniques to deliver the optimal pricing outcome – flexing in and out of the detail
Responsible for getting the data we need into our business (working with CIO)
You’ll do this across a range of our TM products, build models using the data that can be utilised at NB and make all data and learnings available across the business
Be restless – find corelations in multiple sources of data inc. new sources to maximise the value we create.
We’ll start to build our own unique driving score that we control fully
We’ll prepare ourselves for consuming data from multiple sources (like OEM) to make sure we stay well ahead as this landscape changes – this will be highly technical
Work collaboratively across all pricing teams to ensure that we achieve our business goals
You’ll be considered the “go to” on Telematics data – helping the group unlock value
Strong governance - Thinking about our obligation to our customers – you’ll need clear processes, tracking and principles to make sure we can clearly explain why we do what we do to regulators and customers
Skills, Knowledge & Experience
Commercial awareness and an understanding of what makes a successful and profitable business
Technical coding ability to at least an intermediate level (essential for this role)
Evidence in leading and motivating people
Working in an environment where there is governance or regulation and some experience in managing and reporting in these environments
Ability to interact effectively with a wide variety of individuals, both technical and non-technical
Ability to work collaboratively with wide range of colleagues and excellent communication skills; the ability to grasp complicated concepts and translate them to meet the needs of a wide range of audiences
Demonstrates relentless curiosity and drives themselves and their teams to deliver results whilst finding opportunities to exceed them
Strong pricing & commercial acumen with a strong desire to deliver commercial outcomes.
The ability (when required) to adjust priorities and workloads and manage the associated communication to key stakeholders to achieve our business objectives
The ability to make pragmatic choices/decisions to facilitate to ensure we are succeeding in a rapidly changing marketplace
The interview process
Our interview process involves the below:
Recruiter screening call
Initial interview with hiring leader
2nd interview with Senior HRBP
Additional interview with Senior Leadership
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 career's website
Benefits: in addition to a competitive salary and £6k 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 5 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 your weeks, access to our health care cash back plans, dental plans, discounted health assessments, Cycle to work and tech schemes, discounted and free onsite facilities, social events throughout the year and much more ….
Join us and you’ll find a different way of doing things. We call it the 4Cs. We focus on getting it right for our colleagues, customers, company and community. As one of our colleagues, you’ll be helping to drive our growth, so in return, we’ll give you all the support, training and development you need. Our 4Cs principles are simple: we believe by creating the right culture for our colleagues and giving them the right tools to do their job, we’ll deliver good outcomes for every customer, helping us to grow the company profitably and sustainably and allowing us to invest in the communities we serve.
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.
At Hastings Direct, we’re committed to creating an inclusive environment where everyone has the opportunity to succeed. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, we encourage you to be open with us. Our recruitment team is here to provide the support you need to ensure a fair and accessible experience for all.
Job posting end date:
26/01/2026Similar Jobs
What We Do
Hastings Group is a fast growing, agile, digitally focused general insurance provider providing services to the UK car, van, bike and home insurance market. Big enough to compete but small enough to grow, the Group has strong relationships with all major price comparison websites, a cost effective digital marketing model and a focus on customer retention.
Hastings provides refreshingly straightforward products and services to UK car, bike, van and home insurance customers.
A multi-award winning business, Hastings has over 2.7 million customers and over 3,400 colleagues.
The Group operates as an integrated insurance provider with two businesses. The Group’s Retail business, Hastings Insurance Services Limited, is responsible for the end customer pricing, fraud management, product design, distribution and management of the underlying customer relationships. The Group’s Underwriting business, Advantage Insurance Company Limited, engages in risk selection, underlying technical pricing, reserving and claims handling.
Retail is supported by, and benefits from, Underwriting’s prudent approach to risk and reserving and also benefits from the Group’s panel of insurance partners who provide additional underwriting capacity. The Group’s integrated model deliberately separates underlying product manufacturing from its distribution.
