Engineering Lead - Insurance (Data & AI)

Alpha Financial Markets Consulting (Alpha) is a leading global consultancy to the financial services industry. We are a boutique management consulting firm that offers the world’s top industry players a competitive edge through our expertise and industry insight. Our team is of a uniquely high calibre and by focusing across the General Insurance & Specialty value chain, we build deep knowledge and experience within our industry. We have our headquarters located the United Kingdom, as well as offices in major global financial centres across the United States, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Asia.

The Insurance team works with industry leading carriers, brokers, market bodies, ancillary businesses, and technology providers to position our clients for future success. We have a fast growing team of dedicated consultants with deep experience from working both within the industry and consulting. Successful candidates should expect a diverse range of complex and strategic engagements across the market. As we continue to expand our client base and expertise, we are looking for individuals to join our team to support our growth journey. Please see below an outline of the responsibilities of the role as well as the requirements.

Role Overview

We are seeking an exceptional Application & Software Engineering Lead with deep Insurance domain expertise to drive the design, delivery, and evolution of our core technology platforms. This is a high-impact leadership role sitting at the intersection of engineering excellence and insurance business capability, responsible for leading cross-functional engineering teams to deliver scalable, resilient, and compliant software solutions.

You will act as a trusted technology partner to the world’s largest insurance firms, translating complex insurance workflows - spanning policy administration, underwriting, claims, and regulatory compliance - into robust, modern application architectures. You will set the technical vision, champion engineering best practices, and cultivate a high-performing team culture.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership

• Lead, mentor, and grow a team of software engineers, architects, and analysts across multiple squads.
• Define and uphold engineering standards, coding practices, and quality frameworks across the function.
• Drive a culture of continuous improvement, psychological safety, and technical craftsmanship.
• Conduct regular 1:1s, performance reviews, and career development conversations with direct reports.
• Collaborate with Engineering Managers, Product Owners, and Delivery Leads to ensure aligned, outcome-driven delivery.

Application Strategy & Architecture

• Own the application roadmap for core insurance platforms, including policy management, claims, underwriting, and distribution systems.
• Design and govern scalable, event-driven, cloud-native architectures appropriate for the insurance technology landscape.
• Lead technical design reviews, architecture decision records (ADRs), and proof-of-concept evaluations.
• Assess and manage technical debt; prioritise remediation in balance with feature delivery.
• Evaluate and recommend third-party insurance software (e.g. Guidewire, Duck Creek, Majesco) and integration patterns.

Insurance Domain Delivery

• Apply specialist knowledge of insurance business processes to shape technical solutions that meet regulatory and operational requirements.
• Oversee delivery of insurance-specific capabilities: policy lifecycle management, claims handling, bordereaux processing, reinsurance ceding, and premium calculation engines.
• Ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations including Solvency II, FCA requirements, market standards, and GDPR.
• Act as a subject matter expert (SME) bridging business stakeholders and engineering teams on insurance domain requirements.

Delivery & Execution

• Own end-to-end software delivery for one or more product areas; accountable for quality, timeliness, and technical integrity.
• Champion Agile and DevSecOps practices; contribute to sprint planning, backlog refinement, and release governance.
• Define and track engineering KPIs including lead time, deployment frequency, MTTR, and defect escape rate.
• Manage stakeholder expectations and provide transparent reporting on engineering progress and risk.

Stakeholder & Vendor Engagement

• Partner with Product, Actuarial, Risk, Compliance, and Operations teams to understand and shape business requirements.
• Manage relationships with technology vendors and insurance software providers; lead procurement and contract negotiations where required.
• Represent the engineering function in senior leadership forums, architecture boards, and client-facing engagements.

Skills & Experience

Essential

• Significant experience (7+ years) in software engineering.
• Demonstrable insurance domain expertise across one or more of: Specialty, London Market / Lloyds, or Reinsurance.
• Strong command of modern application development: microservices, API-first design, event-driven architecture, and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Proven ability to lead distributed engineering teams delivering in an Agile/SAFe environment.
• Deep understanding of insurance data models, regulatory frameworks (FCA, PRA, Solvency II), and compliance requirements.
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to engage technical and non-technical audiences, including C-suite stakeholders.

Highly Desirable

• Consulting experience.
• Background in data engineering or analytics within an insurance context (e.g. actuarial data platforms, claims analytics).
• Experience delivering large-scale digital transformation or legacy modernisation programmes in insurance.
• Relevant certifications: AWS Solutions Architect, Azure Solutions Architect, TOGAF, or equivalent.
• Exposure to AI/ML applications in insurance (e.g. fraud detection, underwriting automation, NLP for claims).

Technical Competencies

• Languages & Frameworks: Java, Python, .NET, or similar enterprise-grade stack; REST and GraphQL APIs.
• Cloud & Infrastructure: Kubernetes, Terraform, CI/CD pipelines (GitHub Actions, Azure DevOps, Jenkins).
• Data & Integration: Kafka / event streaming, enterprise integration patterns, EDI/ACORD XML or JSON standards.
• Security & Compliance: OWASP practices, data privacy engineering, secure SDLC.

What We Offer

• Competitive base salary benchmarked to senior tech consulting market rates.
• Annual performance bonus tied to individual and company outcomes.
• Comprehensive benefits package including private medical insurance, life assurance, and income protection.
• Hybrid working model with flexible arrangements to support work-life balance.
• Generous pension scheme with enhanced employer contributions.
• Continuous learning budget and access to industry conferences, certifications, and training programmes.
• 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays, with option to buy additional days.
• Employee assistance programme and wellbeing support.