Data Engineer

Howden is a global insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. Together, we have pushed the boundaries of insurance. We are united by a shared passion and no-limits mindset, and our strength lies in our ability to collaborate as a powerful international team comprised of 23,000 employees spanning over 56 countries.

People join Howden for many different reasons, but they stay for the same one: our culture. It’s what sets us apart, and the reason our employees have been turning down headhunters for years. Whatever your priorities – work / life balance, career progression, sustainability, volunteering – you’ll find like‑minded people driving change at Howden.

Working across 22 countries, DUAL has built a reputation as a specialist underwriting group
and the market of choice for insurance intermediaries around the world. That’s how
we have become one of the world’s largest international underwriting agencies (or MGAs) with US$3.2bn of GWP.

DUAL is part of Howden, an international insurance group with employee ownership at its heart. The group was founded in 1994 and now has divisions in broking and underwriting, operates in 55 territories and employs 22,000 people handling US$44.7bn of premium on behalf of clients.

DUAL is a different kind of underwriting business. That’s not just something we like to say – our unique entrepreneurial spirit is fundamental to our approach and make us a natural home for the brightest minds. It’s how we have become one of the world’s largest international MGA, operating in 22 countries and providing over 70 products. Our stated vision to be the world’s best underwriting business. Fundamental to this vision is having market leading data capabilities.

DUAL Group are seeking an experienced Data Engineer who can proactively work with key business stakeholders, regional data teams, and IT to develop our data platforms. including the Group Data Lakehouse. The individual will have extensive experience in Data Lakehouse practices, using Azure services, including SQL, DataBricks and ADF.

The role sits within the DUAL Group Data team, a lean central team of experts acting as a centre of excellence, setting standing standards, providing guidance and support to the regional DUAL data teams.

The individual will be someone with a strong data management background who can be hands‑on but able to support with solution reviews and designs, ensuring best practice and provide assurance on development approach. To be successful you will need to be able manage multiple project deliveries at the same time and have an outstanding attention to details. The role requires someone who has experience working within a fast paced, agile and dynamic working environment ideally with experience gained within an MGA or (re)insurance carrier.

• Reporting into the DUAL Group Lead Data Engineering, you will be a key member of the team, engineering DUAL Group’s strategic data platforms, chief of which is the Data Lakehouse, to enable the continuous enhancement of DUAL’s underwriting analytical capabilities.

• Provide technical expertise in data engineering, analysis, orchestrations, and enrichment.

• Build data solutions where required to address changing requirements – managing new requests and incidents.

• Building, testing and deployment of data products while remaining true to governance principles including change control, accountability, data quality, and data security.

• Consult the regional data team’s business analysts, developers and system owners to avoid divergence from agreed data standards.

• Actively collaborates with the DUAL’s regional data teams and system owners to maintain the data model and data integrity throughout the DUAL Group data lakehouse.

• Closely support underwriting analytical teams and reporting analysts to ensure data is accurately represented for use in underwriting and performance analysis and reporting.

• Build knowledge and expertise of DUAL Group’s systems with other data team members.

• Working with other members of the data team and wider business to support delivery of additional project components (API interfaces, Data Models, Data Sharing, RDM/MDM tools, ML Endpoints).

• Working within an Agile delivery / DevOps methodology to incremental change to the overall data platform to deliver additional data products to provide value to stakeholders.

• Working with the Group Data Science team to productionise ML pipelines into the overall data platform solution.

• Work collaboratively with internal stakeholders across DUAL Group including but not limited to Underwriting teams, Operations, Finance, Risk & Compliance and HR.

• Act as a conduit between Howden Group Data and the DUAL Regions to facilitate the sharing of common approaches, adherence to standards, and advocating on behalf DUAL.

• Help drive success of future investments in Data within DUAL, including clear articulation of return on investment (ROI) and ongoing assessment of realisation attainment.

• Strong knowledge of Data Management principles in a Lakehouse architecture.

• At least 5 years’ experience in data engineering and building data pipelines.

• Proven track record in Data Engineering and supporting the business to gain true insight from data. Experience in data integration and modelling including ELT pipelines.

• Hands on experience designing and delivering solutions using Azure services including Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, Azure Storage, Azure DevOps.

• Strong proficiency in Python and SQL

• Experience working with Data Architects for technical design

• Experience on the design of data models (Star Schema) for use in Power BI. Insurance analysis, MI or reporting experience

• Understanding and adherence to CI/CD principles

• Nice to have: experience working alongside Data Science teams to assist with building and deploying Machine Learning models

• Nice to have: experience working with infrastructure as code tools for deploying resources

• Ability to work quickly, efficiently and methodically.

• A strong team player who is confident in their ability.

• Very strong communication, influencing and negotiation skills. Actively listens to the views of colleagues, but also has the strength of character to challenge where required.

• Has a commercial awareness and stays up to date with current issues affecting the industry and its technologies.

• Proactively sharing best practice with others across the organisation.

• Planning, organising, and managing skills, and ability to prioritise.

• Good understanding of data operations.

• Broad knowledge and understanding of insurance principles, products and services.

• Self-starter, with a passion and ability for learning new skills and technologies

As a Data Engineer at DUAL, you will be instrumental in developing and enhancing our data platforms, ensuring best practices, and supporting regional teams. Your role will involve collaboration with various stakeholders, managing multiple projects, and contributing to the overall data strategy of the organisation.

A career that you define. At Howden, we value diversity – there is no one Howden type. Instead, we’re looking for individuals who share the same values as us:

• Our successes have all come from someone brave enough to try something new

• We support each other in the small everyday moments and the bigger challenges

• We are determined to make a positive difference at work and beyond

We're committed to providing reasonable accommodations at Howden to ensure that our positions align well with your needs. Besides the usual adjustments such as software, IT, and office setups, we can also accommodate other changes such as flexible hours* or hybrid working*.

If you're excited by this role but have some doubts about whether it’s the right fit for you, send us your application – if your profile fits the role’s criteria, we will be in touch to assist in helping to get you set up with any reasonable adjustments you may require.

*Not all positions can accommodate changes to working hours or locations. Reach out to your Recruitment Partner if you want to know more.

Permanent