Chapter Lead - Machine Learning

The Data and Analytics (DnA) tribe is responsible for creating and maintaining a cloud-based platform for Admiral Group. The tribe works across a significant number of Admirals strategic initiatives including Pricing, Fraud, Customer Contact and Digital.

The tribe is made up of 13 engineering squads with a view of expanding further over the coming months. The tribe covers a wide range of disciplines including data warehousing, web development, API development, Feature Engineering and Machine learning.

We are looking for a Software Engineering Chapter Lead who can manage a team of Software Engineers focusing on Feature Engineering and Machine Learning. Your chapter will be working across the tribe and you will help steer and support technology strategy and direction. You will report into the Senior Chapter Lead and you will be responsible for building up our ML Engineering capabilities as well as deliver on product development as part of a squad. A rough split being about 60% development & 40% Chapter duties.

You will need strong people skills as you will be training, mentoring, and guiding Engineers at different stages in their career and helping them with their career development and progression.

You will support the squads by providing technical advice and guidance. You will be an experienced sounding board for technical problems and an escalation point for decisions, but you will also still get stuck in and help deliver user stories as well. Alongside this, you will be contributing to the technical roadmap.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for providing line management duties for all Squad technical members within the relevant Chapter with a view to focussing on coaching and mentoring techniques that align to both agile principles and Admiral values.
• Contribute to the vision, strategy, and roadmap of AI to drive steep impact for our products and create a market leading AI competitive advantage
• Responsible for technical resource recruitment, retention and overall onboarding process for all Squad level technical members of the relevant Chapter.
• Responsible for supporting both personal and technical skills development for all Squad level technical members enabling greater Squad operational performance.
• Responsible for providing effective career development for all Squad level technical members of the relevant Chapter.
• Responsible for effectively administrating Chapter member’s compensation, benefits and promotion processes
• Responsible for enabling Squads to meet their expected outcomes by supporting them in problem identification, root cause analysis, and decision-making.
• Responsible for improving Squad performance by applying effective performance management controls leveraging input from relevant Squad Lead and Product Owners leading onto providing corrective actions when necessary.
• Responsible for identifying, teaching, or sponsor the required software and hardware engineering skills needed to support the development of high-quality code, components, systems, and solutions
• Responsible for supporting all Chapter members in living the following values in everything they do: productivity, quality, transparency, and openness over internal politics
• Responsible for serving as a senior coach and advisor to Agile Squads. Remaining close enough to the Squads to add value and to be a competent manager, while staying far enough away to let them problem-solve on their own
• Responsible for supporting Squad Leads and Product Owners in knowledge transition between both Squads and the wider Organisation by applying clear and concise communication channels

Knowledge and Experience Required

• Extensive knowledge and experience with Line management through both coaching and mentoring techniques
• Good Exposure to Machine Learning practices and Feature Engineering Concepts
• Proficiency with a few Machine Learning frameworks such as XGBoost, Keras, Tensorflow
• Knowledge and experience in Scrum development practices, using associated tools for testing and continuous integration & deployment
• Knowledge and experience with Google Cloud Technologies.
• Knowledge and experience with DevOps practices.
• General Awareness of Application and Data Security practices.
• Knowledge of identification and management of specific engineering, design and testing standards and practices that comply with internal organisation IT governance and architectural standards while performing within a heavily regulated environment
• Knowledge and experience in the use of tools such as: Jira, Confluence etc.

*Feedback and interviews for this role will take place w/c 10/01/2022*

Why work for us?

• Admiral has many benefits but further to that you will also benefit from:
• Working with a top-class team
• Working on exciting challenges to maintain Admiral’s competitive advantage
• Playing a central role in shaping and enabling Admiral's digital ambitions
• Be given the flexibility to work in the way that allows you to give your best
• Work in an open and accessible department
• Know that you are working for a department who regularly take part in charitable events

Salary, Benefits and Work-Life Balance

We do not have a set salary for this position, as it will be dependent on the successful candidate’s experience. We are happy to see CVs from all candidates who meet the requirements and will be happy to discuss the remuneration package.

At Admiral, we are proud to be a diverse business where we put our people and customers first. We have great benefits to ensure employees have a great work-life balance; it's one of the reasons we're consistently voted one of Sunday Times Best Big Companies to Work For in the UK. We want you to have an element of freedom to define a working lifestyle that supports this, so accommodate flexible hours wherever possible.

You can also view some of our other key benefits here; https://admiraljobs.co.uk/employee-benefits/.

Location

We are open to discussion around remote working possibilities (UK only). Our whole business is still working remotely. We will provide you with everything you need to work comfortably from home. We expect you to be working remotely for the foreseeable future. Once it’s safe to return to the office, you can agree your on-site days at the office with your Line Manager. Ideally we would like to see you at least once or twice a week at our Cardiff office but we do offer some flexibility depending on your location.

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