Pricing Automation Engineer

Hastings Insurance Services Limited; City of London, Leicester, Bexhill-on-Sea; Hybrid; GBP 40,000 - 55,000; Full time

Job summary

A digital insurance provider seeks a Pricing Automation Engineer to enhance their automated trading platform, Skywalker. The role requires technical skills in Python and SQL, along with commercial awareness in pricing dynamics. You will work closely with teams to streamline pricing processes and contribute to the development of innovative data products. Competitive benefits and a flexible hybrid working approach are offered.

Benefits

Flexible working

Competitive bonus scheme

Financial wellbeing support

Mental wellbeing programme

25 days annual leave + bank holidays

Qualifications

• Experience with Python for automation and data wrangling.
• Strong knowledge of SQL and ability to write complex queries.
• Familiarity with Git for version control.

Responsibilities

• Support the PDA community in utilizing the Skywalker platform.
• Develop and prototype new enhancements to the pricing toolkit.
• Collaborate across teams to improve pricing and underwriting processes.

Skills

Python (scripting, automation, or light data wrangling)

SQL (confident with queries and joins)

Git & GitHub (branching, pull requests, code reviews)

Commercial awareness (experience with pricing, market dynamics, underwriting)

Tools

ML-specific Python libraries (pandas, scikit-learn, xgboost)

Cloud computing (especially Azure)

Job description

Pricing Automation Engineer

Join to apply for the Pricing Automation Engineer role at Hastings Direct.

Location

London / Leicester / Bexhill

Regrettably we are unable to offer sponsorship for this role.

Welcome to Hastings Direct. We're a digital insurance provider with a clear strategy to become the best and biggest player in the UK market. We have made huge investments in technology, pricing, data and analytics capabilities, as well as nurturing our 4Cs culture and investing in our people. In Finance, we are building a market‑leading finance technology platform, investing in our team and our leadership development, with a real focus on commercially adding value to the business.

Role Overview

Our mission is to create the leading suite of exploratory and data products in the industry – empowering our pricing, data and analytics (PDA) community to move faster and deliver more, with major commercial impact. Skywalker is our automated trading platform at the heart of what we do. It maximises underwriting pricing efficiency and hosts a growing suite of tooling adopted across the wider business. We are expanding Skywalker’s capabilities and looking for curious, motivated people to help support the PDA community in getting the most out of it. This role is open to junior and mid‑level applicants, including graduates, provided you meet the technical requirements and bring a learning mindset.

Why this might excite you

• Learning: You’ll be supported through mentoring, pair programming, and on‑the‑job learning within a well‑connected community that values delivery, growth and enjoyment.
• Autonomy: Freedom to solve real business problems in your own way.
• Purpose: You’ll help streamline and scale pricing and underwriting across the business and be a key contributor, collaborating at the intersection of pricing, modelling, engineering & more.
• Specialty: Build niche expertise in pricing automation, underwriting workflows and trading infrastructure.
• Clear expectations: In the first 3‑6 months you may prototype new enhancements to the Skywalker toolkit and contribute to adoption and rollout of Skywalker tools across new teams.

Essential Technical Skills

• Python (scripting, automation, or light data wrangling)
• SQL (confident with queries and joins)
• Git & GitHub (branching, pull requests, code reviews)
• Commercial awareness – experience with pricing, market dynamics, underwriting or a strong instinct for business impact.

Personal Attributes

• Accountable – confident owning and solving problems, challenging the status quo.
• Brilliant communicator – able to engage and trade information clearly in any setting.
• Collaborative – enjoy working with others and helping them get the most out of Skywalker.
• Responsive – context‑switch comfortably across multiple workstreams.
• Lifelong learner – seek growth both with and without direction.
• Curious – enjoy exploring how things work and how they can be improved.
• Creative – comfortable prototyping or hacking to learn quickly.
• Optimistic – believe change is possible and worth pursuing.
• Highly analytical – interpret complex data sets to identify patterns, trends and actionable insights.

Bonus Skills

• Automation of processes/pipelines for data, analytics or operations.
• ML‑specific Python libraries (pandas, scikit‑learn, xgboost).
• Cloud computing – especially Azure, where key parts of our platform are deployed.

The Interview Process

• Recruiter screening call
• Take‑home assessment
• Interview with hiring team

As a Disability Confident employer, we are committed to ensuring our recruitment processes are fully inclusive. If you are applying for a job with us, you’ll have fair access to support and adjustments throughout your recruitment journey, and we also welcome applications through the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS).

Benefits

• Flexible working – we champion a flexible hybrid working approach.
• Competitive bonus scheme – all colleagues are eligible for our annual 4Cs performance bonus.
• Financial wellbeing – life assurance cover, income protection at no extra cost, matched pension contributions up to 10%, discounts, cashback, free independent mortgage advice and access to financial wellbeing support.
• Mental wellbeing programme – thrive mental health app, colleague assistance programme available 24/7, in‑house mental health first aiders, support groups and a dedicated team to meet your needs.
• 25 days annual leave + bank holidays, with the option to buy or sell a week, access to health care cashback 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.

Hastings Group is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications from all suitably skilled persons regardless of gender, age, race, disability, ethnic background, religion/belief, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or marital/family status. We also conduct a thorough referencing process, which includes credit and criminal record checks.