Head of Retail Pricing

Job Title: Head of Retail Pricing

Locations: Haywards Heath or Manchester (Hybrid)

Role Overview

Markerstudy Group are looking for a Head of Retail Pricing within our Underwriting division to lead our retail pricing team and implement the company’s pricing strategy for business underwritten by the Group

 Markerstudy is a leading provider of private insurance in the UK, insuring around 5% of the private cars on the UK roads, 20% of commercial vehicles and over 30% of motorcycles in total premium levels of circa £1.2b.  The majority of business is written as the insurance pricing provider behind household names such as Co-op, Sainsbury’s, O2, Halifax, AA, Saga and Lloyds Bank to list a few and Markerstudy also has a large and growing direct presence in the market as well.

Markerstudy are building a market-leading pricing environment, integrating AI, machine learning and distributed computing into the heart of the underwriting, pricing and product management processes, and implementing innovative techniques and solutions. You will leverage your extensive pricing experience to guide the implementation of this pricing sophistication strategy that will give Markerstudy a critical advantage in the increasingly competitive insurance market.

As the Head of Retail Pricing, you will:

• Lead the retail pricing team to deliver pricing that delivers the company’s strategy and risk appetite.
• Engage with the underwriting, risk pricing and data science teams and work collaboratively to deliver rates.
• Engage with Markerstudy Distribution to ensure alignment of end-to-end pricing.
• Own the behavioural modelling, scenario testing and price optimisation environment.
• Build and mentor the team, leading by example.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the retail pricing team to:
  • Implement, test and monitor rate delivery
  • Monitor trading and the quality of retail modelling
  • Maintain the behavioural and market models
  • Engage with underwriting and deliver scenario testing analysis
  • Own the optimisation environment and implement the company’s pricing strategy
• Build and mentor the team of 15-20 pricing analysts/managers, leading by example.
• Engage with the underwriting, risk pricing and data science teams and work collaboratively to deliver pricing outcomes as one team.
• Own the technical roadmap and deliver the development plan.
• Own the retail pricing policy and best-practice standards, and ensure accurate and compliant rates.
• Leverage the machine learning and distributed computing platforms to guide the team in delivering efficient and robust outcomes.
• Stay abreast of market conditions, emerging issues and the regulatory environment.
• Research and leverage new and existing internal and/or external data sources
• Communicate results to key decision makers across the business
• Engage with Markerstudy Distribution to ensure alignment of end-to-end pricing and help support best practice across the group.
• Engage with executive management around the activities and outputs of the team and help define the overall pricing strategy.
• Link-in with the data and machine learning team and help drive forward the industrialisation of data, reporting and modelling.

Key Skills and Experience:

• Ph.D. or Masters in statistics, actuarial science, data science or equivalent field
• 12+ years’ experience within personal lines insurance pricing
• Experience managing pricing processes and teams
• Experience and detailed technical knowledge of predictive modelling, data science and price optimisation techniques
• Experience with pricing tools and rating engines (e.g. Radar/Emblem, Earnix)
• Proficient at communicating results in a concise manner both verbally and written

Behaviours:

• Motivated by technical excellence
• Team player
• Self-motivated with a drive to learn and develop
• Logical thinker with a professional and positive attitude
• Passion to innovate and improve processes