Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Job Title
Senior Machine Learning Engineer

Job Description

Here at UnderwriteMe, we are on a mission to make life insurance more widely accessible and ensure people and their loved ones are protected when the inevitable happens. We are doing this by reshaping the future of insurance through innovative and global technology products.

As we work on solving complex problems that will change how lives are protected, we operate in a fast-paced, challenging environment. The type of people who work for us embrace and relish the challenge and in turn the sense of achievement in helping to solve these problems and making an impact on how lives are protected.

We place a great emphasis on challenging the status quo and constantly striving to improve on what we do. We want to get to the point where we are leading the way in the software industry.

Being owned by Pacific Life, we have the best of both worlds - the freedom to experiment like a start-up with the stability of our parent company. If you want to bring new ideas to the table and be part of a team working on innovative technology, come and join us.

Job Description
We are currently seeking an innovative Senior AI / Machine Learning Engineer to join UnderwriteMe within the AI-Engine team. This role is pivotal in driving the creation of an innovative product set to disrupt the insurance market.

We are looking for candidates with a proven track record in the design and deployment of LLMs for applications within the NLP space, as well as established experience collaborating with product managers, developers, and fellow data scientists within a product-led SaaS environment.

What will you be doing?

• Working within a dynamic cross-functional team that operates based on OKRs (Objectives and Key Results), fostering collaboration among developers, QAs, data scientists, and data analysts, to consistently achieve tangible outcomes aligned with OKR targets.
• Employing your deep understanding of AI and staying current with industry trends, you will play a pivotal role in shaping project execution by contributing to the OKR formulation process, and directly working towards those.
• Crafting and refining Machine Learning models and algorithms to address complex product challenges.
• Devising and implementing innovative data analysis and data mining strategies, extracting valuable insights from diverse data sources.
• Harnessing the power of natural language processing (NLP) techniques to extract pertinent information from textual data.
• Formulating predictive models to anticipate future trends, enabling informed decision-making.
• Constructing automated ML workflows and integrating CI/CD practices to ensure seamless model deployment and recurrent refinement.
• Architecting, deploying, and overseeing APIs for effective model delivery, while also leveraging external APIs to enhance functionality.
• Establishing monitoring and logging systems to evaluate model performance, detect anomalies, and guarantee consistent model dependability and accessibility.
• Collaborating closely with DevOps and IT teams to orchestrate the smooth transition of ML models into production environments, upholding scalability and security standards.

Technical Requirements

Applied AI and NLP Expertise:

• Proven experience in applying AI techniques to solve real-world NLP problems, with a focus on delivering scalable, production-ready solutions.
• Hands-on expertise in fine-tuning pre-trained models such as BERT, GPT, or similar transformer-based architectures for domain-specific tasks in the NLP space.
• Experience in integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) into applications, with a focus on enabling structured responses, such as through APIs or with purpose-built LLMs.
• Knowledge of prompt engineering techniques, including designing effective prompts for different tasks, optimizing input/output formats, and leveraging techniques such as few-shot learning.

Advanced Python Development Proficiency:

• Experience with OOP, and data-validation libraries such as Pydantic.
• Deep familiarity with Python and its ecosystem for AI/ML, including libraries like PyTorch, Hugging Face Transformers, and scikit-learn.
• Experience with data manipulation using libraries such as Pandas and NumPy, and familiarity with parallelization or asynchronous programming.
• Proficiency in Test-Driven Development (TDD) and an understanding of Python testing libraries such as Pytest.

Cloud, CI/CD & MLOps Knowledge

• Experience taking models from experiments through to production deployments, with tools such as Docker, Kubernetes & serverless alternatives such as AWS Lambda.
• Familiarity with MLOps tools such as MLFlow, Kubeflow or Sagemaker.
• A strong knowledge of cloud platforms (ideally AWS) and their respective services for deploying robust, AI-heavy applications.

Bonus Experience

• Experience with named entity recognition / recommendation systems.
• Knowledge of Gitlab's CI/CD (or Github Actions).
• Basic understanding of Java (ideally with Spring Boot).
• Experience working in a fast-paced, product-led environment.
• Experience working with data within the insurance / healthcare sector.

About UnderwriteMe

UnderwriteMe is an Insurtech software business and subsidiary of Pacific Life Re (PL Re), a global life and pensions reinsurance firm. We have a vision to help everyone purchase protection insurance by using data and disruptive technology to transform our partners and markets in order to make their underwriting processes as quick and efficient as possible.

Our core products are:
• Decision Platform - a B2B enterprise platform that provides a best-in-market Underwriting Rules Engine used by over 30 insurers to power their underwriting decisions. The product is sold across UK & Ireland, Asia-Pacific and North America. The platform combines our engine with technology to source and process third-party information supporting underwriting decisions for insurers. We are already working on capabilities, powered by AI, to make these decisions even more efficient.
• Protection Platform - a B2B2C marketplace used by over 15,000 advisors to power quoting and purchase of protection products in the UK. We currently deliver 16% of the UK markets protection policies and we are already working to increase our reach.

Working for UnderwriteMe

Joining UnderwriteMe means being part of a technology company that is committed to bringing a fresh and dynamic approach to insurance. You'd be working with a team of highly technical experts made up of people with backgrounds in software, fintech, and insurance.

Every person in our global team is valued for the unique qualities they bring to our business and we seek to build their expertise and support their individual ambitions at every step. Of course, we take our work seriously and we know our team can operate under great pressure. We work hard and thrive on achievement, but we also know how to have fun and relax too. We regularly host a range of team building days to strengthen our team's connection with each other and reflect on their successes.

Providing employees with a healthy work-life balance is very important to our culture. We have a wide range of employee benefits and we host regular social activities and wellbeing initiatives. We are also committed to supporting our employee's involvement in their communities, by actively fundraising, hosting charity events, and overseeing volunteering opportunities.

Benefits (Only for Permanent and Fixed Term Employees)

Leave

• 25 days of annual leave with option to buy/sell more days
• Adoption and fertility leave
• Generous enhanced parental leave

Healthcare

• Comprehensive private insurance coverage for employee and dependents
• Group Life Insurance coverage of 9x basic annual salary and Group Income Protection up to 75% of basic annual salary
• Optical benefits

Savings & Retirement

• 15% combined employee/employer contributions

Wellness

• Subsidized gym membership
• Access to Employee Assistance Program
• Cycle to Work and Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme
• Time off for volunteering
• Charitable matching of employee donations

As part of our commitment to accessibility for all, UnderwriteMe will, upon the request of the applicant, provide accommodation during the recruitment process to ensure equal access to applicants with disabilities. Please contact us about your needs, and we will consult with you to ensure suitable accommodation is provided.

UnderwriteMe Values

Please click here to view our company values