About Marshmallow

We started Marshmallow when we found out how unfair insurance prices are for people who move to the UK. All because the industry hasn’t given this huge cohort of people a second’s thought, and isn’t set up to price them properly. 

We saw an opportunity to do things differently, so we made it our mission to back the ones who step outside the norm. Since we started, we’ve helped 100,000s of people get a fairer deal on their car insurance. Using technology, we serve people that are often overlooked by financial services companies, solving important problems for people who need it most. 

We know there are millions of marginalised customers out there. And we know that they face unique problems that most companies aren’t even aware of. We believe that our future is helping these people by learning about their experiences, and building our company around their needs. And there are strong signs that there’s a need for a company like us. Earlier this year we hit profitability, which is a huge milestone, but the most exciting thing is that we’re only just getting started.

How we work

We’re really proud of the culture we’ve created. We push for progress every day, because we know that we’ll only hit big milestones by taking lots of smaller steps. We’re always open to helping our team mates, sharing our ideas, experience and knowledge to solve problems together. We take risks, think creatively and experiment relentlessly to meet our customer’s needs, and never pass blame when things go wrong. We encourage people at all levels to take ownership of their work, and to be bold in challenging how we do things. Everyone has a voice and the opportunity to make an impact. 

And autonomy and ownership are only possible with clear direction. That’s why we collaborate to do in-depth planning twice a year, and make sure we leave with clear goals and objectives that flow from top to bottom. To make sure we’re as aligned as possible across functions, most of our work rolls up into four tribes; Acquisition, Retention, Claims and Pricing, Underwriting & Fraud. Each tribe has multiple teams embedded in it, working cross-functionally to do great work.

We’re so excited for all of the challenges up ahead, and we need more people to help us tackle them! If life at Marshmallow sounds like it could be for you, explore our culture handbook or read our blog to find out more.

Our Data Organisation

Data is at the heart of everything we do. Our ability to leverage and extract the most from our data is critical to our success. This encompasses our bespoke ML models that power our pricing systems, fraud detection, and advanced claims systems, which make millions of decisions each week. It also includes our business intelligence capabilities that enable data-driven decision-making and foster a culture of experimentation and innovation.

We are currently a team of five people split between data platform and analytics engineering, delivering multiple data products. Our goal is to enable our diverse group of data consumers to maximise the value we derive from our data in a safe, secure, and compliant manner. These consumers include Data Scientists, Data Analysts, Product Managers, Tribe Leads, and our Product Engineering teams.

We are working towards being the best insurer in the world at using data. To achieve this, we need to develop novel capabilities that enable relentless experimentation in a fast, safe, and trustworthy way. Our current technologies include Snowflake, DBT, Datahub, Looker, and AWS.

About the Role

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Senior Data Engineering Manager to lead and scale our Data & Analytics Engineering organisation. Reporting directly to the VP of Engineering, you will oversee a team of Data Platform and Analytics Engineers.  Your primary responsibilities will include coaching and growing your engineers, establishing a longer-term vision and strategic direction for the group, and working with data stakeholders to ensure that the team is set up for success in serving our longer-term needs. You will also ensure the delivery of high-quality data products and foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement. 

Key Responsibilities

Leadership and Management

• Lead, mentor, and inspire your team of Data Platform Engineers and Analytics Engineers.

• Be a role model for embedding best practices in the engineering organisation and driving continuous improvement.

• Be an excellent communicator, keeping your team, stakeholders, and the broader organisation aligned.

• Foster a collaborative, inclusive and high-performance culture to grow our capabilities.

• Defining team objectives and aligning these with wider stakeholders, including our senior leadership team

Strategic Planning and Execution

• Develop and execute our data engineering strategy, ensuring it supports the company's growth.

• Oversee resource allocation and budgeting within the Data Engineering function.

• Ensure our organisational structure is setting us up for success.

• Work closely with our Head of Analytics, Head of Data Science and Tribe Leads to identify gaps (this might be people, skills, tools, processes, and technologies) and drive a strategy which closes these to enable us to successfully achieve our commercial goals.

• Develop ambitious, yet well-estimated, roadmaps that deliver against team objectives.

Process Improvement and Innovation

• Establish mechanisms to optimise our development processes and improve efficiency, quality, and delivery timelines.

• Encourage innovation and continuous improvement within the team, promoting the adoption of best practices.

• Ensure the implementation of robust software development methodologies, coding standards, and quality assurance processes.

Collaboration and Communication

• Collaborate cross-functionally with product management, design, marketing, and other departments to ensure successful product launches and iterations.

• Act as a key liaison between the engineering team and executive leadership, providing regular updates on progress, challenges, and opportunities.

• Advocate for the engineering team within the broader organisation, ensuring their needs and concerns are addressed.

• Ensure our ways of working are maximising team impact and are evolving as our organisation matures. This will most notably include working with our Analytics Engineers and their collaboration with the broader Analysts community within our tribes.

Talent Acquisition and Development

• Drive recruitment efforts to attract top engineering talent, ensuring a high-performing team.

• Develop and implement onboarding and development programs to enhance the capabilities of the team.

• Conduct regular performance reviews, provide feedback, and create individualised development plans for team members.

• Ensure optimal resource allocation to improve team efficiency and productivity.

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field.

• 5+ years of experience in a data engineering focussed discipline, with at least 3 years of management experience.

• Proven track record of managing team product vision and roadmaps.

• This isn’t a hands-on role, but you will need a strong technical background with expertise in data engineering concepts (such as data warehousing, data lakes, ELT), broader software development methodologies, architecture and emerging technologies.

• Strong commercial acumen, demonstrated ability to work closely with senior and executive product and business stakeholders.

• Exceptional leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills.

• Demonstrated ability to drive strategic initiatives and deliver results.

• Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive, results-oriented approach.

Perks of the job

• Hybrid working - Spend  3 days a week with your team in our collaborative London office

• Competitive bonus scheme - designed to reward and recognise high-performance

• Flexible benefits budget - £50 per month to spend on a Ben Mastercard meaning you get your own benefits budget to spend on things you want. Whether that’s subscriptions, night classes (puppy yoga, anyone?), the big shop or a forest of houseplants. Pretty much anything goes

• Sabbatical Leave - Get a 4-week fully paid sabbatical after being with us for 4 years

• Work From Anywhere - 4 weeks of work from anywhere to use, with no need to come to the office

• Mental wellbeing support – Access therapy and mental health sessions through Oliva

• Learning and development – Personal budgets for books and training courses to help you grow in your role. Plus 2 days a year - on us! - to further your skillset

• Private health care - Enjoy all the benefits Vitality has to offer, including reduced gym memberships and discounts on smartwatches

• Medical cash plan - To help you with the costs of dental, optical and physio (plus more!)

• Tech scheme - Get the latest tech for less

Plus all the rest; 33 days holiday, pension, cycle-to-work scheme, monthly team socials and company-wide socials every month!

Everyone belongs at Marshmallow

At Marshmallow, we want to hire people from all walks of life with the passion and skills needed to help us achieve our company mission. To do that, we're committed to hiring without judgement, prejudice or bias.

We encourage everyone to apply for our open roles. Gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age or background does not affect how we process job applications.

We're working hard to build an inclusive culture that empowers our people to do their best work, have fun and feel that they belong.

Recruitment privacy policy

We take privacy seriously here at Marshmallow. Our Recruitment privacy notice explains how we process and handle your personal data. To find out more please view it here.