Working to solve fundamental problems to the business
When I first joined the Data Science Team at LV= GI as a Data Scientist three and a half years ago, there were only six people in my team. Now, I’m a Lead Data Scientist and we're a team of over 40! So we’ve grown a lot and we’ve had plenty of success as a team, which is great.
The Data Science Team works to improve business decision making through the use of data and machine learning - we use our historic data to build models that predict business outcomes and then we use those predictions to influence business decisions. A lot of the projects we work on bring financial benefit to the company and some are focused on improving the customer journey specifically. For example, we've done a lot of work with the Claims Department to improve the claims lifecycle, so claims can be settled as quickly and easily as possible.
As a Lead, it’s down to me to set the standard for the team and continually improve the way that we operate. I still get hands on involvement with projects - building models and putting them into production. I recently helped develop an entirely new pricing solution, which was fantastic to work on. What do I enjoy most? The fast paced nature of my job and that we're having an impact on the business. Our team works to solve fundamental problems to the business and it’s great to be a part of that.
The Data Science Team has had a huge impact on several key areas of the business and we recognise that diversity is one of our key strengths, despite diversity being a challenge in the wider field of Data Science. We’ve still got work to do and there’s some great diversity and inclusion initiatives happening within the company right now which we’re getting involved with as a team. It's very early stages, but we're offering our skills at analysing data to help out. We also do a lot of outreach through our collaborative partnership with the University of Bristol; for example mentoring, promoting Women in STEM events and hackathons with student groups.
There are lots of opportunities to improve your skills in the Data Science Team. Everyone gets a dedicated amount of time to put towards training and we fund online courses and occasionally in-person workshops too. We don’t just focus on technical training – as a team that works with many different individuals form different departments on a daily basis it’s important for us to develop our behavioral and communication skills too.
If someone was thinking of applying to LV= GI (especially the Data Science Team!) I would say go ahead and do it. It's a really dynamic company to work for, there are a lot of big changes happening and you really can make an impact - no matter what role you're in.
Richard, Lead Data Scientist at LV= GI London, Stanford Street