Data Scientist

Company Overview

Frontline Insurance, a US-based property and casualty insurer with over 25 years of experience, has expanded its IT team to Belfast, UK, focusing on innovative technologies like data science, machine learning, platform development, and project management to strengthen its competitive edge in the US insurance market.

Role Summary

We are seeking a skilled Data Scientist to join our Belfast team and contribute to building our data science platforms and solutions. This is a unique opportunity to work from a greenfield environment developing tools aimed at enhancing digital customer experiences, applying AI and machine learning to optimize policyholder solutions, and improving operational efficiencies.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop, test, and optimize various machine learning and AI models addressing insurance-specific challenges such as claims, fraud, risk, and customer analytics.
• Implement traditional and advanced AI techniques including NLP, large language models, and agentic AI to process unstructured data and automate workflows.
• Maintain data pipelines ensuring quality and accessibility, collaborating with data engineers to uphold best practices involving AWS and open-source tools.
• Support production deployment of ML models using AWS, establish monitoring mechanisms to handle performance and data drift, and assist in CI/CD pipeline integration.
• Collaborate with product teams and stakeholders to translate business needs into data solutions and provide clear insights for decision-making.
• Engage in research on current AI/ML advancements relevant to insurance, contributing to proof-of-concept projects and fostering a culture of continuous learning.
• Comply with company policies including data protection, equal opportunities, and health & safety, while pursuing relevant training and professional development.

Candidate Profile

Education: Bachelor’s degree (minimum 2:1) or equivalent in Computer Science, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, Statistics, or a related quantitative discipline.

Experience: At least 4 years in data science or machine learning roles, with proven success deploying models in live production environments and proficient use of AWS cloud services.

Technical Skills:

• Expertise in Python and associated libraries (scikit-learn, TensorFlow, Keras, Pandas, Seaborn).
• Strong SQL skills and familiarity with NoSQL databases.
• Experience in diverse machine learning techniques including regression, classification, clustering, anomaly detection, deep learning, and ensembles.
• Development and fine-tuning of NLP, LLM, RAG, AI agent, and Agentic AI solutions using frameworks like Llama, Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, LangGraph, LlamaIndex, and MCP.
• Knowledge of MLOps processes including version control (Git), CI/CD, containerization (Docker), and orchestration tools (Kubernetes).

Soft Skills: Analytical mindset, excellent communication bridging technical and non-technical stakeholders, teamwork orientation, strong organizational skills, and adaptability in agile settings.

Desirable Skills

• Interest in JavaScript and web development for expanding capabilities.
• Understanding of modern data platforms including data lakes, lakehouses, and workflow orchestration tools such as Dagster, dbt, Apache Iceberg.
• Familiarity with property and casualty insurance processes like claims, underwriting, fraud detection, or risk evaluation.
• AWS certifications related to AI and machine learning.
• Experience with graph databases like Neo4j or PuppyGraph and proficiency in Cypher queries.
• Master’s degree in Data Science or a closely related field.

Benefits

• Competitive salary package with discretionary bonus potential.
• Generous holiday allowance including 25 days annual leave pro rata, 10 public holidays, and birthday leave.
• Robust pension plan with 9% total contribution and salary sacrifice option.
• Comprehensive health insurance, life assurance, and income protection.
• Employee Assistance Programs for wellbeing support.
• Flexible hybrid working model allowing two days remote per week.
• Additional lifestyle benefits enhancing work-life balance.

Additional Information

Frontline UK is committed to equal opportunity employment and selects all candidates on merit. Applicants must have the right to work in the UK. This job description may be updated and is not exhaustive.