Markel International operates in the Wholesale insurance market, via the Lloyd’s platform in London. It also operates in Commercial SME markets, through the National Markets (‘NM’) division, with offices in the UK, Canada, and Europe. Our European business now consists of offices located in France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands with business written across many other European countries.

At Markel, we believe that what we do really matters. And that every one of us has the power to make a difference. To us, insurance is more than a piece of paper. It’s a promise to help people get back on their feet. It’s a commitment that gives people the courage to take chances. And in uncertain times, it’s the fuel that moves the world forward.  

Since the very start, we’ve used our ingenuity to insure risks that others can’t. Finding smart solutions to complex problems, so people can live their lives and seize opportunities.

Our style is about focussing on people’s needs, not just words on a page. It’s about building relationships and connecting as humans. And ultimately, it’s about being there for people when they need us most.

In our eyes, our journey is just beginning. Together, we’re building a business that supports more people, in more places. But unlike our peers, we’ll never lose our people-first focus as we grow.  Because you will always be what makes Markel special. And what continues to power this business forward.

Markel Group (NYSE – MKL) is a fortune 500 company with over 60 offices in 20+ countries, is a holding company for insurance, reinsurance, specialist advisory and investment operations around the world.

Find out more by visiting our websites: www.markel.com/insurance/international          

About the team:

Markel International operates in the Wholesale insurance market, via the Lloyd’s platform in London. It also operates in Commercial SME markets, through the National Markets (‘NM’) division, with offices in the UK, Canada, and Europe. Our European business now consists of offices located in France, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands with business written across many other European countries.

The NM Analytics team works across the entire NM division and is a multi-disciplinary team consisting of data scientists, data engineers, developers, and actuaries. The team works both remotely and on-site in our offices across National Markets and works closely on a day-to-day basis with expert underwriters, claims handlers, finance, actuarial, sales, operations, and management.

This close interaction supports the development of a deep understanding of products, markets, and ways of working in each country. Combining our technical expertise with this domain knowledge is key to our mission of delivering advanced data driven solutions quickly, to the people that need them.

The investments that we're making in our people, data, and technology are leading to innovative projects, fresh possibilities, and countless new ways for our people to work, learn, and thrive.

About the role

This Product Owner role will own and develop a new way of underwriting, leveraging our capabilities in data, automation, large language modelling, artificial intelligence, and pricing.

This automated workflow is designed to assess potential clients in our target markets, applying our deep underwriting expertise to deliver the best possible quotes to selected broking partners. We seek to maximise the chances of underwriting profitable business in our target markets, whilst delivering value for our clients through providing the most suitable product.

You will be working in an R&D oriented team with strong cloud data engineering, data science and PowerBI skills. The team will support you with the creation of robust data and analysis pipelines, developing automated workflows to integrate large language models, and implementing our leading rating tools, ensuring the highest standard in data quality, integrity, and governance.

Working together to achieve this will allow you to focus on your key task – the deployment of next generation underwriting in Markel. The successful candidate will need a strong ability to engage directly with technical stakeholders, commercial partners, and senior management.

The role requires an individual proficient with technology, a self-starter with experience in product ownership, collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams, strong analytical and influencing skills.

What we ask of you

The successful candidate will work with our European business. The main responsibilities are as follows:

Commercial Requirements

• Gather, refine and communicate the commercial requirements to our data engineers, cloud developers and data scientists. Perform business analysis and research, articulate user stories.
• Maintain product backlog and facilitate development process with our data engineers, in line with business priorities and following agile methodologies.
• Lead design discussions, keeping end-user experience at the forefront of the product.

Drive Delivery

• Be responsible for delivery against roadmap & key achievements, tracking progress and proactively raising and resolving issues.
• Define test cases for successful implementation and review product development progress. Communicate progress updates and blockers to management.
• Coordinate client deployments of product updates in close cooperation with the cloud team
• Drive product documentation to enable self-service usage (e.g. creating manuals, fact sheets, tutorials)

User Experience

• Assist in the on-boarding new users of the platform, ensuring successful commercial partnerships are developed over time.
• Collaborate with platform engineering team to ensure service uptime and availability in line with committed service levels.
• Develop and report on relevant customer focused KPIs

Communication

• Closely monitor the performance of the product post-launch, creating relevant KPIs and communicating progress to different audiences.
• Refine the value proposition of the solution over time, working closely with the European Strategy team and Senior Management. Contribute to the development of the product vision and go-to-market strategy.

What you will bring to the role

The successful candidate will have:

• A minimum of 5 years’ hands-on experience in a Product Owner role, delivering commercially focused, data driven products to market. Developing complex cloud-based solutions is an exciting opportunity for you.
• Entrepreneurial spirit with a pragmatic and hands-on approach, focused on continuous improvement.
• An understanding of basic data pipelining concepts, how large language models can be successfully applied, and underwriting workflows.
• An ability to build consensus and bring people on the journey, as we develop next generation underwriting.
• Excellent communication skills, comfortable interacting with various levels of seniority.
• An ability to work with both technical and non-technical stakeholders and an ability to translate business needs into technical specifications.

Additionally:

• Experience of the European General Insurance market is an advantage.
• An understanding of agile methodology is an advantage, as is experience of Azure and Databricks.
• Knowledge of a second language is a plus.

Our values:

We’re all about people:

• Empowering them, supporting them, and helping protect what matters most to them
• We put people first, and stay true to our word, because we believe in the power of relationships and doing what’s right

We win together:

• We work as a team, exchanging ideas, supporting each other, and respecting everyone’s opinion
• Because together we know we can achieve great things

We strive for better:

• We aspire to lead and win in all that we do
• Aiming for excellence, and finding a better way of doing things, is up to us all

We enjoy the everyday:

• We are dedicated to our work, but we always keep a sense of humour and leave our egos at the door

We think further:

• We are committed to building a legacy and making decisions that leave a lasting impact on our customers, partners, employees, and communities

Markel celebrates the value of a diverse workforce that brings experience and expertise from a wide variety of backgrounds and life circumstances. Whatever your background, if you feel you meet the requirements of this role then we want to hear from you. We are also supportive of candidates looking for flexible working patterns.

For application information please visit our careers page. 

We are a Disability Confident Committed employer which means we want to ensure that you have a positive experience applying for a role at Markel and are able to perform at your best. If there are any adjustments we can reasonably make to ensure that the process is accessible for you at every stage please telephone us on +49 89 205094-024 or email [email protected].