Head of Data Engineering

Head of Data Engineering

Data & technology search

Client confidential

Insurance · U.S. specialty platform build

Location   New York, NY

Schedule   Hybrid

Reports to   Head of Technology

Line   E&S / specialty P&C

The client and the opportunity

Our client is the U.S. specialty insurance platform of a large international insurance group, backed by the group's global capital and data capabilities. The platform is in build mode, and this is a founding leadership seat. The client is named under NDA once mutual interest is established.

The Head of Data Engineering owns the enterprise data strategy and the design, build, and operation of the entire data ecosystem. Every underwriting decision, pricing model, claim outcome, regulatory filing, and dollar reported to the parent group depends on this platform. The leader sets the data agenda, owns it end to end, and is accountable at the executive level, building with leverage rather than headcount across group data teams, a strategic cloud data partnership, and contracted vendor teams.

What you'll own

• Strategy and architecture. How data is captured, modeled, governed, and distributed, plus the canonical data model for policy, claim, billing, and financial data, enforced across all vendor platforms with authority to accept or reject integrations.
• The platform, greenfield to production. Kafka event ingestion, a Snowflake analytics hub, dbt transformation layers, and the semantic and reporting layers above them, with reliability, scalability, and cost owned as a production operation.
• Bordereaux automation. Ingestion, validation, and reconciliation across MGA programs, TPA claims feeds, and reinsurer reporting.
• Financial and regulatory data. One transaction-level spine serving US GAAP, US Statutory, and IFRS 17, plus the data behind statutory filings, NAIC reporting, AM Best submissions, and state examinations.
• Governance, analytics, and AI enablement. Ownership, stewardship, lineage, quality, and access control enforced in the architecture, including NYDFS Part 500 and state privacy obligations, and the data foundation under every analytics and AI capability.
• Extended team and group relationships. A leveraged delivery model across group engineering and vendor partners, and the data relationship with group finance, actuarial, and technology leadership overseas.

What the client is looking for

• 10+ years in data engineering, data architecture, or enterprise data platform leadership, with accountability for production platforms at scale.
• Deep hands-on command of Snowflake, dbt, and event streaming such as Kafka.
• Enterprise builds taken greenfield to production, directing vendor delivery teams.
• Working knowledge of U.S. excess and surplus specialty products and underwriting dynamics.
• Bachelor's in a quantitative discipline. Preferred: P&C data structures, multi-framework reporting, cloud data certifications, MBA.
• Executive presence with senior stakeholders and board-level audiences.

What you'll gain

• Founding ownership of the data strategy for a new specialty platform, with executive visibility.
• Competitive compensation, executive incentive, and long-term incentive eligibility.
• Hybrid working, with travel up to 25% for leadership, planning, and client engagements.
• Comprehensive health, wellness, retirement, and financial wellbeing programs.

In confidence:

hello@lyneersearch.com

646-543-8865