Reporting to: Chief Technology Officer – Group FunctionsLocation: LisbonType: PermanentBand: IIICompany Description: Hiscox is a diversified international insurance group with a powerful brand, strong balance sheet, and plenty of room to grow. Listed on the London Stock Exchange and headquartered in Bermuda, Hiscox has over 3,000 staff across 14 countries and 34 offices.The Team: The Technology function is led by a CIO who manages a team of around 400 IT professionals in Europe and the US. Reporting to the CIO are 8 CTO's responsible for Group functions and various business units. This role forms part of the Group Enterprise Services (GES) Leadership Team, led by the CTO for GES, who are accountable for the full life cycle of around 140 applications. The Head of Platform Engineering will report directly to the CTO for GES.The Role: Hiscox is hiring a Head of Platform Engineering to help shape and transition Hiscox Group functions and business units into an Agile value stream based operating model. The role spans the entire GES portfolio and includes all business applications within the Platform Engineering team, which encompasses our DevOps capabilities, integration platforms, digital layers, and more. This is a new capability intended to offer DevOps capabilities for applications used in Group, as well as operating and maintaining centralized services and platforms used by various Business Units.As a key member of the GES leadership team, the Head of Platform Engineering will define and align the technology roadmaps for the Platform Engineering function as we build out this new capability in the center. The team includes numerous engineering teams, starting first with a DevOps team and expanding capabilities as the landscape of centralized services grows.Key Responsibilities:Collaborate with Technology leadership teams in other BUs to set and drive outcomes for centralized services, ensuring they support group technology goals to simplify, protect and enable the business.Provide effective and proactive support and expertise to programs and projects, creating innovative and actionable plans, and optimizing solution delivery.Interpret and contextualize business requirements into actionable technology roadmaps with well-defined benefits and cost requirements.In conjunction with the Head of Architecture, develop and execute product strategies aligned with Hiscox's overall goals and objectives to ensure consistency and quality of solutions.Support the end-to-end product development process, including ideation, requirements gathering, prioritization, and roadmap creation.Lead, advocate, and drive adoption of best practices to ensure standardization of outputs across the core function value streams.Support the planning and execution of new product/feature launches, ensuring effective messaging, scheduling, and monitoring of metrics to drive improvements and satisfaction.Lead and manage a team of DevOps engineers and other platform engineers as needed, fostering a collaborative and high-performing culture within the team.Advise the Platform Engineering teams on performance, scalability, reliability, availability, and other operational concerns to define appropriate metrics and KPIs.Promote a commercially oriented culture where the Platform Engineering teams recognize their importance to Hiscox's commercial aims.Ensure the provision of all centralized services to meet quality, resilience, and usability of all user groups.Act as the escalation point internally and externally for high priority concerns.Manage engagement with 3rd parties, through RFI and/or RFP processes to the implementation and run phases.Own the risk registry, audit requirements, and financial management for the Platform Engineering remit.Stay up to date with industry trends and market dynamics to identify opportunities for product innovation and growth.Required Experience:5+ years in a senior Technology leadership role with extensive senior stakeholder engagement experience.5+ years in a team management role, providing coaching and mentoring.Deep knowledge of technical and functional aspects required to fulfill the role, including regulatory knowledge.Engaging communication and facilitation skills for in-person and virtual settings.Experience running successful teams with measured goals and objectives (OKRs).Strong knowledge of DevOps methodology and technologies.Experience managing Cloud/SaaS applications, APIs, and legacy applications.Experience with evaluating and selecting new technologies.Experience implementing operational process improvements through automation.Experience in cost optimization through third-party and operating model rationalization programs.Strong knowledge and experience of build, deployment, change, and release processes.Strong knowledge in data engineering and analytics principles and technologies.Experience working with standard collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, or Miro.Extensive experience working on large, complex projects or products.Experience operating in a challenging organizational environment.An aptitude for challenging the status quo to ensure continuous improvement.At Hiscox, we care about our people. We hire the best people for the job and we're committed to diversity and creating a truly inclusive culture.Working life doesn't always have to be in the office, so we have introduced hybrid working to encourage a healthy work-life balance.Our benefits package includes a bonus, contributory pension, 25 days annual leave plus 2 Hiscox days, and a 4-week paid sabbatical with every 5 years of service.Apply now for further information
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