Project Manager - Pricing & Underwriting

Location: Haywards Heath, Home Office (Remote) or Manchester

Salary: £60,000 - £70,000 depending on experience

Department: Underwriting

We’re First Central Insurance & Technology Group (First Central for short), an innovative, market-leading insurance company. We protect the things customers love so they can get on with what matters to them in life. Data drives us. It fuels our outstanding distribution, finance, technology and legal services. Our underwriting skills are built on data expertise; it creates the insights we need to give the right cover to the right customers at the right price. But, it’s the people inside and outside our business that power us. They make us stand out, help us succeed. We’re ambitious. We’re growing. We’ve won awards.

Do you have experience supporting pricing projects? Are you known for your strong planning and organization skills? Can you communicate effectively and manage stakeholders with ease? If you excel in critical thinking and problem-solving, we want to hear from you!

We’re looking for a Project Manager – Pricing & Underwriting to join our Underwriting team either working remotely or based in our Haywards Heath, West Sussex or Salford Quays, Manchester offices. In this role you’ll be responsible for leading and setting the project goals and objectives, ensuring successful project delivery. You will also be responsible for managing resources, controlling budgets and timelines, and providing project quality. You will partner closely with the Pricing teams, developing a deep understanding of their objectives, processes and tools, and identifying common challenges and complementary opportunities between Pricing projects across the Group.

We’re all about people and we’re passionate about continuous improvement, so you’ll role-model highly organised working styles and coach the Pricing teams to deliver business targets, embed Pricing best practices, and drive capability building. You’ll be an active member of the Project Management Practice working with the Project Manager Practice Lead to develop and implement best practice and continually improve ways of working.

• Experience supporting Pricing projects
• Experience of insurance pricing software and data science packages, with an appreciation of key insurance data concepts and usage
• Knowledge of best practice solutions for ingesting, storing and surfacing data
• Critical thinking & problem-solving

• Deliver multiple, concurrent Projects and Business Outcomes with responsibility for all Business and IT change elements.
• Manage Projects of varying ‘scale’ as well as Business Outcomes from idea through to delivery and closure, adopting proportionate governance and using the established Change Delivery Framework.
• Maintain momentum and direction, delivering to the agreed scope, timeframe and budget with resource planning and accurate estimation treated as fundamental principles.
• Practice a progressive Stakeholder Management approach, building invested relationships where appropriate employing an agreed engagement & communication plan.
• Actively manage project risks, issues and dependencies.
• Actively monitor and QA change delivery activities and deliverables including technical Sprint composition and the progress of specific PBI’s.
• Create, control, track and report on project plans and budgets.
• Plan and coordinate work with other internal departments to ensure internal resource requirements are understood and the right resources are available when required.
• Direct the activities of third party providers ensuring delivery to time, quality and budget.
• Participate in PI planning activities, where appropriate.
• Report progress to Senior Board Members through Steering Groups and established Monthly reporting.
• Actively contribute to the Project Management Community of Practice.
• Fully understand and plan for the business impact of change.
• Ensure that all Business and IT operational areas are ready to accept the change.
• Ensure project processes and controls are adopted and adhered to.
• Adhere to the Company values always and encourage others to do the same.
• Ensure compliance with company and other relevant standards/regulations always (including TCF).
• Any other reasonable duties as required.

• Demonstrable experience of managing the delivery of complex Business and IT change.
• Demonstrable experience of managing a diverse change portfolio with concurrent initiatives underpinned by proven dexterity, creativity and the efficient use of resources.
• Proven understanding of Project Management techniques in an agile environment.
• Solid experience of all stages of the project delivery and software development lifecycle.
• Experience of engaging and managing third parties.
• Experience of working within an FCA regulated industry, ideally within Financial Services or Insurance.
• Knowledge of Project Management techniques covering both Business and IT Change.
• Knowledge of Agile approaches, ideally Scrum.
• Knowledge of FCA requirements (including TCF).
• Strong planning and control expertise.
• Strong leadership and people management skills.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent time management and organisation skills.
• Excellent workshop and meeting facilitation skills.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to communicate risks and issues at all levels of the organisation.
• Excellent Supplier and Stakeholder Management skills.
• Formal Project Management qualification such as APMP, PRINCE2, Agile Project Management or equivalent.

• Commercially focussed and results driven.
• Self-motivated and enthusiastic.
• Acts as a role model and motivates others.
• Embraces, embeds and incorporates the Company values.
• An organised and pro-active approach.
• Ability to lead and influence.
• A flexible approach and positive attitude.
• Able to balance an emphasis on attention to detail whilst retaining focus on broader needs.
• Takes initiative to make decisions.
• Strives to deliver business improvement.

If you’d like to work for an award-winning employer in a fast-paced environment, apply now!