Solutions Engineer

Description

Job Title:                     Solutions Engineer 

Division:                      Beazley Shared Services – IT

Reports To:                 As per Beazley’s organisation chart

Key Relationships:     Strategy and Innovation, Engineering, Data Management, Infrastructure, Operational & Managerial Staff, Platform Leads, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Business Stakeholders

Job Summary:

The Solutions Engineer is responsible for analyzing the current and (likely) future requirements of the business and designing systems and services that will meet those requirements in the most efficient manner. The Solutions Engineer provides the design for a system landscape where changing requirements can be absorbed with the least disruption possible. At all times, the Solutions Engineer strives to maintain the optimum position in the cost vs count curve - between the two extremes of the monolith - “one big thing” – and an uncontrolled explosion of “too many things”.

The Solutions Engineer is expected to be ready and able to roll up their sleeves and lead by example where necessary. The Solutions Engineer is also expected to have a focus on mentoring and training – and be ready to help get the best out of teams of developers and testers of a broad range of acumen.

The Solutions Engineer has a strong set of skills around project design and understands that the best design in the world stands no chance of succeeding if there is no plan with options for how to build it: on time, on quality and on budget.

The Solutions Engineer helps contribute to a set of re-usable infrastructure that will allow developers to focus on adding business value rather than building plumbing code. The Solutions Engineer has a laser focus on quality and is experienced in security and the various levels of the testing pyramid. They will help drive consistency of approach across all stages of the software delivery cycle – including security, testing and deployment – by helping to nurture a DevOps culture across the teams with which they are engaged.

Utilising their knowledge of Beazley’s existing capabilities, as well as a broad knowledge of other relevant and emerging technology, the Solutions Engineer takes guidance from Enterprise Architecture and Technical Architecture teams to ensure that all proposed solutions align with the business and technology strategies.

The Solutions Engineer is responsible for:

§  Applying a rigorous method to system decomposition

§  Providing technical leadership, mentoring and support to software development teams.

§  Helping to design project plans that deliver designs to production on time, on quality and on budget.

§  Providing reusable infrastructure to development teams, thereby allowing them to focus on adding business value not writing plumbing code.

§  Driving consistency of approach in all aspects of the Software Delivery Cycle – including security, testing, and deployment.

§  Documenting solution decisions, patterns and designs

§  Challenging complex technology and IT led solutions

§  Line management, as necessary

Scope of Activities:

§  Understand the landscape of applications supporting US and Canada Underwriting

§  Design solutions and direct technical change in support of the North America Underwriting growth strategy

§  Ensure all approaches comply with the requirements and governance frameworks

§  Work closely with development squads to mentor and train developers and testers.

§  Help minimize the cost of supporting and owning solutions over the long term.

§  Contribute to and drive the creation of detailed documentation covering all facets of system design and support.

§  Work with Change Delivery to ensure that the delivered system is consistent with the agreed architecture and delivers value to the stakeholders.

§  Understand, advocate, and support the Beazley technology strategy

§  Evaluate and select appropriate software or hardware and suggest integration methods

§  Ensure solutions are aligned with the business and technology strategies

§  Ensure a collaborative approach for solution design across all areas of IT

§  Provide architecture support and guidance for Beazley IT teams and external vendors

§  Provide expert advice on industry and application trends

§  Ensure that capabilities, where practical, are consolidated in order to increase the value of IT as a service.

General

At Beazley we are committed to doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do.  It is important that within all your interactions both internally and externally you adhere to this principle through adoption of Beazley’s core values and behaviours – PIED and Being Beazley.  

§  Adopt the Beazley culture of Professionalism, Integrity, Effectiveness and Dynamic that contributes to an internal environment of teamwork and promote a positive brand image and experience to our external customers.

§  Comply with Beazley procedures, policies and regulations including the code of conduct.  Undertake training on Beazley policies and procedures as delivered by your line manager, the Talent Management development or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) either directly, via e-learning or the learning management system.

§  Display business ethics that uphold the interests of all our customers.

§  Ensure all interactions with customers are focused on delivering a fair outcome, including having the right products for their needs.

§  Comply with any specific responsibilities necessary for your role as outlined by your line manager, the Talent Management or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) and ensure you keep up to date with developments in these areas.  This may include, amongst others, Beazley’s underwriting control standards, Beazley’s claims control standards, other Beazley standards and customer relationship management.

• Carry out additional responsibilities as individually notified, either through your objectives or through the learning management system.  These may include membership of any Beazley committees or working groups.

Personal Specification:

Education and Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, computer engineering, electrical engineering, systems analysis or a related field of study, or equivalent experience

Knowledge/Experience/Skills

The candidate will have experience in building large scale, eventually consistent, enterprise systems, utilising multiple interaction modes beyond just Http.

§  Experience of Event Sourcing / CQRS patterns

§  Understanding of Asynchronous systems / Eventual Consistency / Message Buses

§  SOA / Micro-service approaches and cost vs count

§  Familiarity with information management practices

§  Exposure to multiple, diverse technologies and processing environments

§  Knowledge of business re-engineering principles and processes

§  Exceptional interpersonal skills, including teamwork, facilitation and negotiation

§  Excellent problem solving, analytical, and technical skills

§  Excellent written and verbal communication skills

§  Strong modelling capability with the ability to clearly represent complex ideas graphically

§  Familiar with a variety of modelling approaches, design patterns, tools and model repositories

§  Cloud native architecture

§  .NET 6

Competencies

§  Ability to balance the long-term and short-term implications of individual decisions,

§  Ability to translate business needs into architectural requirements,

§  Ability to estimate the financial impact of architectural alternatives,

§  Ability to evaluate and understand the risk and reward of a proposed solution,

§  Ability to propose multiple solutions to business problems,

§  Ability to rapidly comprehend the functions and capabilities of new trends and technologies,

§  Ability to translate complex domain specific concepts into knowledge that can be understood and consumed across domains.

Characteristics

§  Highly supportive of the business and of its ideals and strategies

§  Neutral toward technology, vendor and product choices; more interested in results than in personal preferences,

§  Ability to work with projects and change initiatives to deliver their goals without compromising the delivery of the wider IT strategy,

§  Effective at driving short-term actions that are consistent with long-term goals,

§  Is motivated by long-term results.

The Rewards:

• The opportunity to connect and build long-lasting professional relationships while advancing your career with a growing, dynamic organization
• Attractive base compensation and discretionary performance related annual bonus
• Competitively priced medical, dental and vision insurance
• Company paid life, and short- and long-term disability insurance
• 401(k) plan with 5% company match and immediate vesting
• 22 days annual PTO (full-time, prorated for 1st calendar year of employment), plus paid public holidays with the ability to flex the religious bank holidays to suit your religious beliefs. Additional PTO purchase is available up to a maximum of 5 days per calendar year.
• Up to $700 reimbursement towards home office setup
• Free in-office lunch, travel reimbursement for travel to office, and monthly lifestyle allowance in support of your wellbeing
• The opportunity to save for, and purchase, shares of Beazley stock
• Six months fully paid parental leave, regardless of how you come to parenthood
• Company paid sabbatical up to 12 weeks after 10 years of continued service
• Support with exam/study leave and fees for relevant qualifications related to furthering education
• Up to 2.5 days matched paid leave for volunteering at a charity of your choice and 5 days paid leave to provide or arrange care for a dependent with a long term care need annually
• Smart working policy and flexible working culture, trusting our employees to do what works best for them, their role and the needs of the business

Salary for this role will be tailored to the successful individual’s location and experience. The expected compensation range for this position is $125,000 - $140,000 per year plus discretionary annual bonus. You will be able to discuss your salary expectations should you be contacted about this role.

Don’t meet all the requirements? At Beazley we're committed to building a diverse, inclusive, and authentic workplace. If you’re excited about this role but your experience doesn’t perfectly align with every requirement and qualification in the job specification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You might just be the right candidate for this, or one of our other roles. 

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