An introduction to the technology team at Simply Business · 2020. 8. 13. · To create something...

An introduction to the technology team at Simply Business

Simply the best people in tech. Full stop.

tech

02

Say hello to Hasani JessA welcome from our Chief Technology Officer

“ I genuinely believe we have the best people in tech. Full stop. We’re a diverse bunch of people who are united by a passion for building technology, which is as innovative today as it will be reliable tomorrow – and enables the world’s best commercial insurance experience.

“ I can't wait for you to hear what we have to offer you if you decide to work for us. I hope to meet you soon!”

About Simply Business

A welcome from our

Chief Technology Officer


Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business

More reasons to join

Simply Business

Julia Studholme

Julia Studholme

“


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business

03

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfGixmjwUuc&feature=youtu.be


We’re obsessed with making the process of finding insurance as simple as it can be for small businesses, with no hint of compromise on choice, quality or cost. We’ve created a unique, digital marketplace for SME insurance which features dozens of valuable insurers and, in the process, have challenged a traditional industry – taking us from an ambitious start-up to a half-billion dollar company.

We’re committed to enabling our people to thrive and have won awards for being the UK’s best place to work. As a Benefit Corporation, we’ve changed our entire governance structure to reflect our ethical outlook. We harness cutting-edge data ability, believe in experimentation and build our own technology to deliver better experiences for our customers and employees.

But what we’re most proud of is our stunning customer feedback – 9/10 customers rate us good or excellent. This only strengthens our commitment to change the way the world sees insurance.

04


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business

Our mission

To create something better, to support the success of small

businesses, to enable our people to thrive and have a positive

impact on the world.

05


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business

Our values

06


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business

Living our values

A great business is underpinned by strong, meaningful values.

We don’t change ours often, but we do get together regularly to check in and make sure they still resonate and define who we are. If it feels right, we’ll calibrate, and replace a value with one that fits us, and where we’re going.

07


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business

Living our values

08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03k9XDds-KE


A welcome from our



Our mission

Our values

Our culture

About technology at

Simply Business


Simply Business

Our culture We’re innovators, pioneers, and creators of change.

We’re informal yet professional.

We’re human.

We fundraise, throw parties and laugh. A lot.

We build, we fail, we learn, we improve. Our culture’s won us awards, but what’s more, we know it’s what helps us do the best we can for our customers and the world at large.

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About technology at Simply Business

010


About technology at

Simply Business

A word from Vice Chairman

Jason Stockwood

What we do

How we do it

Our platforms and technology

Inside our hackathons

Developing our machine learning

capability is a strategic priority

What do our tech employees love

about working here?


Simply Business

We are a technology company who happen to sell insurance

– Jason Stockwood

011011


About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do

Our tech team's mission






about working here?


Simply Business

Simply the best people in tech.

Full stop.

We believe in using technology to delight, amaze and give back real value to our customers, our people, and the wider community. We’re proud to be an empowered and committed team working on a global platform renowned for its excellence. We’re constantly growing our ability to craft an industry-respected portfolio of products that leads to results that matter.

Our authentic diversity fuels our culture, which uses data to drive our continuous pursuit of technical excellence, ensuring that our talented people have the best tools, opportunity and support to thrive.

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About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business

To help Simply Business create the world’s best commercial insurance experience by enabling its future with technology.

To focus day-to-day on making our technology and platforms as reliable as running water while experimenting our way to better experiences.

To practice authenticity in everything we do, helping our people to thrive and feel valued.

Our tech team’s mission


About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business

013


About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business


Our technology team isn’t just award-winning, it’s at the heart of our strategy as a brand and business. So we invest in our teams and working culture, building a company that talented people want to join and work with.

Most of our applications are built using Ruby, Ruby on Rails, React, Redux, JavaScript, Python, Scala and Go, with some others in the mix.

They sit on top of different databases like MongoDB, Redis, MySQL, Snowflake and ElasticSearch and testing frameworks like RSpec, Cucumber, Jasmine and Jest. Gluing all this together, we rely on Kafka, Puppet and AWS, among others.

We’re smart-working, so location and flexible working hours are a given, and we regularly fund training, conference tickets and all sorts of personal development plans.

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About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business

Chopin

This is our global policy

management system. It also

handles the back-office system

that our consultants use

Git-powered CMS

A content management

system used by marketing

and copywriters

Journey

Multi-step form builder built

in-house, which manages all

user flows within Chopin

Continuous Cover

This handles the automatic

renewal of customer policies

A leading rating engine

Our insurance secret

sauce: a rating engine built

on a proprietary DSL that

enables lightning-fast and

test-driven updates

AERIE

Our data platform that allows

us to process data in real-time,

get insights, provide business

intelligence, and build machine

learning applications

Idiophone

A telephony system that

enables consultants to

make and receive calls

Our key systemsThese are systems we’ve

built in-house to support

our business. They

integrate with various

third party systems that

are either deployed in

our environment

or on the cloud to

provide the necessary

functionality.

015


About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business


016

https://youtu.be/ppTWd_m8eC0

Developing our machine learning capability is a priority. Why?Data science can deliver enormous value to every area of the business. It provides insight so we can understand our customers’ needs – helping them make the right decisions when it comes to their insurance.

Data will shape the future of the business: Data products based on machine learning are helping us to automate processes and make better strategic decisions

The technology behind our data: Our machine learning platform based in AWS Sagemaker provides an optimised environment to work on data science ideas and quickly roll out machine learning models into production


About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business

017

What do our tech employees love about working here?


About technology at

Simply Business


Jason Stockwood

What we do







about working here?


Simply Business

018

We are fully committed to creating a working

environment that is challenging, rewarding, inspiring

and fun.

Erica Barbato, Engineering Manager – Data Science

We like to try out new technologies so that we

stay familiar with what’s new and possible.

Lukas Oberhuber, Group Chief

Technological Officer

Simply Business has empowered me to take

my career in the direction I want it to go.

Zoe Aldington, Senior Insight Analyst

Julia Studholme

Julia Studholme

Julia Studholme

Julia Studholme

Group Chief Technology

Julia Studholme

Junior Data Scientist

Julia Studholme

Officer

More reasons to join Simply Business

019


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip

We’re ethical and support

brilliant causes

We believe in the future of work

We support the backbone

of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

Offices geared up for smart workingWith areas to collaborate, get your head down, or simply relax – why not take a peek?

020


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

https://youtu.be/ij2hkmDbxqA


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

The ‘core’ stuff

While some of these will only

kick in once you’ve passed

probation, here’s a summary:

A salary that reflects your experience, our pay policy and the market we’re in from your first day, with generous annual leave

A flexible working style that lets you work remotely

Life cover (financial cover for your family, should the worst happen)

A cash plan to reimburse your everyday medical expenses

An extra day off if you get married or move house

A stakeholder pension (employer-matched at five per cent)

The fun stuff

Passed probation? Time to

pick and mix from things like:

A full gym membership

Private medical insurance

Cinema passes

Up to 5 extra days annual leave

Shopping vouchers

Dental insurance and

travel insurance

The perksThere’s all the serious

(but important) stuff we

call the ‘core benefits’.

On top of those, you

can pick and choose

from the more exciting

options we offer –

whether it’s a full gym

membership or gym

subsidy, comprehensive

private health cover,

extra holiday, or a

National Trust pass.

021


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

The company trip In June 2019 over 300 of us jumped on the train for our annual company awards trip.

Where were we headed? Paris, France. What did we get up to? We celebrated the fantastic efforts of our employees over the previous year, then enjoyed a perfect sunset and rooftop bar party.

There’s simply no party like a Simply Business party.

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The company trip About Simply Business

About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

023

https://youtu.be/ij2hkmDbxqA


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

We're ethical... Simply Business is recognised as a B Corp company because we believe in making the world a better place.

B Corps are united in using business as a force for good. It’s a perfect fit with our values, as we’ve always felt that business has a higher purpose. It has to be good for employees, customers and the world around us.

024


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJjFcX8MJTI


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

...and support brilliant causes

Whizz-Kidz is a charity that gives independence and freedom to children with disabilities. We’ve been supporting them since 2016 – and have raised more than £180,000 for them in that time.

We’ve also sponsored the England Amputee Football Association since 2017, who provide footballing opportunities for limbless and limb-affected people. In 2018, we helped the England team to the Amputee Football World Cup in Mexico.

From our employee-first

People policies to charity

work with Whizz-Kidz and the

English Amputee Football

Association, Simply Business

works to empower everyone.

026

Julia Studholme

Julia Studholme

£300,000


Vice Chairman Jason Stockwood says in his book, Reboot, that people are a company’s best asset.

So we’ve been exploring new ways to get our people to thrive inside and outside of work, and will be experimenting with them in 2020.

As technology is making us more efficient at our jobs, one of our experiments involves implementing a four-day work week in our Northampton contact centre in 2020. The SB Tech team will have an important role in driving this change – and will play a key part in building the future of work.

027


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

SMEs account for 99% of all UK businesses

£1.9tn combined annual turnover

We support the backbone of the economy

The UK’s small businesses are diverse. From dog walkers to hairdressers, plasterers to personal trainers, we support the businesses that make the economy tick.

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About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

From dynamic startups to established family firms, our SMEs are the backbone

of our country.

029


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

We’re global There are over 30 million small businesses and sole proprietors across the United States, and many, if not most, need help in managing the risk that comes with the job. It’s a huge opportunity for Simply Business, to create something better in an established insurance industry.

In true Build, Measure, Learn fashion, we’re keen to apply the learnings that have made our UK business so successful over the last decade to our new adventure, and equally learn from the challenges we’re facing in the US. That’s why we regularly collaborate and share progress globally – which is made easier by our remote-friendly work spaces.

030


About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

Like what you see?

You’ve come to the end of our prospectus but this doesn’t have to be the end of your Simply Business journey.

If you’ve got any questions after reading, speak to a member of our team, who’ll be happy to help.

If you’re ready to apply, check out all of our vacancies at https://sbtech.simplybusiness.co.uk/home/

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About technology at

Simply Business


The perks

The company trip


brilliant causes



of the economy

We’re global

Like what you see?

Simply the best people in tech. Full stop.

tech

An introduction to the technology team at Simply Business · 2020. 8. 13. · To create something...

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