VP, Insurance Data Science - Openly

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Build the future of insurance with a team that values simplicity, empathy, and innovation.

Openly is redefining the insurance experience, replacing decades of complexity with clarity and modern technology. We’re the insurance provider people trust and the partner independent agents choose.

What Sets Us Apart

• Technology that delivers: We use data to modernize underwriting and deliver tailored insurance solutions that fit how people actually live.
• Superior protection: Highly customizable coverage designed around what policyholders need.
• Effortless from quote to claim: Simple, intuitive workflows for independent agents and fast, human-centered care for policyholders.

Role Overview

As VP, Insurance Data Science, you'll set the strategic direction for how data science is applied across our insurance product — spanning the cost and demand modeling functions that shape our pricing and underwriting algorithms, and growth levers — while managing and developing the people who execute that vision. You'll report directly to the Chief Insurance Product Officer and serve as a key voice in how Openly builds and deploys its analytical edge.

Responsibilities

Strategy & Leadership

• Own the vision and delivery of Openly's data science capabilities — prioritizing initiatives that drive pricing precision, underwriting performance, and profitable growth.
• Partner with pricing, underwriting, product, and engineering leadership to ensure data science efforts are tightly integrated with business strategy and operational workflows.
• Serve as Openly's insurance product authority on data science methodology — staying current on advances in ML, AI, and insurance-specific modeling practice.
• Represent Insurance Data Science in senior leadership conversations, translating complex modeling work into clear implications for business performance.

Modeling & Research

• Set the technical standard for Openly's cost and demand modeling suite — including GLMs, gradient boosting, neural approaches, and other ML methods.
• Drive the modeling strategy for new initiatives across existing and expansion states, spanning homeowners and personal auto product lines.
• Govern the model lifecycle — from development through validation, deployment, monitoring, and refresh.
• Collaborate closely with actuaries to ensure model outputs can be operationalized within regulatory and pricing frameworks.
• Advance Openly’s data science capabilities through collaborative strategic research with Data/Machine Learning Engineering.

Engineering & Standards

• Collaborate with engineering dept leadership on shared development standards — code quality, version control, peer review, testing, reproducibility, and documentation.
• Ensure the Insurance Data Science team can operate at the right pace and scale through strategic investments in infrastructure, tooling, and access.
• Evaluate and introduce new tools, platforms, and data sources with a bias toward practical impact over novelty.

People Leadership

• Lead, expand, and develop the Insurance Data Science team — including senior data scientists, managers, and analysts.
• Own hiring and team structure decisions in partnership with the CIPO.
• Mentor senior individual contributors and managers, developing the next generation of data science leadership.

Key Requirements

• 15+ years of experience in data science or a closely related quantitative/actuarial field, with at least 8 years in a leadership role managing highly analytical teams.
• Deep technical fluency in predictive modeling — GLMs, gradient boosting, and modern ML methods — with demonstrated experience delivering production models in a regulated, data-intensive industry.
• Proven experience across both cost modeling (loss ratio, frequency, severity, pure premium) and demand modeling (conversion, retention, price elasticity).
• Extensive experience in personal lines insurance with models directly driving pricing and underwriting decisions.
• Track record of building and leading high-performing data science teams.
• Strong communicator and cross-functional collaborator.
• Commercially minded with a strong understanding of how modeling decisions translate to loss ratios, growth, and profitability.
• Comfortable operating at a growth-stage company with strategic clarity and operational ambiguity.

Perks & Benefits

• Remote-first culture: Flexible work model designed around remote collaboration.
• Competitive pay & equity: Top-tier base salary paired with ownership in Openly’s growth.
• Comprehensive health coverage: Medical, dental, and vision plans.
• Life & disability insurance: Full coverage including voluntary supplemental options.
• Paid parental leave: Up to 8 weeks of paid parental leave for eligible employees.
• 401(k) company contribution: Openly contributes 3% of your gross income.
• Home office setup: $1,500 upfront allowance plus a $75 / month internet stipend.
• Professional development: $2,000 annually for courses, conferences, or resources.
• "Be Well" program: $50 / month stipend dedicated to personal health and wellness.
• Volunteer hours & referral rewards: Paid time off to give back, plus referral bonuses.