Meet Engineering Lead, Charlotte – she’s part of a team that’s transforming how we work and driving growth through adoption of new technology, which is central to our vision of becoming the best and biggest digital insurance provider. In this week’s colleague story, Charlottle explains why she chose Hastings Direct as the next step in her technology career. 

Technology as a career
I've always had a passion for technology and looking back it seems like the perfect fit for my career now but I didn’t always see it happening this way. I completed a Business Studies degree that came with an integrated 14 month placement which I undertook at IBM as an infrastructure integration assistant for the UK and Ireland. This job really piqued my interest in technology as a career path.

After I completed my degree, I was successful in joining the Lloyds Banking Group IT Business Management graduate scheme and undertook an initial two month IT bootcamp. Following this, I started my first role as a Technical Specialist working on the delivery of Microsoft-managed desktop at Lloyds and roll out of a more modern way of working. I found the work in this team so exciting and I moved into a permanent position in the team within a year, quickly progressing to an Engineering Lead role.

Joining a technology company that does insurance
I joined Hastings six months ago as an Engineering Lead within Cloud Engineering as I love the concept of being part of a 'technology company that does insurance'. Since I started, I don't think my feet have touched the ground yet – it’s been really exciting. I've been at the forefront of Hastings' adoption of new technology. One of my key deliverables has been Microsoft Power Platform which is low code/no code development of applications, automation, chatbots and data visualisation. The growth we can drive within Hastings using these new tools is vast and the potential is limitless.

Proud of what we’re achieving and much more to come
Every day I learn something new and that’s only one of the amazing parts of my job. No two days are the same and I'm constantly developing and learning as new technology is released. To support this, I've undertaken several Microsoft certifications and am working towards more. 

I'm lucky to have a career that I'm passionate about. I'm now leading and expanding the Orchestration and Automation team within Technology, and further developing the Power Platform Centre of Excellence. The pace of change here at Hastings is really exciting and seeing what we've achieved in the past six months is something to be proud of. I'm already looking forward to seeing what the next six months brings!


Join us: If, like Charlotte, you’d like to grow a tech career in a dynamic company with a vision to be the best and biggest digital insurance provider, find out about available opportunities such as the role of Data Scientist where the successful candidate will be working with Charlotte.