A team of 12 software engineers are coming to the end of their intensive training at Embark and will soon join the teams working on upgrades for advisers.
After a 10-week training course the trainees, who are a mix of graduates and career changers, spend 12 weeks with Rose Ulldemolins, engineering community lead at the Dundee-based Embark Tech School, to prepare them for their first role in tech.
Ulldemolins said the diversity of the group was vital to its success.
She told FT Adviser: “If the people that are building [the technology] are not reflective of your customer base, that creates a gap between what we're building and who we're building it for.
“So I always think it's really important in any industry, but especially ones that aren't as diverse as they should be, that we aim towards getting a bigger mix of people in the room.”
The 12 new engineers will work on the adviser platform, which was rebranded to the Scottish Widows Platform in July 2023, as well as across all other Embark products.
Their work involves upgrading older systems to new ones and testing the adviser platform to identify areas where improvements can be made to make it more user friendly.
Ulldemolins said: “I love taking a human centred and a customer centred approach.
“My intention is for them to sit next to the people on the phones and see what the issues are and how they're struggling and how we can make small improvements.
“I think it's really important to kind of bring those two sides together and not keep them separate.
“If advisers have got enhancements or feedback that they want they should pass that on, and we can look at what improvements we could make.”
Advisers have previously been vocal about their issues with the platform and its functionality, especially on ratings website Trustpilot.
Ulldemolins added: "I think a lot of people sometimes just put up with something when it's not quite working and then it's hard for us to know what the improvements are that they want because we don't use it every day.
"So I think it's the people in the know, kind of feeding that forward is important."
Ulldemolins has been with Lloyds Banking Group, which owns Scottish Widows and Embark, for the past seven years.
She started her career as an analyst and after a few years switched careers to become a software engineer.
“As a software engineer, every day you're going to come in and it's going to be a new challenge or there will be some new technology they're wanting to try out,” she said.
“That's one of the things that I love about it, you never come in and think it's mundane.
“I think I've found my passion now. I love technology but I also love working with people.
“I especially love paying it forward like others have done for me.”
