Interview: Jessica Asbury, Allianz UK, Women in Tech Excellence Awards finalist

‘We’ve made huge strides in implementing some great solutions in the UK in a period of real change and it’s exciting to get to play my part in that journey’

The Women in Tech Excellence Awards celebrate the outstanding contributions of women in all areas of technology, from software development and engineering to AI, cybersecurity, and beyond.

Jessica Asbury is Head of Technology Transformation & Change at Allianz UK, where she leads a large, multi-site team delivering some of the business's most significant technology transformations. She oversaw the implementation of the Guidewire Cloud insurance suite, making Allianz the first UK insurer to launch fully on the platform and led the rollout of a modern, AI-enabled cloud telephony platform across all UK business lines.

A passionate advocate for women in technology, Jessica is an active contributor to Allianz UK's Women in Tech network, mentors colleagues and champions flexible, inclusive leadership with more than half of her leadership team women.

Jessica is a finalist in the Digital Leader of the Year category and Allianz UK is a finalist in the Best Employer category.

What prompted you to enter the Women in Tech Excellence Awards this year?

Honestly, I nearly didn't! I spend much more time nominating others than myself and putting yourself forward can trigger a bit of imposter syndrome - something I talk about openly. But this has been a landmark year for technology at Allianz UK, and I wanted to shine a light on the brilliant people who made it happen.

Visibility matters too. Women need to see other women leading large-scale digital transformation and if entering encourages one more person to think 'that could be me', it's absolutely worth it.

What would winning this award mean to both your people and your customers/partners?

For my team, it would be recognition of an extraordinary couple of years. Every milestone has been a team effort, and more than half of my leadership team are women, so this would be a win for all of them. It would also show colleagues across Allianz UK - particularly those in our Women in Tech network – that there's a genuine path into technology leadership here.

For our customers and partners, it reinforces that the platforms they rely on are built by diverse teams who reflect the people we serve. Diverse teams make better decisions and create better customer experiences and that's good for everyone.

What would you say was your company's proudest achievement of the last year?

Without doubt, launching the Guidewire Cloud insurance suite for our retail business. After a two-year programme, we went live over a single bank holiday weekend, making Allianz the first UK insurer to launch fully on the platform.

It's the largest transformation in Allianz UK's history and it has given the business a modern foundation to build on. In parallel, we replaced two ageing telephony systems with a modern cloud-based contact centre platform across all our UK business lines, unlocking AI-driven chatbots, live chat, automated quality assurance and voice-to-text transcription.

We’ve made huge strides in implementing some great solutions in the UK in a period of real change and it’s exciting to get to play my part in that journey. On the people side, we were thrilled to be named Best Employer at the Women in Tech Employer Awards 2026.

What have been the biggest challenges of the current year so far? How have your people or partners helped?

The biggest challenge has been delivering major transformation at pace while keeping the business running smoothly. The pace of AI this year, and taking on responsibility for cyber change, have added to that challenge. Running large programmes in parallel means competing priorities and real delivery risk.

To manage that, we set up quarterly portfolio and outcome-focused forums that bring senior stakeholders together to align priorities and drive accountability and we're moving Technology Change towards full Agile delivery. People make the difference, though. My team spans multiple locations and their resilience and collaboration – alongside strong partnerships with our technology suppliers – got us over the line. Flexible working is central to that, it means nobody has to choose between career progression and family commitments.

What do you see as the main opportunities for your industry in the coming 12 months? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?

AI is the big one. Our cloud platforms give us the foundations to scale AI across customer journeys and contact centre operations and we have further enhancements planned to improve customer experience and agent capability.

The opportunity isn't only technical, though – it's about skills. Through programmes like Fit4AI and protected learning time of 43 hours a year, we're making sure colleagues can build future-critical capabilities. I want to make sure women are at the forefront of that shift, not playing catch-up. That means using our Women in Tech network as a safe space to learn, sponsoring people into new opportunities and keeping technology careers visible and accessible to everyone.

The Women in Tech Excellence Awards takes place on 26th November in London. Click here to view the list of finalists!