Actuary - Retirement Solutions

Career Family and Level: Actuarial. Intermediate, Lead Professional/Manager

Job Type: Permanent

Closing Date: 5th July 2024

Location and flexible working: London. We recognise the benefits of flexible working and will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process.

Flexible working: All our roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about Phoenix Flex here

Salary and benefits: £70,000 - £86,000 plus 16% - 32% bonus, private medical cover, 38 days annual leave, excellent pension, 12x salary life assurance, career breaks, income protection, 3x volunteering days and much more!

Who are we?

We want to be the best place that any of our colleagues have ever worked.

We are the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business with c.13 million customers and c.£300 billion of assets under administration. As a market leader and FTSE100 organisation, we understand that our scale and expertise means that we have a key role to play for our customers, colleagues and our communities to help as many people as possible secure a life of possibilities. We are tackling key environmental and social issues such as transitioning our portfolio to net zero by 2050 – but we’re not done yet.

What are we looking for?

Our Retirement Solutions business is seeking an experienced actuary with excellent analytical skills and a commercial mindset to support the improvement of commercial outcomes across annuities and mortgages.  As a result, we have a phenomenal opportunity to join our team at an exciting time, as we seek to optimise our approach to support our growth ambition.

Key Responsibilities

The purpose of the Retirement Solutions Commercial Function is to support the division in achieving its financial targets.  This will be achieved by improving the quality, granularity and timeliness of reported metrics, the identification of actionable insights, and the delivery of management actions to improve commercial outcomes. This promises a high-profile and cross-disciplinary role with extensive access to senior stakeholders within the organisation.

Working within the Retirement Solutions Commercial Function, you will develop a detailed knowledge of the value drivers within our annuities and mortgages businesses, building complex models and undertaking analysis to improve financial results through the delivery of management actions and writing new business.

You will:

• Develop a detailed understanding of the value drivers within our annuities and mortgages businesses.
• Support initiatives to improve data, reporting, and analytics for our Retirement Solutions business.
• Develop complex models and analysis to support new business activity.
• Provide commercial insight to support ideas generation for opportunities to optimise assumptions, risk capital requirements and the Matching Adjustment within the context of the regulatory framework and the Phoenix Internal Model.
• Support the delivery of commercial initiatives, from initial feasibility through to implementation, maintaining momentum, navigating governance, and ensuring collaboration between teams.
• Provide technical expertise in key areas across assets and liabilities.
• Champion an environment of continuous improvement and the adoption of technology to solve business problems.
• Support and develop colleague talent.
• Identify and mitigate financial risk within Retirement Solutions.

We are looking for:

• A commercial actuary with a good understanding of the life insurance balance sheet.
• An ability to work across a broad range of disciplines and stakeholders.
• The capability to work proactively and independently in resolving issues.
• Good knowledge of annuities and the Matching Adjustment.
• Good systems experience and moreover a passion for the application of technology to solve business problems.
• Excellent financial modelling skills with experience of building complex models for assets and liabilities within an annuities context.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills and the ability to come up with creative solutions.
• A track record of solving complex problems and a natural determination to persevere where the answer may not be obvious.
• Self-awareness, with the desire to exceed expectations and demonstrate resilience in overcoming challenges and determination to deliver results for the business.
• An effective communicator, able to communicate to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Balancing business demand, issues and risks by applying sound judgement in complex scenarios, often with considerable uncertainty.

Key Competencies

• Commerciality

The ability to be commercially focused at all times.

• Analytical Skills

Use of a variety of diagnostic techniques to understand a situation/issue/problem by breaking it down and tracing the root cause/underlying implications in a methodical step-by-step way.

• Impact & Influence

Influencing others to achieve a positive impact. This includes communicating clearly, building support for ideas and having an impact on other people.

• Communication Skills

Clearly and effectively communicates information, ideas, plans, requests and opinions to internal and external stakeholders through a range of channels including written and oral. Ensures alignment with communication guidelines and policies.

• Innovation and Creativity

Ability to generate and implement creative solutions and novel ways to achieve goals.

• Market and Industry Knowledge

Knowledge of the markets, competitors, products, services, trends, impacting forces and factors, etc. that make up the industries which Standard Life operates in.

What We Offer

Bring your ‘whole self’, skills and dedication to the Phoenix Group and we’ll recognise your effort, support your development, and help to drive your ambition. We’ll ensure you’re rewarded for your contribution with a competitive package that includes an attractive pension, annual bonus potential, private medical insurance, generous holiday entitlement, enhanced maternity and adoption leave and a range of other financial services and lifestyle flexible benefits.

We value diversity in our workforce and welcome enquiries from everyone.

Find out more about #LifeAtPhoenix

• Guide for Candidates: thephoenixgroup.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
• Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.thephoenixgroup.com/careers/talk-to-us

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