Cara started her career as a student at with profits insurer Royal London and gained a range of experience in different roles during her time there. In 2010 she decided to move into consultancy, joining what was then OAC (now part of Broadstone), quickly discovering that she enjoyed the varied technical work, interaction with a wide range of stakeholders and the particularly rewarding aspects of working with many smaller and diverse, niche insurers.

My current role

A key aspect of my role at Broadstone involves the oversight of our exceptional life consulting team to ensure the delivery of high-quality actuarial services to our clients. Collectively, we provide the outsourced Actuarial Function, Chief Actuary and With Profits Actuary roles for smaller insurers who don’t have their own actuarial teams in house, and we also provide a wide range of complementary actuarial and financial modelling services to both small and large insurers.

Being a Chief Actuary

The role of Chief Actuary is a regulated role in an insurance company (in much the same way that the Chief Risk Officer or Chief Finance Officer is) and carries significant responsibility. I, and some of my colleagues, have gained practising certificates issued by the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and hold multiple Chief Actuary roles for smaller insurers. We therefore have to manage our time quite carefully across the insurers we work with to make sure we can provide the right support as and when required. We work together well and have great relationships with our clients, so between us we manage to deal effectively with most things that crop up day to day.

A typical day

No day follows a typical pattern. On a good day, I might manage to tick off one item from my to-do list, but on a bad day, the list seems to grow endlessly! Despite this, the diverse nature of technical tasks, the people I am lucky enough to work with, and the interesting challenges and questions posed by clients means that there is rarely a dull moment and I find it enormously satisfying.

Variety is the spice of life

My day is usually split between team management, client work and business development. My team works remotely a lot of the time, so regular communication is critical to success and ensuring everyone is happy and performing at their best. A typical day will usually involve at least one group meeting and individual 121s, where we discuss client and technical work, personal development and team initiatives around growing the business and improving our processes.

Job satisfaction

Client work can be routine, for example producing the (often complex) calculations and outputs for regulatory reporting. My responsibility as Chief Actuary is to review the work undertaken by the team after a thorough do and check process has been carried out, and produce my report, which is independently peer reviewed by another senior actuary within the team.

Other client work can be very ad-hoc in nature and require you to think on your feet. Sometimes this can turn into a lengthy process which disrupts anything else you might have been working on, but equally it can just be something quite short and sweet leaving you with a sense of satisfaction that you’ve been able to help. For example, a client’s CEO recently asked for some support in replying to an urgent question sent by the regulator, so I spent about 15 minutes composing a response – luckily that was one of the easier ones to deal with!

Key skills

Some days I will be required to attend client Board meetings which can either be online or in person. Our clients are spread across the UK and so I can sometimes spend quite a lot of time during the week travelling up and down the country (I know some train stations far too well for my liking).

Preparation for client meetings (Board or otherwise) takes a lot of time, reading papers, preparing your own reports and presentations and noting down any questions on the other agenda items. It’s also important to be prepared for any questions coming to you in these meetings – something will always be asked that you’re not expecting – so trying to put yourself in the shoes of a non-Executive Director and thinking of the questions they’re likely to ask is always helpful. Clear communication is a critical part of the skillset of a Chief Actuary, in helping executive teams and Boards understand the financial implications and risks of the business they run. It is one aspect of my role that I enjoy the most.

A rewarding career

A significant part of my role is helping our team develop and grow its services into the wider market. This involves plenty of travel, meeting a diverse range of people, coming up with new ideas and being creative. All of which I enjoy hugely.

Becoming an actuary is hard work – all those exams, giving up your social life (sort of!) – but having the opportunity to work in a role that combines both technical skills and the development of many softer, more creative skills can result in an extremely fulfilling career.