Location

London or Edinburgh, with potential for some flexibility

Role Purpose

The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is a non-Ministerial Department that provides actuarial solutions to governments and organisations in the public sector in the UK and around the world. Our mission is to support effective decision-making and robust reporting within the public sector through actuarial analysis, modelling and advice.

Although the government does not typically hold invested funds, there are many occasions where investments are required, or policy relates to investments held in the private sector. As such, the range of funding considerations include for pension schemes, nuclear decommissioning, personal injury claims and other policy areas where there is a need to value complex assets or there are discount rate considerations. We are looking to hire an investment actuary to build our capacity to advise in this area, working for our lead investment consultant and alongside actuaries, trainee actuaries and analysts to enhance the support we can provide to our clients on investment issues.

A particular area of growth for our work is advice around climate risks to funding and investment strategies so experience in this area is advantageous but not essential.

In the role you will be expected to work on a range of projects with existing and new clients. You will assist in scoping out advice needs and leading and specifying analysis and modelling, supporting high value finance and investment advice. We welcome applications from individuals that may have a particular interest or specialism within the field of investments, such as climate change, credit risk or asset liability modelling but are also keen to expand their experience to working in new or atypical areas.

As part of your role, we expect you to help grow and develop both your own skills, and those of more junior colleagues to help meet the evolving nature of our work. You will also help develop the investment capabilities within GAD, sharing your knowledge and experience with others.

GAD consultants regularly work in a more diverse range of areas than a typical actuarial consultancy, working closely with both policy makers and operational staff to deliver effective public policy. The work is varied, interesting, and has purpose, for example working in the best interests of the taxpayer. Recent projects have included:

• Working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to develop a funding framework for the future decommissioning of Sizewell C nuclear power station. This included considering the government’s policies with respect to climate change and how those should influence the investment parameters for this decommissioning fund.
• In the Autumn of 2022 we worked closely with several government departments assisting with their understanding of and response to rapidly increasing gilt yields and liquidity issues experienced by some pension schemes with Liability driven Investments.
• We have worked with the Department for Work and Pensions with the preparation of consultations, legislation and guidance with respect to defined contribution occupational schemes. You can read about our recent work with respect to value for money in our blog here.
• HM Treasury supporting their review of Solvency II. Our role involved exploring and balancing views of the Bank of England and industry respondents to proposed changes to the matching adjustment.
• Supporting the Financial Conduct Authority in their authorisation of funeral plan providers. This included considering the investment strategy of funeral plan trusts.
• Pension Protection Fund (PPF) – supporting the PPF with their Long-Term Risk Model, a stochastic model that simulates the risks faced by the PPF. This combines asset-liability modelling with insolvency modelling to project the PPF’s current book while also allowing for future claims.

Whilst this position will sit within our Insurance & Investment team, you will spend most of your time on investment related work, this could be in support of insurance clients, pension schemes and a range of other end users and as such you will work with GAD’s other departments. GAD also provides consultancy support on climate change initiatives and has participated in projects which required an assessment of the economic implications of climate projections. This is an area of work which is expected to expand rapidly in the coming years. You will be expected to assist with these roles, either building on existing knowledge or through on the job training.

Key Responsibilities

1. To provide investment related actuarial support and advice to government departments and other organisations in the public sector, both in the UK and around the world. This will involve working with colleagues to deliver high-quality advice often within demanding timescales.
2. To maintain and build on existing client relationships and to develop new relationships. To partner with clients and take forward initiatives for the development of new business.
3. To work with colleagues to ensure all work is appropriately scoped and delivered in an efficient and timely manner with a focus on providing value for money for our clients. This includes:
• Specifying work, monitoring output and providing feedback
• Reviewing and / or checking work carried out by junior colleagues
• Responsibility for ensuring work managers are fully informed of all substantive work requests;
• Effective project management;
• Motivating and team building;
• Partnering with clients;
• Operational duties – scheduling work, leave management, exercising financial control as required
• Business development and client engagement activities
4. The role requires a consistently high level of service to be provided and for work to be undertaken within professional requirements. This includes
• Providing/supporting appropriate quality advice (oral or written) to agreed time-scales and within budget;
• Complying with peer review procedures;
• Adapting to changing client needs and balancing conflicting priorities;
• Complying with all professional actuarial (where relevant) and GAD guidance.
5. Agile working in support of other GAD teams from time to time.
6. To maintain an up-to-date knowledge of role-relevant developments and other matters (including meeting all CPD requirements).
This job description is a broad reflection of the current duties. It is not exhaustive and changes will be made based on GAD’s needs in conjunction with you.

Key Dimensions

You will be expected to contribute to a range of investment-related work across a number of clients, agreeing budgets, priorities and deliverables. This will require communication with a range of stakeholders and will involve active liaison with colleagues to ensure consistency of approach where appropriate.

You will be expected to proactively develop more junior members of the team and manage their work, and may in addition to this have formal line management responsibilities.

You will also be expected to support GAD’s efforts to develop client engagement and its partnering approach to project delivery. This will require strong client relationship skills and the ability to identify additional areas in which GAD can provide support.