About Us:

Without careful consideration today, tomorrow’s pensions don’t exist.

That’s where Isio comes in, giving our clients the advice and support they need to deliver better outcomes and financial wellbeing for their members in the decades to come.

Isio provides full-service pensions consultancy from actuarial expertise through to investment advice and third-party administration, as well as advising clients on providing the best possible reward and benefits packages for members. Following the acquisition of Premier in January 2022, now is an exciting time to join us as we broaden our offering. You will play a key role in driving forward Isio into the future.

We’re a People First business, so we want to make sure that you are supported to reach your goals, whatever they may be. We’ll support you with studying, be flexible around family life and enable you to give back to the community through paid volunteering days.

We aim to create an environment where you can succeed in a role which makes the most of your existing skills and develops new ones.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion – bringing your whole self to work every day. We have hubs across the UK and many of our roles are flexible in location to help create a work-life balance that works for you.

Programme: Investment Advisory Graduate Programme

Length of programme: 3 years

Qualifications you’ll work for: Charterholder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification or Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries (IFoA).

Locations: Our schemes are available in all of our offices which include: London, Manchester, Birmingham, Reading, Bristol, Leeds, Glasgow & Edinburgh

Entry requirements: 

• Minimum 2:1 degree – We welcome and encourage applications from all degree subjects.
• Right to work in the UK

Our Core Purpose:

Power in Partnership: We work in partnership with our clients & each other – building open and trusted relationships. Working together allows us to deliver the best for our clients.

Future Focus: We want to push our industry forward by solving problems in better ways that benefit both our clients & society.

Strength in Difference: We work with diverse perspectives to find better solutions. Working with differences makes us stronger.

People First: We recognise that pensions is a people business. People are the source of Isio’s expertise and it is people’s lives that we affect through our advice.

Our Investment Advisory team is an area of rapid growth within our Pensions Practice. Providing invaluable services to pensions, trustee, corporate and wealth management clients, we advise on a diverse range of investment-related subjects, including asset allocation, financial risk management and fund manager selection.

For graduates, it’s the chance to take the first step towards becoming an expert in your field. Challenging and rewarding, working in Investment Advisory requires strong communication skills and financial acumen, paired with the ability to take responsibility right from the beginning. Graduates here have the ambition and confidence to take the initiative and develop their own investment ideas.

The Investment Advisory team is focused on delivering proactive and strategic advice through the production of insightful, independent investment research.

The Team

Investment Advisory is a growing team of professionals from diverse backgrounds across banking, consultancy, financial services and insurance.

Ours is an environment that graduates thrive in, and where getting our best investment ideas into client portfolios is our priority.

It’s a fast-paced practice that calls for outstanding graduates, with a passion for finance, to add to the team dynamic.

The continued momentum of our practice relies on our investment ideas. So here, you’ll find that your originality and creativity will be actively encouraged.

Our Pensions Services

Our services are purely advisory – we don’t manage any money for clients or trade in any securities. Working with institutional investors such as pension funds, corporations and other wealth holders (e.g. insurance companies), we offer a wide range of investment advice in areas such as:

• Asset Liability Modelling – enabling investors to better understand the risks arising from different investment strategies.
• Risk Management – analysing a client’s financial risks and making recommendations on how to hedge them.
• Capital Markets Views – assessing investment opportunities for our clients’ portfolios.
• Fund Manager Selection – helping clients to pick high quality fund managers.
• Implementation and Transition Management – helping clients to implement our advice in the most efficient way.
• Fiduciary Management – advising clients on selecting, implementing and monitoring a fiduciary manager.

What to expect?

Join as an Investment Consultant and you’ll study for a professional qualification whilst being trained on the job. Your role will see you build up a wide range of knowledge on investments and capital markets, through delivering both client work, and researching asset classes. Later in your career, you’ll have the option to tailor your client and research focus, to specialise in certain asset classes or investment strategies.

Projects can include:

• Working in a client team to assist in the delivery of client advice, ranging from the appropriate investment strategy, to implementation of the chosen strategy.
• Setting-up up our asset liability and allocation models to better understand the client’s range of potential future outcomes.
• Preparing and presenting investment monitoring reports to our clients.
• Asset class research; evaluating investment cases and current market pricing for asset classes – from traditional equities to alternatives such as direct lending.
• Researching fund managers and fiduciary managers.
• Presenting your investment analysis and recommendations to the rest of the team and to clients.

Training and Development

As an Investment Advisory graduate, you’ll study for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams or for the actuarial exams to qualify as a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA). We recognise the challenges and time constraints involved in balancing work and study commitments, so we’ll support you with a study day allowance and tutorials. If studying for the CFA qualification, you’ll also need to complete the Investment Management Certificate (IMC) to become FCA authorised.

Who we are looking for?

Our success stems from the quality of our team. That’s why you’ll find we’ve an entrepreneurial atmosphere that offers the opportunity for every member to influence the shape and future development of the team. So, as well as financial acumen, we look for graduates who are articulate with strong communication skills.