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Deadline

05 Aug 2019

About the Company

XPS Pensions Group is the largest pure pensions consultancy in the UK, specialising in pensions actuarial, investment consulting and administration, with revenues of over £110 million.  We are the only UK pensions specialist listed on the FTSE. With over 1,000 staff in 15 UK locations, our business combines expertise, insight and technology to address the needs of both pension trustees and sponsoring companies for over 1,200 pension schemes and undertakes pensions administration for over 800,000 scheme members.

Our clients tell us that our people are outstanding, proactive, innovative, and relevant. This reputation is based on the personal relationships we form with our clients, underpinned by our outstanding advice.

We recognise how critical you are to us.

We will accelerate your development through on-the-job training and support for your professional qualification. You will be involved in a wide range of client work from day one and will quickly take ownership of tasks and projects.

You can use your technical skills to develop innovative solutions. We will give you client exposure at an early stage so you can use your communication skills.

You’ll be expected to contribute to the ongoing debate we have about what we’re doing with our clients, thereby helping influence our future direction.

We will of course pay you an attractive salary alongside a broad range of other benefits which you can shape to reflect your circumstances.

Our Values

Our values are at the heart of everything we do, the shared spirit that makes us one team. Wherever you are and whatever you’re doing, it’s the way you do it that makes you XPS. You will be expected to be:

  • Ambitious
  • Expert
  • Agile
  • Helpful, and
  • Do the right thing

About the Business Area/Department

Our mission is to help our clients effectively manage their risk. Communication is at the heart of what we do. We are proactive, strategic, knowledgeable and innovative.

The Investment practice is an area of rapid growth within XPS. We are very ambitious and want to continue growing strongly. Our clients are institutional investors, mostly pension schemes. We advise them on a wide range of investment-related areas, including:

  • We help our clients understand and agree their investment objectives. This combines journey planning (understanding the impact of targeting different levels of return) with asset liability modelling (understanding the risks associated with different investment strategies).
  • We help our clients determine a suitable asset allocation. We use our in-depth knowledge to help our clients understand strategic and tactical investment opportunities.
  • We help our clients with risk management. We produce analysis so our clients understand the risks to which they are exposed and we advise them how to hedge those risks where appropriate.
  • We help our clients with the implementation of their strategy. We undertake fund manager research to help our clients increase the chances of meeting their objectives. We also use our specialist asset transition knowledge to help our clients implement our advice efficiently.

(To be clear, we do not manage any money for our clients or undertake any trading.)

About the role

We are looking for an Associate Investment Consultant that will excel in this advisory role. This requires excellent communication skills, a passion about investments together with drive and enthusiasm.

We want someone who is unafraid to express a view and can express their view clearly, thereby contributing to the investment ideas we rely on to achieve our aims.

We want to help you reach your potential and be the best that you can be. By joining XPS you will be involved in a wide variety of work. You’ll be supported by on-the-job training, resulting in you developing your knowledge and abilities quickly.

In addition, you’ll be studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams or actuarial (IFoA). We know that it’s a real challenge completing professional qualifications whilst progressing in a new job, so we’ll help you every step of the way – we’ll equip you with study materials and time to study.

We are looking for one Associate Investment Consultant to our Birmingham office.

Main duties and responsibilities

Tasks will include (but are not limited to):

  • Working in client teams to produce strategic advice.
  • Setting up asset liability models to help our clients better understand risk.
  • Producing clear written advice to help our clients quickly identify and understand the key issues.
  • Preparing monitoring reports to help our clients understand what is driving performance.
  • Attending client meetings to help deliver advice and understand the importance of effective communication.
  • Researching investment ideas across the full range of asset classes.
  • Researching fund managers.
  • Supporting asset transitions across managers and funds.
  • Contributing to the continuous debate about how we do an even better job for our clients (e.g. new investment ideas or ways to communicate investment concepts).

Job Requirements

Essential

  • Right to work in the UK
  • You will have, or be working towards, a good honours degree. Maths, economics or a science are likely to be particularly useful subjects to have studied, but all subjects will be considered.
  • Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
  • Strong desire to become a client facing consultant
  • Confidence to express a view
  • Hard working, dedicated individual
  • Desire to take responsibility for work
  • Effective organisation skills and ability to manage and prioritise workload
  • Proactive attitude and quick to learn
  • Care and keen attention to detail
  • Strong computer skills, particularly Microsoft Office
  • Good mathematical ability

Desirable

  • Understanding of the basic investment issues faced by pension schemes
  • Investment-related work experience
  • Progress towards the CFA or actuarial exams

Additional Details

We offer an attractive reward package; typical benefits can include:

  • Competitive salary
  • Participation in Discretionary Bonus Scheme
  • Participation in SAYE Scheme
  • 25 days holiday
  • Pension Plan
  • Flexible Benefits Scheme to support you in and out of work, helping you look after you and your family covering Security & Protection, Health & Wellbeing, Lifestyle
  • Life Assurance cover
  • Xafinity Rewards (offers discounts and savings from retailers and services providers as well as offers available via phone)
  • Interest free season ticket loan

XPS Pensions Group is an equal opportunities employer and positively encourages application from suitably qualified and eligible candidates regardless of sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief.

  • Job Type: Graduate Job
  • Field of Work: ,
  • Location: Leeds & Manchester
  • Salary: Competitive
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