Senior Pensions Actuary (Associate/ Fellow)

ABOUT THE ROLE

• Achieving Zamara’s ambitious strategic priorities will be complex and challenging.  Its continued success will be dependent on building and retaining a world-class team.
• We are looking for an experienced pensions actuary to join our actuarial consulting team in a senior role.
• The successful candidate will play a key role in leading pensions actuarial assignments, managing client relationships, reviewing and signing actuarial reports, and supporting the continued growth of our pensions advisory practice.
• This is an opportunity for an Associate or Fellow actuary with strong pensions experience to take on a visible leadership role within a growing advisory business. The role will involve working with a wide range of pension schemes, trustees, employers, regulators and other stakeholders across valuation, funding, risk, governance and strategic advisory matters.
• The successful candidate will be expected to combine strong technical actuarial capability with commercial judgement, client management skills and the ability to mentor and develop junior members of the team.

As a Senior Pensions Actuary, your responsibilities will include:

KEY ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Leading and managing pensions actuarial assignments, including actuarial valuations, funding reviews, accounting disclosures, benefit reviews, member calculations and other advisory engagements.
• Reviewing and signing actuarial reports, ensuring technical accuracy, quality of advice and compliance with applicable professional and regulatory standards.
• Providing actuarial advice to pension scheme trustees, sponsors, employers and other stakeholders.
• Supporting clients on pension scheme funding, risk management, investment strategy, benefit design, liability management and governance matters.
• Managing client relationships and acting as a trusted advisor on pensions actuarial and retirement matters.
• Overseeing project delivery, including planning, budgeting, resourcing, billing, collections and timely completion of client work.
• Reviewing actuarial models, calculations, assumptions, methodologies and report outputs.
• Coaching, supervising and developing junior actuarial staff, including supporting technical training and capability building.
• Supporting business development, proposal preparation and the growth of the pensions actuarial practice.
• Working collaboratively with colleagues across actuarial, administration, investments, consulting and other business teams.
• Contributing to thought leadership, technical research and development of internal methodologies and tools.

EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

The ideal candidate will have:

• Associate or Fellow qualification from a recognised actuarial professional body.
• At least 8 years’ relevant experience in pensions actuarial consulting or a closely related pensions advisory role.
• Strong technical knowledge of pension scheme valuations, funding, accounting, benefit calculations and actuarial reporting.
• Experience reviewing or signing actuarial reports, or clear readiness to take on signing responsibility.
• Strong understanding of pension scheme governance, trustee advisory work and employer/sponsor considerations.
• Excellent client relationship management skills, with the ability to communicate technical matters clearly to senior stakeholders.
• Strong project management skills, including the ability to manage multiple assignments, deadlines and client expectations.
• Proven ability to supervise, coach and develop actuarial students and junior colleagues.
• Commercial awareness, including appreciation of revenue delivery, billing discipline, collections and profitability.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• High standards of professionalism, accountability and quality control.
• A proactive mindset, with the ability to take ownership, solve problems and build trusted relationships.

Experience That Would Be Advantageous

The following would be an added advantage:

• Experience working with occupational pension schemes, retirement funds, umbrella funds or public-sector pension arrangements.
• Experience advising both trustees and employer sponsors.
• Exposure to pension reform, retirement policy, social security, regulatory advisory or public-sector pension assignments.
• Experience in actuarial model development, automation, data analytics or pensions administration transformation.
• Prior experience managing a team or leading a portfolio of client assignments.
• Experience working across multiple markets.