Actuarial Trainee

About Canada Life

Canada Life UK looks after the retirement, investment and protection needs of individuals, families and companies. We help to build better futures for our customers, our intermediaries and our employees by operating as a modern, agile and welcoming organisation.

Part of our parent company Great-West Lifeco, Canada Life UK has operated in the United Kingdom since 1903. We have hundreds of respected and supported employees committed to doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues.

Canada Life UK is transforming to create a more customer-focused business by providing our customers with expertise on financial and tax planning, offering home finance and annuities propositions, and providing collective fund solutions to third party customers.

About the role

As an Actuarial Trainee at Canada life you will be responsible for providing actuarial, statistical and financial analysis to senior management to contribute to the function’s ability to manage risk exposure to the business in order to satisfy our statutory responsibilities as well as the needs of policyholders and that of our regulators.

Our actuarial trainees have the opportunity to work in a variety of roles in areas including reserving, financial reporting, pricing, risk management, investments and systems. As well as the traditional actuarial areas, across our Actuarial Teams, we have students working on Solvency II Internal Model capital management, Equity Release Mortgages, & IFRS17. We expect that trainees will work in two or three different areas before qualification, which means our newly qualified actuaries have a valuable breadth of experience.

A competitive study package is available to all our actuarial trainees, which includes study days, tutorials, course materials and entry fees for the first sitting of each exam. Every new starter is assigned a mentor to oversee their progress. Canada Life has a strong culture of success in the actuarial examinations, and provides an environment for new actuaries to study and develop.

You will:

• Assist with the production of financial analysis for a specific area of the business with line management and team member support and supervision. The role holder will be developing sound understanding of statistical and financial models.
• Contribute to reports within their function or discipline to enable management to make informed financial decisions and to manage risk.
• Provide support to their immediate team by producing analysis and contributing to reports/reporting related to business products in a specific line of business or otherwise, to ensure that new business is written on profitable terms and managed effectively and that they comply with the company risk management framework.
• Contribute to analysis for regular departmental and business reports taking in to account commercial and statutory considerations. 
• Provide commentary on analysis to immediate line management.
• Assist in the continuous review and improvement of the department’s processes and procedures to ensure the provision of timely, accurate and efficient levels of service and ensure that documentation is kept up to date.
• Take part in and making a valuable contribution to different roles via the actuarial student rotation scheme as well as actively studying for the actuarial exams and making acceptable exam progress, as determined by the company and in line with the company study policy

Technical Expertise

• Developing knowledge and understanding of different actuarial disciplines including via student rotation.
• Can analyse financial information for immediate line management, beginning to provide insight and commentary.
• Developing knowledge of a variety of statistical methods, models and controls, and their commercial application/implication.
• Intermediate MS excel skills demonstrating efficient use of spreadsheets and basic data manipulation skills.
• Ability to deliver work to a high standard under tight time pressure with attention to detail.

Communication:

• Developing sound analytical and report writing/drafting skills.
• Developing the ability to explain complexities accurately with coaching or support from managers.

Relationship Building:

• The ability to develop and maintain relationships within their team, acting with integrity and being a role model for the company values at all times.
• Being able to flex their style and approach to different individuals, with coaching and support, in order to achieve a successful outcome.
• Taking part in and making a valuable contribution in different roles via actuarial student rotation.

Problem Solving & Accurate Judgement:

• Able to plan, organise and execute their own work with some supervision, making management aware of conflicting priorities and readjusting their workload accordingly.
• Good problem solving skills and attention to detail, being able to identify issues and interdependencies, recommending a course of action with support and guidance from colleagues.
• Can make some decisions independently in order to progress issues but able to exercise sound judgement to assess when matters need to be escalated.

Developing Self

• Actively studying for actuarial exams, usually being less than half-way through their qualification.
• An interested and inquisitive individual who is committed to their own ongoing professional and personal development.
• Developing the ability to apply technical actuarial techniques and understand business/commercial implications.
• Degree (or equivalent) in Finance, Mathematics, Statistics or related field
• Post-graduate qualification in Finance, Mathematics, Statistics or related field (not essential)

What you’ll like about working here

As a Canada Life UK colleague, you’ll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance, along with a generous pension and bonus scheme. You’ll also receive the support you need with your personal and professional development.

Diversity and inclusion

Canada Life is committed to a diverse and inclusive workplace. Our role as an employer of choice is to provide the right environment for talented people to do their best work, by respecting, understanding and valuing individual differences