Head of Pricing

PIC; Greater London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

A financial services company based in Greater London is looking for a Head of Pricing to lead the Pricing function of its Origination team. The successful candidate will manage pricing strategies for new business while collaborating with senior leadership and cross-functional teams. Key responsibilities include enhancing pricing models and overseeing third-party actuarial firms. Candidates must be qualified actuaries with substantial experience in life insurance or pension consulting, strong analytical skills, and exceptional interpersonal abilities.

Benefits

Private medical insurance

28 days annual leave

Generous pension scheme

Performance-related bonus plan

Qualifications

• Proven post-qualification experience in actuarial roles.
• Extensive experience in corporate insurance or consulting.
• Familiarity with longevity risk technical aspects.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage Pricing function in new business Origination Team.
• Support deal teams on pricing strategies.
• Drive enhancements to the New Business Pricing Model.

Skills

Exceptional interpersonal skills

Strategic thinker

Ability to implement change

Expert report writing skills

Strong commercial judgement

Effective people leadership

Education

Qualified actuary

Tools

MS Excel

Power BI

MatLab (helpful)

Job description

Pension Insurance Corporation (“PIC”) provides secure retirement incomes through comprehensive risk management and excellence in asset and liability management, as well as exceptional customer service. Our purpose is to pay the pensions of our current and future policyholders. We achieve our purpose by setting Company-wide strategic objectives and driving a healthy culture based on our PIC Values of Resilient, Adaptable, and Loyal.

At PIC, we are recruiting for a Head of Pricing to join our Origination department. In this role, you will lead on the technical aspects of PIC’s new business pricing activity, whether in a general sense or on specific opportunities where there may be ‘non-standard’ considerations.

You will also lead on Origination involvement in cross-business strategic projects, including setting, monitoring and reviewing the Business Plan. You will further provide market and technical knowledge in pricing and related subjects to aid cross-departmental projects.

You will collaborate effectively with senior leadership to deliver the Origination department's strategic plan, and you may be required to undertake a senior Deal Lead role to lead on select, key transaction prospects, or a slightly more supporting role under a Co-Head of Origination on e.g. a ‘Mega Deal’. This is an MRT role and you will be accountable for the prescribed regulatory responsibilities for Origination. You will also actively achieve solutions for complex technical challenges by leading the development, enhancements and maintenance of the New Business Pricing framework within agreed risk and regulatory standards.

Your specific accountabilities will include:

• Lead and manage the Pricing function of the new business Origination Team, including responsibility for liaison with other relevant teams (e.g. Finance, ALM, Risk) to set general strategy for pricing and improve pricing-related processes. Close collaboration with these teams to ensure alignment of activity across the company
• Support deal teams on their pricing approach and identifies optimal pricing approaches on prospects with non-standard aspects and drives optimisation of PIC’s new business pricing approach more generally to increase the levels of new business written and/or enhance transaction economics on a risk-adjusted basis
• Lead on key Origination deals, or projects that involve unusual features, new structures or new products
• Elevate talent to develop and enhance both technical and non-technical skills required to deliver a strong and purposeful Pricing function
• Champions and drives enhancements and required updates to the New Business Pricing Model, implemented by the ALM team
• Responsibility (supported by the Origination Office) for oversight of our panel of third-party actuarial firms providing pricing support and cashflow provision to the Origination team
• Responsible for the provision of MI reports and governance-related requirements to senior committees (e.g. Pricing Committee, Models and Assumptions Committee, Investment and Origination Committee and Board)
• Keep self and team informed of industry trends, market developments, regulatory changes in the public and private sectors, as well as best practices related to new business considerations (technical, strategic, regulatory etc). by attending industry seminars, reading and sharing relevant published articles

Experience:

• Qualified actuary with demonstrated post-qualification experience
• Extensive experience in corporate insurance or consulting environment, the majority in life insurance or UK pensions consulting.
• ideal/desirable: familiarity with technical aspects of longevity risk and its reinsurance (on both a longevity swap and funded reinsurance basis)

Knowledge:

• Detailed understanding of the actuarial and wider aspects of pricing BPA (Bulk Purchase Annuity) business.
• Strong technical knowledge of Solvency UK reserving and capital calculation.
• Strong technical knowledge of UK pension scheme benefit structures and valuation approaches (ideally).
• Established knowledge of the regulatory framework and how it applies to the Company, and Origination / new business pricing specifically.
• Skilled MS Excel user. (Additional modelling tools e.g. MatLab also helpful).
• Good working knowledge of MS PowerPoint, MS Word.
• Familiarity with Power BI suite (ideally).

Skills:

• Exceptional interpersonal skills and ability to communicate (and sometimes persuade and influence) both directly and indirectly, across a variety of seniority levels, up to Board-level
• Able to identify and successfully implement change opportunities, including steering through required governance paths.
• Effective people leader
• Expert business and report writing skills, including for papers for (or will be seen by) the PRA
• Ability to conceptualise and lead others in solving specific problems
• Strategic and innovative thinker with exceptional commercial judgement
• Entrepreneurial focus

In addition to a competitive base salary and the opportunity to participate in our annual, performance-related bonus plan, upon joining us here at Pension Insurance Corporation, you will get access to some great benefits, including private medical insurance, 28 days' annual leave (excluding bank holidays), a generous pension scheme and much more.