Technical Actuary (Post-Transaction)

Standard Life plc; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 54,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Discretionary bonus

Private medical cover

38 days annual leave

Pension plan

Life assurance 12x salary

Income protection

Career breaks

Volunteering days

Job summary

Standard Life plc is seeking a Technical Actuary to join our Post-Transaction team in London or Edinburgh, with hybrid working and an expectation of spending two days in the office each week.

You will provide technical leadership across our BPA pension schemes, review benefit specifications, and lead member option calculations, working with trustees, advisers and outsourced partners to deliver accurate, timely actuarial support.

Qualifications

• Qualified actuary with extensive experience in defined benefit pensions.
• Strong technical understanding of UK DB pensions and regulatory environment.
• Experience reviewing member calculations such as transfer values and retirement quotations.
• Ability to analyse complex actuarial problems and provide practical solutions.
• Excellent communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead buy-in/buy-out journeys with focus on member option calculations.
• Interpret benefit specifications and ensure accurate, consistent member options.
• Collaborate with advisers, trustees, and partner teams to support end-to-end member option journeys.
• Oversee implementation of actuarial factors during buy-in and transition.
• Review actuarial calculations, including transfer values and projections.
• Governance through audit trails, version control, and review processes.
• Monitor regulatory and market developments affecting actuarial calculations.

Skills

Qualified actuary

Defined benefit pensions

UK pensions knowledge

Communication skills

Governance and risk

Stakeholder engagement

Job description

Job Description

We are looking for a Technical Actuary to join our Post-Transaction team, providing technical leadership and high-quality actuarial support across our portfolio of Bulk Purchase Annuity (BPA) schemes.

Job Type

Permanent

Location

London or Edinburgh. We support hybrid working, with an expectation of spending two days each week in the office.

Flexible working

All roles are open to part-time, job-share and other types of flexibility. We will discuss what is important to you and balancing this with business requirements during the recruitment process. You can read more about flexible working here.

Salary and benefits

From £60,000 depending on experience, plus a discretionary bonus, private medical cover, 38 days’ annual leave, an excellent pension, life assurance of 12 times salary, income protection, career breaks, three volunteering days and much more.

Who are we?

We’re Standard Life, a retirement specialist focused entirely on retirement savings and income. We champion the belief that everyone’s journey to and through retirement can be better, and for more than 200 years, we’ve been helping our customers plan and prepare for their financial futures.

Life today is increasingly complicated, uncertain and unpredictable. People move through different careers, face unexpected moments and navigate important choices. We offer our colleagues flexibility, trust and benefits that work for whatever life brings. In return we expect curiosity, connection, accountability and high standards. We make room for what matters - so you can bring your best, every day.

The role

This is a key technical role supporting our portfolio of BPA schemes. You will work across the full post-transaction journey, from reviewing benefit specifications through to buy-out and beyond.

You will help shape our approach to member option calculations and lead the delivery of these and other technical actuarial work for trustee clients and policyholders.

You’ll work closely with colleagues across Pricing, Transition and Data Services, as well as scheme advisers, trustees and outsourced partners.

This is an opportunity to work with a variety of pension schemes, lead important actuarial workstreams and make a visible contribution to the continued development of our processes and technical capability.

Key Responsibilities

• Play a leading role in supporting schemes through the buy-in and buy-out journey, with particular focus on delivering and overseeing member option calculations.
• Interpret transaction benefit specifications and help ensure that member options and benefits are calculated accurately and consistently.
• Work with scheme advisers, trustees, outsourced administrators and internal teams to support a consistent end-to-end member option journey.
• Support schemes with the implementation of Standard Life actuarial factors during buy-in.
• Review actuarial calculations completed by administrators during buy-in, including transfer values, retirement quotations and projections.
• Oversee the transition of member option calculations from the incumbent administrator to Standard Life at buy-out.
• Review factor assumptions across the BPA scheme portfolio.
• Provide technical expertise on complex actuarial matters, including GMP equalisation and complex individual member calculations.
• Lead or support actuarial workstreams within wider projects, working collaboratively to resolve complex technical issues.
• Maintain proportionate governance through appropriate audit trails, version control and review processes.
• Monitor relevant legislative and market developments and assess their potential impact on actuarial calculations and the wider proposition.

What are we looking for?

Essential

• Qualified actuary with relevant experience in defined benefit pensions
• Strong technical understanding of UK defined benefit pensions and the associated legislative environment.
• Experience of reviewing member calculations, such as transfer values and retirement quotations.
• Demonstrated ability to analyse complex technical issues and develop clear, practical solutions.
• Strong communication skills with the ability to explain actuarial concepts clearly to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Experience of working effectively with colleagues and stakeholders across different areas of a business.
• Experience of working within appropriate technical governance and risk frameworks.
• Up-to-date knowledge of relevant regulatory and market developments affecting defined benefit pensions.

Desirable

• Experience of Bulk Purchase Annuity transactions.
• Knowledge of GMP equalisation and its impact on member calculations.
• Experience of setting factor bases and calculating actuarial factors.
• Experience of building actuarial models for factor generation or cashflow projections.
• Experience of Pension Increase Exchange, Enhanced Transfer Value or Level Pension Option exercises.
• Experience of working with scheme advisers, trustees, administrators or outsourced delivery partners.

We Want To Hire The Whole Version Of You.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone feels accepted and welcome applicants from all backgrounds. If your experience looks different from what we’ve advertised and you believe that you can bring value to the role, we’d love to hear from you.

Find Out More About Working At Standard Life

• Guide for Candidates: standardlifeplc.pagetiger.com/guideforcandidates
• Find or get answers from our colleagues: www.standardlifeplc.com/careers/talk-to-us