Actuary Job Description - Role, Duties and Requirements

This Actuary job description explains the role, core accountabilities and who should apply. It is intended for qualified actuaries and early career professionals seeking a clear overview of role expectations in insurance, pensions and financial risk teams.

Actuary Job Profile

The actuary evaluates financial risks using mathematics, statistics and financial theory to support pricing, reserving and capital management decisions. The role requires rigorous analytical ability, clear communication and adherence to regulatory and governance standards.

Successful candidates will contribute to business planning by developing assumptions, building and validating models, and translating technical analysis into actionable insight for stakeholders across underwriting, finance and risk functions.

Actuary Job Description

The actuary is responsible for designing and maintaining actuarial models to quantify liabilities, price products and assess capital requirements. This involves producing technical calculations for reserving, pricing, capital modelling and stress testing, and ensuring outputs meet internal model governance and external regulatory requirements.

Work is delivered in a team environment and requires collaboration with underwriters, finance and risk teams to align assumptions and interpret results. The role includes preparing management reports, documenting methodologies and presenting findings to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Expectations include maintaining professional standards, progressing actuarial qualifications, mentoring junior staff and continuously improving processes and model performance through robust validation and scenario analysis.

Actuary: Duties and Responsibilities

• Develop, calibrate and validate actuarial models for pricing, reserving and capital assessment
• Prepare technical reports and management information to support decision making
• Analyse experience data and recommend assumption changes based on trends and investigations
• Perform stochastic and deterministic scenario testing to assess risk exposures
• Support product development with profitability analysis and pricing templates
• Calculate technical provisions and contributions to year end reporting requirements
• Contribute to capital modelling and economic capital assessments
• Ensure model governance, documentation and validation procedures are followed
• Collaborate with finance, underwriting and risk teams to reconcile results and explain methodologies
• Assist with regulatory submissions and respond to queries from auditors and regulators
• Provide training and supervision to junior actuaries and analysts
• Identify and drive process improvements to enhance model efficiency and data quality
• Maintain awareness of emerging actuarial standards, regulation and best practice

Actuary: Requirements and Qualifications

• Degree in actuarial science, mathematics, statistics, economics or a related quantitative discipline
• Progress towards or full membership of a recognised actuarial body preferred
• Practical experience in pricing, reserving or capital modelling within insurance or pensions
• Strong numerical and analytical skills with attention to detail
• Ability to construct, validate and interpret complex models and assumptions
• Clear written and verbal communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience preparing technical documentation and regulatory submissions
• Good project management skills and ability to meet deadlines under pressure
• Demonstrable problem solving and critical thinking capability
• Commitment to professional development and adherence to ethical standards
• Experience working within model governance frameworks and performing model validation
• Ability to work collaboratively in cross functional teams