Apprentice- Actuarial

About Us:

Without careful consideration today, tomorrow’s pensions don’t exist.

That’s where Isio comes in, giving our clients the advice and support they need to deliver better outcomes and financial wellbeing for their members in the decades to come.

Isio provides full-service pensions consultancy to our + corporate clients, from actuarial expertise through to investment advice and third-party administration and advising clients on providing the best possible reward and benefits packages for their employees. Isio launched in March out of KPMG UK’s pensions practice and has grown to over people working across 10 offices across the UK.

Starting your Career at Isio

We’re a People First business, so we want to make sure that you are supported to reach your goals, whatever they may be. We’ll support you with studying, be flexible around family life and enable you to give back to the community through paid volunteering days.

We aim to create an environment where you can succeed in a role which makes the most of your existing skills and develops new ones.

We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion – bringing your whole self to work every day. We have hubs across the UK and many of our roles are flexible in location to help create a work-life balance that works for you.

We are keen to support those starting their career at Isio with building a strong foundation for success. Whether as a Graduate, Industrial Placement student, summer intern or as an Apprentice, Isio will provide a great experience working alongside experienced professionals. You will have the opportunity to help fulfil our purpose of creating better outcomes for our clients, their members and society by empowering and developing our people.

Isio is growing at a fast and exciting pace. Starting your career at Isio will be a great balance of working with experts in their field within an innovative organisation that is looking to drive positive and innovative change in its sector.

Apprentices at Isio have acknowledged their positive experience, as shown by our ranking as the Top Employer for Apprentices to work for in Consulting according to the Job Crowd rankings.

Programme: Actuarial (Pensions) Apprenticeship -

Length of programme: The offer of employment will be on a permanent basis . We anticipate our Apprentices will complete a Level 4 Actuarial Technician Apprenticeship within 2 years. This will be followed with progression to a Level 7 Actuary Apprenticeship which will take approximately 3 years.

Locations:

Birmingham: 1 Colmore Square, Birmingham, B4 6aj 

Entry Requirements:

To apply for this Apprenticeship you need to be available for full-time employment from 1 September . You will need to have achieved the academic qualifications.

GCSE in English and Maths at Grade 4 or C or an equivalent, or higher Qualifications equivalent to 64 UCAS points (since ), or UCAS points (before ) across 3 A Levels or equivalent qualifications.

Working as an Actuarial Apprentice at Isio will require a good level of numerical ability which will be assessed during our recruitment process.

Actuarial Apprenticeships– the opportunity

Pension schemes are part of the backbone of the UK savings industry – relied on by millions to provide a reliable and secure income in retirement.

However, whilst remaining an important part of how organisations pay and reward their employees, they also often pose significant financial risks.

Balancing the costs and risks of a pension scheme as well as meeting best practice governance requirements is becoming increasingly complex – yet essential for a pension scheme to succeed. The needs of the industry, individuals and our clients are ever changing.

At Isio, we constantly look at ways to innovate and develop new solutions to overcome these challenges through our Actuarial & Consulting services.

An actuarial career in pensions requires a high level of both numeracy and communication skills – as well as the enthusiasm and drive needed to gain professional qualifications and succeed in a fast-moving market. Our clients value strong technical knowledge in understanding the required capacity of pension funds.

Isio’s Actuarial Apprenticeship programme offers the opportunity to get more insight and build valuable experience of both technical actuarial knowledge and skills and effective workplace skills.

What you will be doing

As an industry leader, we offer a wide range of opportunities for graduates to train and build their core consulting and analytical skills. But we also want to hear your views and help you introduce fresh ways of thinking. Some of the things you’ll be involved in as an actuarial Apprentice are below but remember, our work stretches beyond pensions and that’s where we set ourselves apart.

Applying actuarial skills and concepts to calculate the value of pension and other benefits for employers and trustees. Financial modelling and risk analysis to help clients understand their future pension obligations and principal risks. Advising clients on their pensions strategy and how to manage these risks, both on a day-to-day basis and when considering a long-term objective. Designing and implementing employee communication programmes. Helping clients understand and manage accounting, tax and legislative changes that affect their pension schemes. Contributing to proposals for new business opportunities. Attending client meetings and explaining the team’s work

During your Apprenticeship you will get the opportunity to develop analytical skills while observing how we effectively consult for our clients. You will get to be involved in work we do to for our clients including:

Calculation work either on an individual member or company basis. Building financial models involving statistical methods. Drafting communication materials. Helping with identifying and researching business opportunities. Sharing knowledge with colleagues throughout the Isio supporting our goal to continuously improve the service we offer our clients.

Training and Development

We will support you in working with our training partner to complete a Level 4 Actuarial Technician Apprenticeship. Alongside this you will also benefit from in-house training technical actuarial skills, knowledge, and key workplace skills.

After successful completion of your Level 4 Apprenticeship the aim will be to support you in achieving qualification as an Actuary as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries through a Level 7 Apprenticeship.

Isio’s Graduate Programme is just the start. It will give you a strong foundation, great client experience, professional training, and core consulting skills. Given our exciting growth plans, there are opportunities to progress a really varied career as an Actuary in Pensions as you build specialist skills and knowledge in your field of interest (obviously this is subject to what our clients’ needs are too). Throughout your career you’ll be offered ongoing support and opportunities to develop your expertise, both on challenging client projects and through training.

As we extend beyond pensions, and you move through your career you’ll also be given the opportunity to branch out and broaden your horizons. Some of the extra experiences you could get involved with include broader employee benefit design and advice, financial coaching, and wealth management.

We also have a growing Digital Solutions team, helping us innovate and using technology to drive change in our industry through the development of digital risk management tools, member engagement applications and other web-based software applications.

We’re also considering the use of AI and how big and complex data solutions can be applied across the whole industry to help change it for the better.

What we are looking for in Actuarial Apprentices

We are keen to recruit Apprentices who have a strong interest in this work, have good numerical skills, and can communicate with a wide range of people. We are looking for Apprentices who are enthusiastic and self-motivated to be part of a team and show good levels of self-discipline and time management. We will also be looking to see how applicants align to our core beliefs:

Power in Partnership : We work in partnership with our clients & each other – building open and trusted relationships. Working together allows us to deliver the best for our clients.

Future Focus : We want to push our industry forward by solving problems in better ways that benefit both our clients & society.

Strength in Difference : We work with diverse perspectives to find better solutions. Working with differences makes us stronger.

People First : We recognise that pensions is a people business. People are the source of Isio’s expertise, and it is people’s lives that we affect through our advice.

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