I have nearly 19 years experience across a number of actuarial teams
Post qualification I moved from with-profits management to an Assumption Actuary role within the Finance department. Despite being a sideways move it opened opportunities to learn something technical as well as learning new skills. The move widened my stakeholders but also involved owning a lot of new processes which were new to me. The steep learning curve meant there was a lot of opportunity for growth and kept the day job very interesting.
I then moved onto a project which delivered the full risk distribution approach to calulating the SCR. This was in effect a stretch role, to push me to the next level. It involved managing a larger team, many of whom were strong technically but involved technical work, providing progress updates, producing slides to explain complex ideas to senior management and hitting tight deadlines. I have enjoyed seeing the team grow and develop as the processes have bedded in and seen the team make a number of improvements since inception.
I manage a team which is responsible for reviewing the SCR
The team are responsible for reviewing the SCR (solvency capital requirement) which uses a full risk distribution approach using a proxy model each quarterly valuation. We produce, calibrate and review the proxy loss functions. We produce and review the post-diversified SCR, and we produce, analyse and review the proxy model validation (how proxy result compares to what would have been produced using MG-ALFA and relevant manuals). In between the quarterly valuations we produce 200 balance sheet sensitivities which other teams use for hedging, capital policy, risk appetite and other key business decisions.
Likes to be busy and have interesting work to do
I used to moan about having too much work and things constantly changing, but then when projects landed and work got more manageable, I'd find myself having itchy feet and wanting to find something more challenging. That's a good thing about Phoenix, the business is changing so much, that each valuation, each annual review (of anything) isn't the same as the previous one. There's also plenty of projects on the go which means more opportunity for seconding / moving onto one, and also plenty of secondment / role opportunities in other actuarial teams in Phoenix.
Embrace change and be prepared to take on a new challenge
I understand this isn't for everyone but we're in a business and company which thrives on change so we should be accustomed to it. Change is good for your career progression and also ties in with personal challenge which helps with development. You don't know whether your good at something until you've tried it and you'll be surprised how the skills gained in one role can be translated and enhanced in another.
Achieving the role I'm in now
Sounds cheesy, but there's a few to choose from including qualifying as an actuary, winning the Phoenix football tournament a number of times (despite not being that great), running two marathons (with minimal training) and becoming a family man. However, I've chosen the example above because the latest career step-up always seemed far off and a large leap. But I took on a lot of constructive feedback, a lot of knocks along the way but my previous managers put a lot of faith in me. I took myself out of my comfort zone to take on a project role which was a stretch for me and proved to myself and others that I had to skills to do the role but could also improve myself to take ownership of the role and bring it into BAU.
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