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Senior Quant Strategist (12-Month FTC)

Full Time Marketing

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 Companywide strategic objectives and driving a healthy culture based on our PIC Values of Resilient, Adaptable, and Loyal.

Role purpose

  • The role requires the ability to effectively collaborate with Investments and our partner teams across the firm to secure their buy-in and implement improvements to systems, processes, and technology, as appropriate.
  • To apply knowledge and insights concerning the Asset Liability Management of the Investment Portfolio and how this impacts our policyholders.
  • To deliver strong business outcomes relating to capital, profitability, the Company brand and market reputation whilst achieving positive outcomes to our policy holders on a consistent basis.
  • Our Company values are expected to be reflected in the delivery and performance of every role.

Specific role purpose of Senior Quant Strategist within the ALM Team:

The ALM team is at the core of PIC’s business and generates value through the management and optimisation of assets versus liabilities. The team seeks to optimise PIC’s investment strategy in line with the firm’s risk appetite. The Quant Strategist team are responsible for developing, maintaining, and enhancing the key quantitative models within the ALM Team. This includes the hedging infrastructure and the portfolio optimization tools used within the team. The ALM Team comprises individuals with varied investment backgrounds (Portfolio managers, Quants, Actuaries and Consultants) and the Quant Strategist will be relied upon to develop and enhance the team’s quantitative models. Quant Strategist will be closely working with other ALM teams to risk manage the business, drive transactions, and identify market opportunities.

Specific accountabilities assigned to the role of Senior Quant Strategist within the ALM team:

Responsible for the design, enhancement and maintenance of advanced quantitative models and systems to support the management of PIC’s balance sheet, ensuring high standards of accuracy and robustness.

Lead the enhancement of bulk annuity pricing and implementation optimisation models, improving functionality and algorithms to support efficient portfolio construction and maximise implementation performance.

Take ownership of key modelling initiatives, working independently and guiding junior team members in the development of tools and methodologies for portfolio construction, asset selection, and risk monitoring.

Collaborate actively with the ALM team and wider investment team, contributing to strategic analysis and identifying opportunities to improve balance sheet metrics and portfolio outcomes.

Contribute to the development of the new quant platform, by delivering key balance sheet modules and library functions to support stress testing and scenario analysis

Takes ownership for their own learning and development in both technical (e.g. data analysis and critical judgement) and non-technical (self-insight and relationship management) skills across the Investment Team.

Keeps informed of industry trends, market developments, regulatory changes in the public and private sectors, as well as best practices related to SII by attending industry seminars, reading and sharing relevant published articles.

Requirements

Knowledge

  • Financial Product Knowledge: Good understanding of fixed income products, derivatives, and familiarity with LDI strategies.
  • Strong Financial modelling: Derivative modelling, especially LPI
  • Regulatory Insight: Solid understanding of Defined Benefit pension schemes and Solvency II.
  • Technical Awareness: Familiarity with API usage, SQL, and integration with modelling infrastructure.

Experience

  • Quant Experience: Strong experience independently delivering complex modelling and analytical tasks with clear business impact.
  • Front-Office Experience: Proven ability to operate in a fast-paced investment environment, translating quantitative insights into actionable decisions and meet tight deadlines.
  • Qualification: Degree in a quantitative discipline such as mathematics, physics, engineering. Advanced qualifications such as a PhD, FIA, or CFA are advantageous but not essential.

Benefits

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), study support with qualifications, a generous pension scheme and much more.

Pension Insurance Corporation
About Pension Insurance Corporation

Pension Insurance Corporation (PIC) is a company with a clear purpose, a strong link to the creation of social value, and a culture that allows our employees to grow with the company and see the contribution they make to our success. PIC pays the pensions of hundreds of thousands of members and former members of UK defined benefit pension schemes.

We invest in long-term assets, like UK infrastructure and regeneration projects, to provide the very long-term cashflows we need to pay those pensions over the coming decades. These investments have the beneficial outcome of supporting jobs and apprenticeships, driving economic growth, and creating significant social value.

Our objective is to create long-term social value as we fulfil our purpose, leading to sustainable  benefits for the economy, the environment and society. It gives our policyholders, employees, and others a sense of community and engagement as we continue to transition to a more green and sustainable way of working. There are four distinct pillars:  

  1. Protecting the environment by transitioning to Net Zero, meeting our carbon commitments 
    and increasing the positive biodiversity impact of our real assets.
  2. Being a responsible investor by integrating ESG into our investment processes, active participation in ESG industry initiatives, as well as investing in Sustainable Assets and mapping the impact they create.  
  3. Making communities sustainable, safe, and inclusive by investing across the UK in assets that provide essential services, helping turn brownfield assets into greener alternatives, providing local employment and skill development opportunities and providing financial and non-financial charity support.
  4. Long-term sustainable business by promoting a culture that is inclusive and diverse, providing detailed and transparent reporting, and ensuring long-term alignment of stakeholders.

We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer: we treat everyone equally, regardless of age, gender identity, race and ethnicity, disability, neurodiversity, sexual orientation or religion. Our DEI activity is incorporated into our hiring process and the makeup of our organisation.

PIC supports several DEI initiatives through corporate sponsorship including Social Capital 
Network, the Actuarial Mentoring Programme (AMP), LGBT Great, GAIN (Girls Are INvestors), the 10000 Interns Foundation and Women In Banking & Finance, which provides female colleagues, at all levels, with access to development and networking opportunities, and the business with channels to recruit more female talent. We have a PIC Women’s Network and a dedicated Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Forum, which is comprised of employees from across the business.

Our gender pay gap figure of 11.4% is below the financial services indicative average of 22.7%. PIC recruited approximately 146 new joiners since 2022 and of these, 43% were women.

Outside of our day-to-day roles, our people enjoy a variety of events throughout the year which 
bring us altogether, including: sports teams, including netball and football, monthly Town Halls, our famous annual Treasure Hunt, our summer PICnic, tyPICal Days, and charity fundraisers e.g. End of Summer Party, annual quizzes. The notions of making a difference and giving back are a key part of life here at PIC.

Our two main charity partners are Independent Age and Rethink Mental Illness with various events occurring throughout the year such as half marathons. We encourage our people to participate by offering two days’ volunteer leave per year and also match charitable fundraising.

Depending on your role, what you need and what the business needs, we may support you in gaining a professional qualification. Our dedicated Learning & Development team is here to support you, creating learning environments where you can continuously develop to reach your potential and meet your career goals. Learning is about much more than just attending courses, and includes classroom training, virtual training, digital training, coaching, mentoring, and knowledge sharing events. During 2023, we were delighted to be awarded Investors in People Silver Award.

Workplace Initiatives

  • Programme for parents returning to work after Parental Leave? Yes
  • Leadership development programmes? Yes
  • Mentoring programmes? Yes
  • Coaching programmes? Yes
  • Employee-led diversity networks? Yes
  • Internal women’s networking groups? Yes
  • Open to discussing flexible work arrangements at interview stage? Yes
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