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Actuary
Senior Actuarial Consultant - Strategic Underwriting Support
Looking for a role that will make a meaningful impact on the strategic underwriting decisions our business makes?
At Markel, the primary purpose of this position is to provide advanced actuarial analyses, based on generally accepted actuarial principles, to support data-driven decision-making. You’ll offer guidance and mentorship to junior Actuaries while ensuring analyses span key areas such as Pricing, Reserving, Reinsurance, Corporate Reporting, or combinations thereof.
What Part Will You Play?
A place where you can make a meaningful difference? We’d love for you to help us reach that potential.
Markel offers a global community of optimists and problem-solvers. Every team challenges one another to push boundaries—because our shared progress helps others do the same.
Join us today and play your part in something remarkable.
The Opportunity
You’ll work within 33 international actuarial professionals, spanning multiple locations. While primarily based in London, this team operates flexibly across remote and office-based roles and collaborates with colleagues globally (in the US and worldwide). Travel is required for office visits and conferences (both internal and external).
Your core responsibility is to provide advanced actuarial insights and serve as a subject matter expert, guiding non-actuarial stakeholders, representing the department across functions, and presenting actuarial findings.
You will:
- Provide strong technical and operational support to marketing leadership, managing resources, prioritising workloads, and ensuring high-quality deliverables for underwriting divisions (focusing primarily on reserving, but also including large account pricing, tool validation, business planning, and capital model parameterisation).
- Maintain strong relationships with underwriting teams to support reserving and pricing activities.
- Line-manage a junior actuarial trainee (if applicable).
- Own key processes for external deliverables (e.g., stakeholder reporting).
- Support the wider Markel International Actuarial team.
Primary Responsibilities
Here’s what your day-to-day will look like:
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- Managing resources & project prioritisation: Working closely with product team leadership to ensure alignment and delivery of critical actuarial work (e.g., reserving, large account pricing, market analysis).
- Collaborating with underwriters: Providing reserving, pricing, and business planning expertise to support portfolio management and risk assessment.
- Technical project execution: Designing and implementing actuarial studies required for parameterisation, reserving validation, and reinsurance optimisation.
- Stakeholder alignment: Presenting findings to senior management (finance, underwriting, reinsurance etc.) and ensuring actuarial insights are incorporated into strategic decisions.
- Process ownership: Leading improvements in how analysed data is collected, modelled, and presented externally.
- Mentorship: Supporting junior actuaries (including students) in career development through expertise and guidance.
- Facilitating team dynamics: Collaborating as part of a global team and fostering professional relationships at a senior level.
Must-Have Skills & Experience
Technical Skills
- Expertise in pricing methodologies (including risk adjustment, reservation, and capital modelling for underwriting).
- Experience in reserving techniques (e.g., claim triangles, chain-ladder, three-state models) with the ability to assess estimator reliability.
- Competency with capital models (solution methods (Solvency II, Risk Margot, or similar).
- Use and configuration of pricing tools (e.g., R, Excel Rider, ActCE).
Leadership & Stakeholder Management
- Ability to build strong relations with senior stakeholders (Finance, Underwriting, Capital, Reinsurance, and Claims).
- Confidence in prioritising workloads and managing cross-team dependencies.
- Comfort managing a team while liaising effectively across multiple disciplines.
Experience & Qualification
- Strong foundation in advisory guidance for executives during portfolio reviews or reserve triennial reviews.
- Experience delivering technical report analysis for risk management objectives, especially within corporate reporting and governance.
- Experience mentoring junior colleagues, including trainees.
- Strong command of Excel and R/Python essential, ideally with additional proficiency in SQL or data visualisation tools.
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Workplace Requirements
- Minimum on-site presence: Must be available in London at least 2 days per week.
- Flexible hybrid working arrangement also expected for the ideal candidate.
Why Markel?
Our Culture
At Markel Group (NYSE – MKL), we create opportunities for our people to grow and support others. As a Fortune 500 company with over 60 offices across 20+ countries, we foster a culture built on collaboration, innovation, and inclusion.
Our purpose? Helping people seize opportunities with confidence through insurance, reinsurance, advisory, and investment.
Our values drive our team:
- We’re all about people
- We win together
- We strive for better
- We enjoy the everyday
- We think further
Benefits Package
- Competitive Starting Salary + annual performance bonus.
- 25 days paid holiday (plus UK bank holidays) + flexible leave options for extra days.
- An exceptional pension scheme, plus private medical/dental insurance—including global healthcare for expat-eligible roles.
- Life assurance, travel insurance, and income protection for both global and UK-based roles.
- Season ticket loan scheme plus host of additional benefits.
- Free afternoon some Fridays (Markel´s famous ‘Crazy Fridays’).
- Return-to-work policy of 16 weeks.
Ready to Make an Impact?
Girls in Actuarial & Financial Markets? Learn more here: gap-soc.org
What’s Next?
Choose ‘Apply Now’—we want to get to know you through your short application, and accelerate your career with us.
Our Commitment to Diversity
Markel embraces and values our diverse voices from varied backgrounds and life experiences. If this positions sounds like you, we’ll be in touch.
We’re an equal opportunities employer named ‘Best for LGBT’ among mid-sized employers by Microsoft in 2023.
Accommodation Disability
We ensure accommodations are provided for disabilities throughout recruitment acquisition and throughout performance. Email: rec@markel.com Phone: +44 161 507 5827
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