Government Actuary's Department
Learning and Development Officer - Higher Executive Officer
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10 South Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14 4PU / Edinburgh Government Hub Queen Elizabeth House, Edinburgh EH8 8FT
Job Summary
The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) is a non-ministerial department, which provides actuarial solutions including financial risk analysis, modelling and advice to support the UK public sector. Our vision is to be bold and trusted partners in risk and finance, enhancing decision making for lasting benefits to society.
This role will help the organisation with a number of initiatives and improvements in talent and learning and development. It supports the Head of Talent & Skills Development to deliver an effective, professional learning and development function that enables a high performing organisation.
The post holder will bring strong expertise, sound judgement, a proactive approach and the confidence to work independently with colleagues across GAD. They will be expected to support the Head of Talent & Skills Development to translate organisational priorities into practical learning solutions, use evidence and feedback to improve outcomes, and provide trusted advice and challenge to stakeholders where appropriate.
Job Description
This role will lead the delivery and continuous improvement of some key projects within GAD’s learning and development offer. The post holder will take ownership of priority L&D programmes and initiatives end-to-end, including the L&D Training Plan, the Actuarial Mentoring Programme and Beyond Boundaries, driving them from scoping and stakeholder engagement through to delivery, evaluation and continuous improvement. Working closely with the Head of Talent & Skills Development, the role holder will act as a subject matter lead on L&D across the organisation, shaping high-quality learning interventions, influencing stakeholders and helping build a high-performing learning culture.
The L&D offer will have to support a broad range of career pathways across GAD, recognising the different development needs of colleagues in analyst, specialist consultant and functional roles, and helping them build the skills and confidence needed to progress and perform effectively.
The HR team is small and operates within a matrix framework. The post holder will therefore need to work flexibly, prioritise effectively and contribute to wider people priorities where this aligns with their expertise, while maintaining focus on L&D delivery, quality and impact.
Person Specification
Programme Leadership
- Own and lead key L&D programmes end-to-end, including the Learning and Development training plan, Actuarial Mentoring Programme and Beyond Boundaries, from initial scoping through delivery, evaluation and iteration
- Act as the primary point of contact and subject matter lead for assigned programmes and L&D activities, managing all stakeholder relationships and communications autonomously
- Develop programme frameworks, timelines, and success metrics, and report progress and outcomes to the Head of Talent & Skills Development and senior stakeholders
- Identify opportunities to expand or evolve existing programmes in response to organisational need and learner feedback
- Lead on the design and facilitation of engaging, learner-centred training interventions, applying best practice across the full learning cycle
- Maintain training records, booking logs and feedback spreadsheets of all L&D and Talent activities.
L&D design and stakeholder engagement
- You will provide professional L&D expertise, advice and challenge to help colleagues and teams build capability and achieve organisational objectives. This includes
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- Help lead the development and delivery of L&D priorities that support GAD’s business plan and workforce capability needs.
- Engage and consult with senior stakeholders, managers and colleagues to identify learning requirements, clarify outcomes and agree practical solutions.
- Design and develop engaging learning initiatives, resources and interventions that reflect best practice and meet identified learner needs.
- Deliver and facilitate interactive training sessions, ensuring a learner-led, inclusive and engaging approach is applied in all delivery.
- Create an energetic and credible learning environment across the organisation, working in partnership with managers to improve knowledge, skills and behaviours.
- Monitor regulatory and professional requirements for staff training and competence, ensuring changes are reflected in relevant learning plans and interventions.
- Build robust evaluation into L&D interventions, using evidence, feedback and outcomes data to assess impact and identify improvements.
- Identify and monitor L&D KPIs, preparing insight-led reports on participation, feedback, costs, budget and delivery for the Head of Talent & Skills Development and senior stakeholders.
- Use feedback and management information to improve the L&D service, strengthen value for money and identify more effective ways of operating.
- Review training and development needs, identify capability gaps and recommend appropriate internal or external learning solutions.
- Support the learning elements of induction, ensuring new starters have clear, relevant and timely development pathways.
- Develop clear and effective communications that promote learning opportunities and explain the purpose, benefits and impact of L&D activity.
- Maintain track of trainee actuary development and exam-related support and monitoring.
- Support and improve apprenticeship and mentoring programmes, ensuring they are aligned with wider talent and capability priorities.
Evaluation & Continuous improvement
Requirements
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Work with HR colleagues to streamline and improve the HR service, proactively suggesting ways to improve quality and efficiency and optimise customer-focused HR, L&D and Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing practices, to deliver people services that are efficient, compliant with Civil Service and employment law requirements and maximise staff engagement in GAD. This includes:
- Supporting organisational change or transformation projects (e.g., relating to organisational development, performance, engagement, culture change, etc)
- Supporting improvement projects to streamline existing HR and L&D systems, processes, procedures and service provision.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
- Managing a Quality Service
- Developing Self and Others
- Changing and Improving
- Working Together
- Communicating and Influencing
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
- Relevant experience or CIPD level 5 qualified (or willing to undertake the qualification). (Essential)
- Good IT skills including MS Office and excellent Excel skills. (Essential)
- Experience of using HR management information systems and of analysis and reporting (Desirable)
Salary and Benefits
Alongside your salary of £42,127, Government Actuary's Department contributes £12,204 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
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As well as competitive salaries, we offer a substantial package of benefits:
- Exceptional learning and development opportunities that you can explore alongside your day-to-day work.
- 25 days annual leave per year, increasing to 30 days after 5 years’ service. In addition, we offer 9 days public and privilege days leave per year (pro rata for part time staff)
- A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
- 5 days of paid volunteering leave
- Up to 9 months maternity leave on full pay + generous paternity and adoption leave
- Staff reward and recognition bonuses that operate throughout the year.
- Occupational sick pay
- Family-friendly policies such as help with caring responsibilities, special leave, generous paid maternity, paternity, and adoption leave.
- Access to employee assistance programme which offers staff 24/7 confidential support and resources such as counselling, debt guidance and management advice.
- The opportunity to join a trade union.
- A working culture which encourages inclusion and diversity.
- Salary advances for travel costs, including annual season tickets and cycle-to-work schemes.
- Access to the Edenred employee benefits system which offers discounts to popular retailers and access to various useful resources such as financial and savings advice.
- Complimentary BUPA health check.
Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Technical skills.
As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:
- A CV setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements. Please ensure you provide employment history that relates to the essential criteria, and that any gaps in employment history within the last 2 years are explained.
- A Personal statement of up to 500-words explaining how you meet the essential criteria for the role, with particular reference to the criteria provided in the person specification of the JD.
Your CV and Personal Statement will be used to assess the essential criteria listed in the job description.
During the interview you will be assessed on the experience and behaviours listed in the Person Specification and detailed in this advert. The interview will include a presentation, details of which will be sent to those invited to interview.
Application deadline: 1200 hrs on 02 September 2026
Shortlisting: w/c 07 September 2026
Interviews: 21 September 2026
Interview location: In office (Either London, E14 4PU or Edinburgh, EH8 8FT)
Please apply via our recruitment portal below.
As part of the application form process, please submit your anonymised CV and supporting statement. Please do not email your CV outside of this process as it will not be accepted.
Shortlisting criteria is based on the Person Specification as set out in the Assessment Criteria section of the Job Description. Please ensure you provide examples of how you meet the Assessment Criteria; a strong application
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