Spence & Partners
Pensions Manager
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About Us
3173 is a privately owned UK firm of pensions experts with clients throughout the UK, serviced from offices in London, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, and Leeds.
The 3173 Group of companies includes Dalriada Trustees Limited (Dalriada) one of the UK’s largest professional pension scheme trustee companies. Spence & Partners provides full pension actuarial, consulting, investment consulting, and administration services that provide simply smarter solutions for trustees, employers, and members, and Mantle: reimagines the traditional models of defined benefit pensions administration and actuarial valuation software.
The 3173 Culture
Our primary aim is to provide interesting, worthwhile, and healthy careers for all our people; we believe that this emphasis sets us apart from our competitors.
We are defined by our ethos and by our goal:
- Our ethos is an individual and collective commitment achieved through carefully balancing responsibility with freedom and flexibility, all of which is underpinned by a willingness to work interdependently. When we get this balance right, it is how we do our best work.
- We look after our staff first and foremost, but for a commercial purpose, which is to deliver great service profitably. By focusing on our goal, we provide the best outcomes for pension scheme members, trustees, and employers.
About You
You will be working as part of our outsourced pensions management and scheme secretarial team. You will act as the lead and day-to-day contact for our clients and will manage the delivery of services to the client through our client teams.
To make an impact in this role you will be self-motivated and eager to improve member outcomes. Your technical pensions knowledge will be balanced with an ability to effectively communicate to a wide range of stakeholders. Your verbal and written communications will be tailored to suit the needs of the audience, and you will be an active promoter of our pensions management services, including helping respond to business opportunities. You should understand the importance of building and maintaining relationships with clients, networking contacts, and your fellow colleagues.
You will be expected to work with your team on a range of pension management and scheme secretarial appointments. Your appointments will be varied and could include agenda setting and minute writing to project and advisor management. You will have proven project management and organization skills as well as evidence of building and managing relationship skills. You will be able to provide leadership and support to other members of your team. You will have the capability to work independently and collaboratively with colleagues across our multi-site business, to ensure timely and high-quality delivery to our clients. You will be committed and driven to deliver service excellence.
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Responsibilities & Criteria
Key Responsibilities
- Act as the primary lead for outsourced pensions services, including scheme secretary duties (permanent or interim) and day-to-day client and adviser relationships.
- Manage and oversee a portfolio of pension schemes and projects, providing end-to-end project management and issue resolution.
- Ensure delivery of high-quality pensions administration and governance services in line with client contracts, internal standards, and regulatory requirements.
- Maintain full scheme compliance, overseeing governance processes, identifying risks, and preventing breaches.
- Own and deliver scheme business plans, proactively managing deviations and leading corrective actions.
- Monitor scheme budgets, supplier costs, and financial performance, ensuring cost recovery, profitability, and minimal write-offs.
- Lead client pensions management projects, including adviser reviews and service improvement initiatives.
- Contribute to business growth by developing professional networks, identifying business development opportunities, and supporting marketing activity such as blogs, seminars, and thought leadership.
- Provide people leadership as required, including line management, mentoring, performance management, and team development.
- Commit to continuous professional development, staying up to date with regulatory and governance changes and participating in ongoing technical and skills training.
Essential Criteria
- Solid pensions industry background.
- Recent experience in a role which specifically included occupational pension scheme.
- Full understanding of pension management and the work carried out by Dalriada.
- Able to demonstrate technical understanding of pension legislation, regulations, and other relevant legislation, codes of practice, including scheme management and compliance, best practice guides, and a good knowledge of defined benefit and defined contribution schemes.
- Excellent budget management skills.
- Proven track record of project management exposure.
- Evidence of client management responsibility and ability to progress with multiple strands of activity.
- Excellent communication skills, both written and oral, with the ability to articulate technical points into lay terms.
- Ability to prioritise and work to client deadlines.
- Use of computerized systems, e.g., Microsoft Office products; in particular Excel, Word, and PowerPoint; and the ability to learn and utilize bespoke systems.
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Circumstances
- Location: Flexible within commutable distance of one of our established offices in London, Manchester, or Glasgow.
- Working hours: Monday to Friday, 37.5 hours per week with additional hours as and when required.
- All roles are subject to a six-month probationary period and all prospective employees are required to complete an Access NI check.
- As part of the pre-hire process the successful candidate will be subject to reference checking security vetting.
- 3173 is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
Applying with a disability or long-term health condition?
As part of our belief that we benefit from the differences among us, we are committed to increasing the representation of disabled colleagues and want to remove any barriers or challenges that get in the way of candidates with a disability or long-term health condition from applying to work with us. As part of this commitment, we guarantee to automatically interview anyone with a disability who meets the minimum criteria.
If there is support or an adjustment that we can provide to enable you to be at your best during the recruitment and selection process, we encourage you to advise us in good time so that we may make suitable arrangements. We understand that being open with us may feel uncomfortable, so please only share with us the information that you are comfortable to share, and rest assured that we will use this only to provide you with the right support. Any information you give us will be treated completely confidentially. To discuss this further, please call 028 9041 2000 and ask to speak to a member of the People & Culture team.
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