Apprenticeship - Actuarial & Consulting, Leeds - 2025 Intake

About Us: Without careful consideration today, tomorrow's pensions don't exist. That's where Isio comes in, giving our clients the advice and support they need to deliver better outcomes and financial wellbeing for their members in the decades to come. Isio provides full-service pensions consultancy to our 1000+ corporate clients, from actuarial expertise through to investment advice, third-party pensions administration and advising clients on providing the best possible reward and benefits packages for their employees. Isio launched in March 2020 out of KPMG UK's pensions practice and has grown to over 1100 people working across 10 offices across the UK.

Starting your Career at Isio: We’re a People First business, so we want to make sure that you are supported to reach your goals, whatever they may be. We’ll support you with studying to achieve key professional qualifications. You will be able to develop your workplace skills while learning from industry experts who are looking to challenge the sector by delivering better solutions. We aim to create an environment where you can succeed in a role which makes the most of your existing skills and develops new ones. We are committed to inclusion and belonging and will support you in bringing your whole self to work every day. Isio are keen to recruit from all sections of our communities and provide excellent careers for everyone in the business.

We are keen to support those starting their career at Isio with building a strong foundation for their professional career. When you join Isio as a new Apprentice, we will provide you with:

• Great hands-on experience working alongside experienced professionals.
• Dedicated time and support for studying for your Apprenticeship qualification.
• Development opportunities to support building key workplace skills and behaviours.
• Structured salary progression recognising your progression and contribution.
• Career development beyond your Apprenticeship.

Isio is growing at a fast and exciting pace. Starting your career at Isio will be a great balance of working with experts in their field within an innovative organisation that is looking to drive positive and innovative change in its sector. Apprentices at Isio have acknowledged their positive experience, as shown by our ranking as the Top Employer for Apprentices to work for in Consulting according to the Job Crowd 2023 rankings.

Actuarial (Pensions) Apprenticeship – 2025 intake

Length of programme: The offer of employment will be on a permanent basis. Apprentices will be supported in working to complete a Level 4 Actuarial Technician Apprenticeship in 2-3 years. After completing this Apprenticeship and if performing well, you will be supported with progressing with study and work to achieve fully qualified status as an Actuary with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Location: Leeds - 34 Boar Lane, Leeds, LS1 5DA. Apprentices at Isio will be expected to work in their main Isio office around 2-3 days per week on average with more time in the office in their first few months.

Entry Requirements:

• GCSE in English and Maths at Grade 4 or C or an equivalent, or higher.
• Qualifications equivalent to 96 UCAS points (since 2017), or 240 UCAS points (before 2017) across 3 A Levels or equivalent qualifications. This must include a qualification in Mathematics equivalent to an A Level at Grade C or higher.

Working as an Actuarial Apprentice at Isio will require a good level of numerical and problem-solving ability which will be assessed during our recruitment process.

Actuarial Apprenticeships – the opportunity at Isio: Pension schemes are part of the backbone of the UK savings industry – relied on by millions to give them a reliable and secure income in retirement. However, whilst remaining an important part of how organisations pay and reward their employees, they also often pose significant financial risks. Balancing the costs and risks of a pension scheme as well as meeting best practice governance requirements is becoming increasingly complex – yet essential for a pension scheme to succeed. The needs of the industry, individuals and our clients are ever changing.

At Isio, we constantly look at ways to innovate and develop new solutions to overcome these challenges through our Actuarial & Consulting services. An actuarial career in pensions requires a high level of both numeracy and communication skills – as well as the enthusiasm and drive needed to gain professional qualifications and succeed in a fast-moving market. Our clients value strong technical knowledge in understanding the required capacity of pension funds.

Isio’s Actuarial Apprenticeship programme offers the opportunity to get more insight and build valuable experience of both technical actuarial knowledge and skills and effective workplace skills.

What you will be doing: As an industry leader, we offer a wide range of opportunities for Apprentices to train and build their core consulting and analytical skills. But we will also want to hear your views and help you introduce fresh ways of thinking. Some of the things you’ll be involved in as an actuarial Apprentice are below but remember, our work stretches beyond pensions and that’s where we set ourselves apart:

• Applying actuarial skills and concepts to calculate the value of pension and other benefits for employers and trustees.
• Financial modelling and risk analysis to help clients understand their future pension obligations and principal risks.
• Advising clients on their pensions strategy and how to manage these risks, both on a day-to-day basis and when considering a long-term objective.
• Designing and implementing employee communication programmes.
• Helping clients understand and manage accounting, tax and legislative changes that affect their pension schemes.
• Contributing to proposals for new business opportunities.
• Attending client meetings and explaining the team’s work.

During your Apprenticeship you will get the opportunity to develop analytical skills while observing how we effectively consult for our clients.

Training and Development: We will support you in working with our training partner to complete a Level 4 Actuarial Technician Apprenticeship. Alongside this you will also benefit from in-house training technical actuarial skills, knowledge, and key workplace skills. After successful completion of your Level 4 Apprenticeship and if you continue to perform well, the aim will be to support you in progressing to full qualification as an Actuary as a Fellow of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.

Isio’s Actuarial Apprenticeship Programme is just the start. It will give you a strong foundation, great client experience, professional training, and core consulting skills. Given our exciting growth plans, there are opportunities to progress a really varied career as an Actuary in Pensions as you build specialist skills and knowledge in your field of interest. Throughout your career at Isio you’ll be offered ongoing support and opportunities to develop your expertise, both on challenging client projects and through training.

As we extend beyond pensions, and you move through your career you’ll also be given the opportunity to branch out and broaden your horizons. Some of the extra experiences you could get involved with include broader employee benefit design and advice, financial coaching, and wealth management. We also have a growing Digital Solutions team, helping us innovate and using technology to drive change in our industry through the development of digital risk management tools, member engagement applications and other web-based software applications. This includes AI and how big and complex data solutions can be applied across the whole industry to help change it for the better.

What we are looking for in Actuarial Apprentices: We are keen to recruit Apprentices who have a strong interest in this work, with good numerical skills. You need to be confident in communicating effectively with a wide range of people. We are looking for Apprentices who are enthusiastic and self-motivated to be part of a team and show good levels of self-discipline and time management. We will also be looking to see how applicants align to our core beliefs:

• Power in Partnership: We work in partnership with our clients & each other – building open and trusted relationships. Working together allows us to deliver the best for our clients.
• Future Focus: We want to push our industry forward by solving problems in better ways that benefit both our clients & society.
• Strength in Difference: We work with diverse perspectives to find better solutions. Working with differences makes us stronger.
• People First: We recognise that pensions is a people business. People are the source of Isio’s expertise, and it is people’s lives that we affect through our advice.