Apprenticeship - Investment Advisory, Birmingham - 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.

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.

Investment Advisory Apprenticeship – 2025 intake Location: Birmingham - 1 Colmore Square, Birmingham, B4 6AJ 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.

Length of Programme: Successful applicants will be employed on a permanent basis. Our Apprentices will complete a Level 4 Investment Operations Specialist Apprenticeship within 2 years. After completing the Level 4 Apprenticeship and doing well in their role, there is the opportunity to progress working towards qualification as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA).

Entry Requirements: To apply for Isio's Investment Advisory (Pensions) Apprenticeship you need to be available for full-time employment from mid-September 2025. You will need to have achieved the following academic qualifications:

• 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.

Working in Investment Advisory will require a good level of numerical ability which will be assessed during our recruitment process.

Investment Advisory Apprenticeship – the opportunity: Our Investment Advisory team is an area of rapid growth within our company. Providing invaluable services to pensions, trustees, corporate and wealth management clients, we advise on a diverse range of investment-related subjects, including asset allocation, financial risk management and fund manager selection. Your Apprenticeship will give you a great foundation for a successful career in this key part of Isio's offer to our clients. Our services are purely advisory - we don't manage any money for clients or trade in any securities. Working with institutional investors such as pension funds, corporations and other wealth holders (e.g., insurance companies or private wealth clients), we offer a wide range of investment advice in areas where our Investment Apprentices will build their experience.

During your Apprenticeship in Investment consulting at Isio you will get involved in:

• Working in a client team to assist in the delivery of client advice, ranging from the appropriate investment strategy to implementation of the chosen strategy.
• Setting up our asset liability and allocation models to better understand the client's range of potential future outcomes.
• Preparing and presenting investment monitoring reports to our clients.
• Asset class research; evaluating investment cases and current market pricing for asset classes – from traditional equities to alternatives such as direct lending.
• Researching fund managers and fiduciary managers.

You will be supported with training alongside the other apprentices, your local office team and also national training to help you learn both specific knowledge and develop effective personal behaviours. Your learning will be focussed on progressing through a Level 4 Investment Operations Specialist Apprenticeship, guided by our external learning partner. At each stage of the process, you will be in control of your progression and supported by a people manager and a local 'buddy', alongside informal mentors across the organisation. Our vision is that after several years you will be an experienced and key member of the team and progressing to achieving qualification as a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst).

What we are looking for in Apprentices in Investment Consulting: We are keen to recruit Apprentices who have a strong interest in investments, current affairs and financial markets, have good numerical skills, and can communicate 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, organisational skills 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.