Head of Reserving in London

Who are we? Look at the latest headlines and you will see something Ki insures. Think space shuttles, world tours, wind farms, and even footballers’ legs. Ki’s mission is simple: digitally disrupt and revolutionise a 335-year-old market. Working with Google and UCL, Ki has created a platform that uses algorithms, machine learning and large language models to give insurance brokers quotes in seconds, rather than days. Ki is proudly the biggest global algorithmic insurance carrier and the fastest growing syndicate in the Lloyd's of London market, being the first ever to make $100m in profit in 3 years. Ki’s teams have varied backgrounds and work together in an agile, cross-functional way to build the very best experience for its customers. Ki has big ambitions but needs more excellent minds to challenge the status quo and help it reach new horizons.

Where you come in? The Head of Reserving is a senior leadership role within the Ki Actuarial Leadership Team and a visible, influential voice across Ki, accountable for owning and continuously elevating Ki’s reserving capabilities and translating technical rigour into genuine commercial insight. The best reserve estimates matter, but so does what you do with them: this role is expected to be a genuine business partner, bringing the reserving lens on underwriting performance and long-term profitability—not just back-office sign-off.

The role is highly technical, leading the Actuarial Reserving and Regulatory teams, overseeing the full quarterly reserving cycle alongside related regulatory and statutory processes including IFRS 17 and Solvency II Technical Provisions. It sets and owns the Reserving Policy, maintains robust governance, and ensures all outputs meet the highest professional and regulatory standards—with clear audit trails, well-justified assumptions, and tight controls across the full reserving and regulatory domain. This is a leadership role, where developing and managing an experienced team, as well as a variety of internal and external stakeholders, is core. But equally important is the ability to think creatively, move quickly, and influence decisively. The ideal candidate is a self-starter and agile thinker: technically excellent, commercially minded, a natural project and stakeholder manager, and a problem-solver who thrives in complexity. In a business that is still building and evolving, this person will be energised by the opportunity to define what ‘best in class’ looks like—and then build it.

What you will be doing:

• Set the strategic direction for the Reserving and Regulatory teams—defining what good looks like, team structure and talent to deliver, building high standards into every process, and holding the function to a consistent bar of technical excellence and commercial relevance.
• Lead and develop the Actuarial Reserving and Regulatory teams, leading teams of experienced managers to coach new analysts.
• Coach, appraise, and stretch direct reports, with a clear commitment to building a diverse and high-calibre team.
• Serve as a senior leader within the Ki Actuarial Leadership Team and a key voice at the executive level, helping to shape the strategic direction of the Actuarial function and contributing meaningfully to Ki’s broader commercial and organisational ambitions.
• Build and embed robust, efficient, and well-documented processes across the reserving and regulatory function.
• Champion automation and innovation to reduce operational drag and free capacity for higher-value analytical work.
• Lead and own all aspects of the quarterly reserving cycle, including core reserving, IFRS 17, and Solvency UK Technical Provisions (TP), ensuring compliance with all internal governance, professional standards, and regulatory requirements.
• Set and manage the Reserving Policy and related policies, maintaining appropriate governance, documentation, controls, and audit trails.
• Ensure all methods, assumptions, and judgements are clearly justified and consistently applied across classes.
• Deliver best-in-class reserving processes through leadership of the technical build, development, and maintenance of reserving systems.
• Embrace innovative and sophisticated techniques, and leverage technology to drive efficiency and quality.
• Act as a true business partner across Ki—working collaboratively with Claims, Risk, Portfolio Management, Pricing, Outwards RI, Portfolio Underwriting, and the Algorithm teams to develop effective feedback loops, integrate information, and disseminate reserving insight that actively challenges assumptions and steers strategic and commercial decisions.
• Deliver and continually develop value-adding insight to the business, applying thought leadership and creativity to lift the signal from the data to the business.

Qualifications:

• Qualified Actuary (FIA, FFA or equivalent), with extensive experience in London Market reserving.
• Obtained a relevant, numerate degree with a good overall grade.
• Experience in managing a team of qualified and student actuaries – prioritising workloads.
• Self-starter, creative thinker and problem solver.
• Act with integrity. Act with due skill, care and diligence.
• Excellent IT skills, experience coding, with track record of applying AI in an insurance setting.

The incumbent must also demonstrate the skills and ability:

• Technical authority - expert in your area, respected for both technical (Reserving, TP, IFRS) and wider business knowledge, serving as a resource for knowledge and best practice, considering the impact on relevant stakeholders throughout.
• Communication & Stakeholder influence - strong communicator both verbal and written, maintaining effective relationships across various functions. Manages stakeholders up, as well as encourages open discussion and contribution from others.
• Problem Solver - always bringing solutions to challenges, with an appetite to deliver in creative and pragmatic ways to complex problems.
• Excellent People leadership - inspiring, supporting, and motivating your team, managing resources to meet agreed deadlines, delivering and ensuring appropriate upwards management. Thinks strategically about resource, to identify and fill gaps, overall creating a positive working environment for all.
• Innovation & improvement - embracing of technology, with a drive for effective and efficient “best in class” processes, including data science and Python-based reserving environments.
• Accountability & Integrity - accountability for all decisions within own area of responsibility, embodying high professional standards, acting in accordance with applicable professional and regulatory standards.

You’ll get a highly competitive remuneration and benefits package. This is kept under constant review to make sure it stays relevant. We understand the power of saying thank you and take time to acknowledge and reward extraordinary effort by teams or individuals.

What to expect during the recruitment process:

• Initial recruiter screening call
• Interview with hiring manager
• Technical Interview (this may vary depending on the role)
• Values Interview