Technology Manager - Actuarial Platforms

Job Title

Job Description

The Technology function is responsible for the security, resilience and evolution of Pacific Life Re’s technology estate. It is organised into four core areas:

• Global Technology Solutions, Platforms & Products
• Global Service & Infrastructure Management
• Enterprise Architecture & Data
• Technology Risk
  

This role sits within the Actuarial Platforms team, part of Global Technology Solutions. The team supports technology used by Corporate Actuarial, Pricing, and Research & Development teams globally and is responsible for the reliable operation of business-critical actuarial modelling and analytical platforms.

The platforms supported by the team include actuarial modelling tools, assumptions management, asset cashflow optimisation, analytical environments, Python and SQL-based solutions, and high-performance computing platforms used for large-scale workflow orchestration.

Role Overview

We are looking to recruit a Technology Manager to lead and support our team of Platform Analysts.

This is an active management and coordination role with responsibility for the people, planning, governance and day-to-day coordination needed to keep the Actuarial Platforms function running effectively. The successful candidate will ensure that Platform Analysts have clear priorities, manageable workloads, appropriate support and opportunities to develop.

Working closely with the AVP, Actuarial Platforms, the manager will take ownership of the day-to-day management, planning, governance and operational coordination of the Actuarial Platforms function. The role will ensure that routine management activities are driven to completion, freeing the AVP to focus on strategic priorities, technology direction and major change initiatives.

The successful candidate must be comfortable working in a technical environment, asking appropriate questions, challenging constructively and ensuring that decisions and actions have clear ownership.

Role Responsibilities

People Leadership & Development

• Manage the Platform Analyst team, including regular one-to-ones, objective setting, performance reviews and development planning.
• Coach and support team members, providing clear feedback and creating opportunities for development and progression.
• Build capability and resilience across the team through knowledge sharing, cross-training and succession planning.
• Support recruitment, onboarding and wider people-management activities across the Actuarial Platforms and Technology functions.

Team Management

• Run regular team meetings, operational reviews, planning workshops and other team forums.
• Establish clear ownership and follow-through for team actions, decisions, risks and dependencies.
• Manage and prioritise workload across the Platform Analyst team, balancing operational support, change, project and governance activities.
• Coordinate team cover around leave, critical business periods and competing priorities.
• Continuously improve how the team organises, communicates and manages its work, reducing unnecessary administration where possible.

Planning & Reporting

• Own and coordinate the Actuarial Platforms quarterly planning process, including demand, priorities, dependencies and resource requirements.
• Maintain the team's plans, actions, risks and dependencies, ensuring owners and deadlines are clear and follow-up happens.
• Track delivery against agreed priorities and proactively identify slippage, capacity constraints and areas requiring escalation.
• Produce concise management reporting and status updates for the AVP and relevant governance forums.

Operational Oversight

• Maintain oversight of platform health, operational issues, recurring problems and risks across the Actuarial Platforms estate.
• Horizon scan for upcoming business activity, platform changes, lifecycle concerns, resource constraints and other emerging risks.
• Ensure significant issues have clear ownership, appropriate escalation and are followed through to resolution.
• Help drive continuous improvement across platform operations, resilience, monitoring, documentation and support processes.

Risk, Controls & Governance

• Own the coordination and tracking of recurring audit, risk, control and governance activities across Actuarial Platforms.
• Coordinate user & privileged access reviews, control attestations, audit evidence, remediation actions and other recurring control obligations.
• Ensure governance actions and approvals are completed within agreed timescales, proactively chasing outstanding items.
• Review and authorise activities within delegated authority, escalating exceptions and material risks appropriately.

Stakeholder & Wider Technology Engagement

• Act as a key management contact for the Platform Analyst team, working closely with actuarial stakeholders and wider Technology teams.
• Coordinate cross-team activity and help resolve priorities, dependencies, ownership gaps and resource constraints.
• Represent Actuarial Platforms in relevant operational, planning and governance forums.
• Support the AVP, Actuarial Platforms with wider resource management, reporting, governance and team activities.

Competencies Skills & Experience

Essential

• Proven experience leading, managing and developing people, including performance management and objective setting.
• Strong workload management, prioritisation and resource planning skills.
• Experience of planning, tracking delivery and management reporting across multiple priorities.
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively.
• Experience working within a Technology, Platforms, Application Support or similar technical environment.
• Good understanding of technology risk, governance and controls, including change, access management and audit.
• Strong organisational skills, with the ability to manage competing demands and ensure actions are followed through.
• Ability to identify and manage risks, issues and dependencies, escalating appropriately.
• Proven ability to take ownership of complex workloads, proactively drive actions through to completion and operate effectively with limited supervision.

Desirable

• Background in insurance, reinsurance, financial services or another regulated environment.
• Previous responsibility for teams supporting business-critical applications or technology platforms.
• Practical experience of audit, risk remediation, access reviews and change management.
• Familiarity of quarterly planning, demand management and resource forecasting.
• Broad understanding of modern technology platforms, infrastructure, cloud and automation.

Working For Pacific Life Re

Every person in our global team is valued for the unique qualities they bring to our business and we seek to build their expertise and support their individual ambitions at every step. Of course, we take our work seriously and we know our team can operate under great pressure. We work hard and thrive on achievement, but we also know how to have fun and relax too. We regularly host a range of team building days to strengthen our team's connection with each other and reflect on their successes.

Providing employees with a healthy work-life balance is very important to our culture. We have a wide range of employee benefits and we host regular social activities and well being initiatives. We are also committed to supporting our employee's involvement in their communities, by actively fundraising, hosting charity events and overseeing volunteering opportunities.

Benefits (Only for Permanent and Fixed Term Employees)

Leave

• 25 days of annual leave with option to buy/sell more days 

• Adoption and fertility leave 

• Generous enhanced parental leave 

Healthcare

• Comprehensive private insurance coverage for employee and dependents

• Group Life Insurance coverage of 9x basic annual salary and Group Income Protection up to 75% of basic annual salary 

• Optical benefits 

Savings & Retirement

• 15% combined employee/employer contributions 

Wellness

• Subsidized gym membership 

• Access to Employee Assistance Program 

• Cycle to Work and Electric Car Salary Sacrifice Scheme 

• Time off for volunteering 

• Charitable matching of employee donations 

You Can Be Who You Are

We are committed to a culture of diversity and inclusion that embraces the authenticity of all employees, partners and communities. We support all employees to thrive and achieve their fullest potential.

As part of our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we will provide reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process to ensure equal access to applicants with disabilities. Please contact us about your needs so that we can discuss these with you to make sure that suitable adjustments are made, where possible.

Pacific Life Re Values

Please click here to view our company values