Actuary : Career development

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More in this section

1. Job description
2. Salary and conditions
3. Entry requirements
4. Training
5. Career development
6. Employers and vacancy …
7. Related jobs

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Case studies

• Trainee actuary: Jim
• Actuarial student: Victoria Rolfe

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From the excitement of Lloyds London Market, to an advisory role with one of the world's leading consultancy firms, an actuarial career is one of the most diverse, exciting and rewarding. With a professional qualification that is recognised worldwide who knows where the future could take you. Find out more about how to become an actuary.

Once qualified, actuaries can progress quite quickly to managerial positions with greater levels of responsibility for project work and team management, including mentoring new trainees.

An actuarial career offers a great deal of flexibility and although an actuary may choose a particular area of specialisation such as consultancy, investments, life assurance, general insurance, pensions or reinsurance, it is still possible to change areas later in your career. For instance, some actuaries move from pensions firms to work in investment banks or asset management firms, or into large corporations. Enterprise risk management is a developing area offering opportunities for senior actuaries to progress to board level positions as chief risk officers (CRO).

Actuaries may choose to move into product development, marketing and even senior sales roles where the complexity of the product and value of sale require a consultative sales approach. It is also possible to pursue particular areas of interest such as climate change, genetics or energy supply.

Other related areas of work open to experienced actuaries include:

• investment systems;
• technical research;
• commercial activities;
• financial modelling;
• software development;
• valuation work;
• general administration.