Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri
Details
TEAM SUMMARY:
Kemper proudly serves growing niche and underserved markets by providing appropriate and affordable insurance and financial solutions. This is enabled by a team of dynamic, innovative employees who act like owners and are continually driven by intellectual curiosity, analytical superiority, and being world-class operators.
Kemper Life is building a first in class actuary team to support this strategic intent. This role is a great opportunity for the right person who wants to be part of building a new team in a dynamic growing company. We are looking for the person who can help us make a difference by best serving the needs of our customers. Come join us in Growing for LIFE.
POSITION SUMMARY:
As a Director on Kemper Life Actuarial team, you will assist the VP, Valuation Actuary in establishing and leading a world class valuation/reserving/modeling function and team to facilitate the continued growth of the organization. This position will interact closely with other leaders throughout the organization to create valuation and financial reporting, management reporting, financial planning/forecasting, ALM and Economic Capital Modeling. Additionally, this position will work closely with the data science team to develop advanced analytic tools to evaluate and manage the entire valuation reporting and projection cycle.
Location: This position can be based out of Chicago, IL, or our St. Louis, MO office.
*Travel will be required as the business necessitates.
POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:
- Lead and manage strategic Valuation projects, with a particular focus on modeling projects. Project work varies and could include designing solutions that meet business needs, hands-on implementation, and review of other team members' work
- Establish a sophisticated model governance framework for the Valuation team, including a framework for change management processes that is aligned with best practices
- Lead the design, implementation of changes/enhancements, and maintenance of Kemper's Moody's GGY AXIS models, tailored to Kemper's reporting and data needs
- Partner closely with IT, Information & Insights, and Model Risk Governance teams in the management of actuarial models including: change management, Moody's GGY Enterprise Link / GridLink configuration management, and model performance management
- Review and optimize AXIS model performance, including execution in a grid environment and model batch configurations for efficiencies
- Establish best practices and controls to ensure accuracy and compliance with model and data governance standards
- Develop/enhance reporting tools and analyses to understand drivers of financial results and to improve processes related to Valuation
- Analyze and communicate financial impacts of valuation model and data updates / improvements to both actuaries and non-actuaries
- Assist with audit and other external requests as needed
- Support management on any ad hoc requests
POSITION QUALIFICATIONS:
- Education equivalent to a Bachelor's degree in actuarial science, mathematics, statistics or related field, or the equivalent in related work experience.
- Fellow (FSA) in the Society of Actuaries; Associate (ASA) with equivalent experience and demonstrated equivalent knowledge may be considered
- A minimum of 7 to 10 years of experience, preferably with valuation and/or modeling
- At least 2 to 4 years of leadership experience leading teams and/or projects of various size and complexity
- Experience in a publicly traded company
- Strong understanding of traditional life, accident & health products and riders, including valuation and reserving methodologies and compliance requirements
- Experience developing and managing a team that is strong in both innovative thinking and technical skills
- Experience providing internal service to a business, forming strong relationships, understanding client experiences and expectations and working to anticipate needs
- Ability to review others work for reasonableness but also dive into the details, if needed, and recommend opportunities for enhancement
- Significant experience with Moody's GGY AXIS, including the optimization, implementation/testing, and running of AXIS models, preferably in a grid environment
- Strong technical and coding abilities, proficiency with VBA and SQL preferred
- Sponsorship is not accepted for this opportunity
CANDIDATE PROFILE:
- Highly motivated and natural self-starter, independent thinker, great planner, and team player
- Structured in thinking process and strong problem-solving skills, the ability to break down complex problems and find solutions
- Ability to cope with uncertainty, learn fast, motivated by new and complex challenges
- Manage information in a visually appealing and easy to understand method
- Drive results across a team of dynamic communicators and professionals
- Ability to quickly absorb complex issues, ensure alignment across cross-functional teams/
- Possesses a continuous improvement mindset
COMPETENCIES NEEDED:
- Financial Acumen - interpreting and applying understanding of key financial indicators to make better business decisions
- Decision Quality - making good and timely decisions that keep the organization moving forward
- Resourcefulness - securing and deploying resources effectively and efficiently
- Ensures Accountability - holding self and others accountable to meet commitments
- Builds Effective Teams - Building strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals
- Collaborates - building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives
- Manages Ambiguity - operating effectively, even when things are not certain or the way forward is not clear
- Sponsorship is not accepted for this opportunity.
- This position will be based out of our Chicago, IL or St. Louis, MO office.
Kemper is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran, disability status or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. We are committed to supporting diversity and equality across our organization and we work diligently to maintain a workplace free from discrimination. Kemper is focused on expanding our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts to align with our vision, mission, and guiding principles. Kemper does not accept unsolicited resumes through or from search firms or staffing agencies. All unsolicited resumes will be considered the property of Kemper and Kemper will not be obligated to pay a placement fee.
Kemper will never request personal information, such as your social security number or banking information, via text or email. Additionally, Kemper does not use external messaging applications like WireApp or Skype to communicate with candidates. If you receive such a message, delete it.
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