Actuaries analyse the financial side of risk

Do you have a passion for numbers, data and statistical models? Actuaries play a strategic role in the success of our business.

How to put a price tag on an unlikely event

Actuaries need a range of subject-matter skills to evaluate likelihoods, understand the risks inherent in assets and the financial impact of contingencies. But actuaries do not work in a vacuum. Their unique skill sets often lead them to the heart of cross-disciplinary teams, where they collaborate on challenging and complex tasks – and where team skills and effective communication are key.

What we look for in actuaries

High level of financial knowledge and business sense

Excellent communication and strong problem-solving skills

Effective team worker in cross-disciplinary teams

Meet our actuaries

At Munich Re, there are no actuarial jobs off the shelf. Instead, carving out an actuarial career is a highly individual process, driven by personal strengths and preferences. Meet Janett, who leverages her actuarial expertise in software development and research. And, meet Vicky who serves in a double leadership role that lets her make the most of her experience in different core areas of the insurance industry.

Janett: Research and development – creating methods and tools for underwriters

Janett interned with Munich Re, before joining full time in 2010. At home in a company that shares her global mindset, she feels first-hand experience from assignments abroad is crucial when designing tools global underwriter teams. — Janett Bude, Munich Re Germany, Munich, Actuary in Corporate Underwriting, Pricing, Systems & Analytics

Accompanying the full software development life cycle, Janett works with underwriters, data specialists and IT to keep Munich Re’s pricing software state of the art.

She tracks the latest in actuarial research and monitors the market, changes in underlying data and availabilities of assumptions. She considers how indicators – such as the loss history of a cedent’s portfolio or the rising popularity of financial constructs – influence pricing mechanisms. To outline specs of new features, Janett taps into the experience of underwriters in the field, while her work on the calculation kernel offers more mathematical challenges.

Janett also trains co-workers in pricing software and new features. To communicate actuarial content to her non-actuarial audience, she breaks down complex concepts into ideas that resonate – and spark productive exchange.

40%

Communication

10%

Training underwriters and actuaries

20%

Programming

30%

Working alone
solving tasks and problems

What do you enjoy about your work?

_{Reinsurance is complex and evolves in step with the world around us. Its challenges in math, statistics and stochastic, appeal to the mathematician in me. My talented, knowledgeable colleagues with diverse backgrounds across the world enrich my life.}

Is there a personal favourite among the projects you’ve handled?

_{Project lead for a pricing tool for complex reinsurance structures was an inspiring experience. In a team spanning the world, people pulled together with focus and drive building a solution that sets the bar at the level of certified products.}

Vicky: Wearer of two hats – assessing risks both individually and at the macro level

Vicky leads the pricing function at Munich Re Canada. Vicky and her team support and collaborate closely with underwriting, client management, reserving, and finance. Their focus: to help safeguard the profitability of our existing portfolio whilst pursuing new growth opportunities.

Responsible for pricing in both the reinsurance and the primary-insurance branch, Vicky assesses business portfolios, group programmes as well as individual single risks. These tasks differ in focus, complexity and granularity.

Each requires different approaches, knowledge, and experience as well as an agile mind able to switch back and forth between challenging tasks throughout the day. Her job takes Vicky out of country about 2 to 3 times a year. She has just completed a 6-week secondment with our Sydney office where she supported MHA’s Casualty treaty July 1 renewals. Her insights into sites and markets are valuable, not only to her own work but to Munich Re’s innovation teams. As part of her process, she also contributes feedback on potential gaps in risks models to support rollouts of pricing tools. Vicky is an Associate of the Canadian Institute of Actuaries,

Munich Re gives you as much space and flexibility to grow your career as you can dream of. Switching jobs geographically, laterally, or moving into a different department are all feasible options thanks to global development and transfer programmes.

Vicky Wang

Munich Re, Canada, Toronto

Assistant Vice President, Pricing