Job Description & Person Specification
Job Title: Strategic Finance Lead
Division: Finance
Reports To: As per Beazley’s organisation chart
Key Relationships: Group Actuary, Corporate Finance, Finance, Corporate Strategy, Actuaries
Job Summary: Lead the Strategic Finance work to build a centre of excellence for financial analysis that enables confident strategic decision-making, directly supports the delivery of Beazley’s corporate strategy.
Key Responsibilities:
Collaboration& Communication
- Drive cross-departmental collaboration, embodying and role-modelling ‘One Finance’. Ensure close collaboration between Capital & Strategic Finance and Financial Performance, Capital Management, Reporting Accounting & Tax, and the Executive Committee/Boards
- Communicate how capital and financial strategies enable execution of corporate priorities and enhance competitive advantage
Financial Strategy Development
Responsible for supporting the development & execution of Beazley’s medium to long-term financial strategies that align with the company's overall goals as well as providing strategic and actionable recommendations to key stakeholders. This involves:
- Strategic Planning: Developing comprehensive, integrated financial plans that support business growth, innovation, and sustainability. This includes proposing financial targets, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs)to help track progress against Beazley’s strategic initiatives, and creating roadmaps to achieve these goals especially through aligning the annual business plan with the medium/long term strategic plan. Embed value-based decision-making frameworks (e.g., RORAC, economic profit) into planning and performance management. Ensure financial strategies are explicitly aligned with Beazley’s long-term strategic objectives and shareholder value creation goals.
- Scenario Planning: Conducting scenario analyses to prepare for potential future events and uncertainties, ensuring the company can adapt to changing conditions. Support the execution of Beazley’s Financial Strategy through identification of profitable business growth and earlier identification of underperforming lines of business. This will also involve:
- Supporting the development of solvency forecasts (including stress & scenario testing to guide decision making)
- Capital allocation/management proposals
- Assisting on any capital related activities, including around Beazley’s capital structure
- Market Analysis: Continuously analysing market trends, economic conditions, and competitive landscapes to identify opportunities and threats.
- Resource Allocation: Develop tools and insights to identify and prioritize value creation opportunities across portfolios, products, and geographies.
General
It is important that within all your interactions both internally and externally you adhere to Beazley’s core values - Being Bold, Striving for Better, and Doing the Right Thing – as they contribute to an internal environment of teamwork and promote a positive brand image and experience to our external customers. We also expect Beazley employees to:
- Comply with Beazley procedures, policies and regulations including the code of conduct, which incorporates the PRA and FCA Conduct.
- Undertake training on Beazley policies and procedures as delivered by your line manager, the Culture & People or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) either directly, via e-learning or the learning management system.
- Display business ethics that uphold the interests of all our customers.
- Ensure all interactions with customers are focused on delivering a fair outcome, including having the right products for their needs.
- Comply with any specific responsibilities necessary for your role as outlined by your line manager, the Culture & People or assurance teams (compliance, risk, internal audit) and ensure you keep up to date with developments in these areas. This may include, amongst others, Beazley’s underwriting control standards, Beazley’s claims control standards, other Beazley standards and customer relationship management.
- Carry out additional responsibilities as individually notified, either through your objectives or through the learning management system. These may include membership of any Beazley committees or working groups.
Personal Specification:
Education & Qualifications
- University degree and professional accounting or actuarial qualification
Skills & Abilities
- Proactively seeks to improve processes, raising quality and productivity through efficiencies or by implementing best-in-class solutions.
- Highly organised with the ability to prioritise and meet deadlines
- Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
- Ability to understand, advise and deliver on initiatives to senior management and executive level
- Ability to simplify, analyse and explain complex issues
- Ability to design and implement complex models
- Strong analytical and problem solving skills with attention to detail
- Strategic thinker with a proactive and results-driven mindset
- Strong capability in linking financial analysis to enterprise strategy and shareholder value creation
Knowledge & Experience
- Extensive experience in the insurance industry
- Extensive post qualification experience
Aptitude & Disposition
- Outcome focussed, self-motivated, very flexible and enthusiastic
- Professional and approachable with can-do attitude to successfully interact with senior management/colleagues/external suppliers
- Collaborative
- Diplomatic
Competencies
- Integrity
- Teambuilding
- Customer focus
- Resilience
- Technical Competence/expertise
- Business/financial acumen
