Head of Home Pricing

Job Introduction

A leader in Motor, Home, Travel and Health Insurance; Saga offers an environment where we will do the best thing for you to develop your skills and develop your career.

We are looking for a Head of Home Pricing to work for our Saga Services business based in Folkestone. 

As Head of Home Pricing, you are a key leader within the Pricing & Actuarial department and the Saga Services business. You will lead your team to deliver market-leading pricing models. You will support your Commercial colleagues in insurer partner selection and in securing the best available rates for Saga’s products; your insight into the Home insurance market will allow you to advise on our product strategy and add-on strategy.

You will work directly with the relevant Product Head and colleagues in Marketing, Finance and IT to identify commercial opportunities where pricing know-how can help deliver business objectives.  You are accountable for delivering pricing margin in line with agreed business plans.

And in return, you can look forward to all of the responsibility and involvement of an integral role, providing you with a rewarding and fast paced career with an excellent benefits package including life assurance, pension, high street and online discounts, and concessions for holidays and travel.

If this sounds like a role for you then keep reading...

Role Responsibility

• Delivering a pricing strategy for your product lines that supports a growing business over a 5-year time horizon
• Lead the development of pricing models, pricing rules and rating approaches for your areas of product responsibility; create an environment that allows your team to continuously improve pricing effectiveness
• Lead the analysis of net rates from insurer partners within your lines of business; understand the commercial value of partnerships to both sides and construct compelling cases to secure competitive advantage
• Be a data leader; constantly seek data items which hold value in both net and gross pricing, extract competitive advantage from Saga’s unique data assets
• Keep abreast of market pricing trends (both technical capability and customer or regulator sentiment); anticipate partner rate changes and take actions or prepare arguments to ensure Saga maintains competitive advantage
• Lead the monitoring of actual versus expected performance of pricing models; establish pricing frameworks which minimize the risk and cost of underperformance
• Accountable for adherence to pricing fairness rules and data usage policies within your lines of business
• Create a framework which allows your team to respond to pricing queries from various business areas; ensuring common themes and root causes are addressed in future pricing models
• Engage in constructive debate at trading meetings, collaborating with colleagues to identify solutions to trading challenges or opportunities to improve results
• Lead the agenda for your lines of business in Pricing Forums
• Drive small change and initiate more significant change programmes that will deliver and maintain pricing excellence for your lines of business; sponsor business change programmes or act as a Subject Matter Expert as appropriate

The Ideal Candidate

Capability, Knowledge and Experience:

• In-depth knowledge of the critical aspects of successful pricing
• Understanding of the drivers of commercial success in a Personal Lines insurance business
• Knowledge of the markets for your product lines; key competitors, latest innovations, threats and opportunities
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams to deliver a set of business goals
• Capability to present information and compelling, persuasive arguments to senior personnel, business stakeholders and external business partners
• Critical thinking; ability to assimilate information from various sources in order to decide on a course of action, use judgement and risk-based assessments to make recommendations for action even in the absence of full information
• Experience managing and resolving incidents; playing a leading or supporting role as appropriate
• Experience confidently making decisions in both ‘BAU’ and ‘incident management’ modes
• Experience leading teams (of direct reports and project teams) and prioritising workloads to meet agreed objectives
• Ability to develop and mentor members of staff in both technical skills and other business skills
• Ability to manage multiple projects and deal with overlapping deadlines
• Understanding of the application of a range of insurance administration and data management systems (eg Radar Live, Guidewire, SQL, Tableau etc)
• Customer focus; demonstrate that you think customer-first when developing and delivering pricing strategies

Education and Qualifications:

• Degree in a mathematical or scientific subject (2.1 or above)
• A-Level Maths, statistics or similar desirable (B grade or above)
• Excel expert an advantage
• Recognised insurance qualification, e.g. FCII (or equivalent) (desirable)
• Qualified Actuary (desirable)

Personal Characteristics:

• Highly numerate
• Logical thinker
• Inquisitive, natural problem solver
• Delivery focussed
• Compelling, persuasive communicator
• Confident leader, comfortable setting the agenda and garnering support from team members and colleagues
• Thrives on taking responsibility; not afraid to make decisions

Package Description

The standard benefits when you join Saga include:

• Option to purchase a further 5 days annual leave per year
• Free private medical insurance after 1 years service
• Pension
• AXA Be Supported
• Apples Nursery (Folkestone only and on a waiting list basis)
• Free fruit 
• Give as you earn
• Free eye tests
• Honeymoon benefit
• Sharebuy
• Salary finance
• Discounts on Saga holidays and insurance products
• A range of reductions and offers from leading retailers, travel groups and entertainment companies
• Long service awards

About the Company

When you join Saga you will see that we are committed to treating all employees fairly and to offering equal opportunities in all aspects of employment and advancement. 

We value diversity not just because it is the right thing to do, but because diverse teams perform better. Creating a culture in which everyone feels welcome and offering equal opportunities in all aspects of employment and advancement is incredibly important to us. Fair consideration is given to applications from all applicants, including those with disabilities. If you need support at any point with your application please let us know as we will be happy to help.

Learn more about the Saga business by watching our Saga plc results for the financial year 2018/2019

To all recruitment agencies: Saga does not accept agency CVs unless specifically engaged on the role by the HR Recruitment Team. Please do not forward CVs to our recruiters, employees or any other company location. Saga is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited CVs.

Saga Group