Head of Public Service Pensions

You will lead GAD’s public service pensions actuarial team, setting the strategic direction for one of the department’s most significant areas of client work, with a team of around 40 staff. You will ensure the team plays a central role in supporting government clients on complex pension policy, risk, financing and delivery issues across the UK public service pensions landscape.

As Head of Public Service Pensions, you will be accountable for ensuring GAD provides clear, robust and practical actuarial advice that commands confidence with senior clients and supports effective public policy outcomes. You will bring professional judgement, strategic insight and operational leadership to help shape the future of GAD’s pensions offer.

You will act as the senior ambassador and public face of GAD’s public service pensions work, representing the department with clients, stakeholders and the wider pensions community. Leading through senior actuaries who manage client portfolios, you will build a collaborative, inclusive and professionally excellent team that works across GAD to deliver high-quality outcomes for clients.

You will provide strategic, operational and professional leadership for the actuarial team, setting priorities and ensuring that advice is technically sound, clearly communicated and relevant to the needs of government clients. Particular responsibilities include:

Strategy and Planning

• Developing the business plan and strategic goals for the team, aligned to the departmental strategy, and ensure these are delivered.
• Ownership of the team’s strategic investment priorities.
• Effective foresight of potential client activity for your team, including the business pipeline.
• Aligning actuarial work plans with clients’ policy, financial and operational priorities.

Transformation and Operational Effectiveness

• Sponsorship of transformation programmes for major team projects.
• Taking action to ensure efficient delivery and productivity improvements.
• Supporting the development of new actuarial advice on public service pensions, reflecting UK government policy aims, financial pressures and wider developments in the pensions landscape.

People and Professional Leadership

• Providing oversight, coach and support senior team members who manage the client portfolios. Support career development across the team, inspiring staff to reach their potential.
• Creating and sustaining an inclusive, supportive and high-performing culture across the team, ensuring effective leadership, talent management, workforce planning and colleague engagement.
• Contributing to the professional leadership of the department by advising, mentoring and constructively challenging colleagues and their work.

Client and Stakeholder Collaboration

• Commercial leadership, with oversight of new business pipelines, development activities and client relationship management across the team.
• Building and maintaining strong and influential relationships with senior stakeholders in client departments.
• Ensuring advice is tailored to client needs and that intelligence about client priorities and risks is shared to support wider engagement.

Ensuring the team works collegiately and collaboratively with other business units, drawing on wider actuarial and analytical expertise where this improves client outcomes.

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours and Technical skills.

As part of the application process, you will be asked to complete:

An anonymised CV (no longer than 2 pages) setting out your career history, with key responsibilities and achievements.

A Statement of Suitability (no longer than 2 pages) explaining how your consider your personal skills, qualities and experience provide evidence of your suitability for the role, with particular reference to the criteria in the person specification.

Your CV and Personal Statement will be used to assess the essential criteria listed in the job description.

During the interview you will be assessed on the experience and behaviours listed in the Person Specification and detailed in this advert. The interview will include a presentation, details of which will be sent to those invited to interview.

Application deadline: 1200 hrs on 07 September 2026

Shortlisting: By w/c 14 September 2026

Engagement Session: 21 September 2026

First Round Interviews: 23 and 24 September 2026

Final Round Interviews: 01 and 02 October 2026

Interview location: In office (Either London, E14 4PU or Edinburgh, EH8 8FT)

Please apply via our recruitment portal below.

As part of the application form process, please submit your CV and supporting statement. Please do not email your CV outside of this process as it will not be accepted.

Shortlisting criteria is based on the Person Specification as set out in the Assessment Criteria section of the Job Description. Please ensure you provide examples of how you meet the Assessment Criteria; a strong application will also demonstrate that you meet the required criteria that are identified as key for this role. Applications will be shortlisted in line with the essential criteria for the role. The desirable criteria will not be assessed throughout the recruitment process, but will be used in the event of tied scores between candidates. Behaviours will be assessed at sift and interview stage. Candidates who are successful at shortlist will be contacted as soon as possible and advised of the interview process and assessment (exact times and dates will also be confirmed).

A reserve list will be held for a period of 12 months from which further appointments can be made.

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.