Head of Portfolio Management

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Canada Life Reinsurance ("CL Re") is a division of Great-West Lifeco Inc. ("Lifeco") and a leading provider of client focused reinsurance solutions in the United States, Europe, and the APAC region. CL Re offers a range of innovative risk and capital management solutions covering investment, mortality, longevity, lapse risk and asset intensive reinsurance. The Asset Intensive Reinsurance business is a key priority for growth and has already transacted a number of significant asset intensive transactions in the UK and Japan over the last few years.

The CL Re Investment Office is part of Lifeco Global Investment's and is responsible for all the investment activities of the reinsurance division with current assets under management of C$15bn. We have ambitious plans to grow assets in the coming years which will require additional investment capabilities and solutions. The role will be a key part of the Asset Intensive Reinsurance business to help implement and manage investment strategies for new asset intensive reinsurance transactions. This may require significant coordination with stakeholders across Finance, Actuarial, Risk, Reinsurance Collateral Operations, as well as internal and external investment managers.

About the opportunity:

The Head of Portfolio Management will report to the Chief Investment Officer, Canada Life Reinsurance and help build out investment management processes, performance monitoring, execution capabilities, and help manage portfolios to meet ALM and SAA targets.

The role leverages relationships with Lifeco Global Investment managers and affiliates as well as third-party investment managers. It is the primary responsibility of the Portfolio Management team to execute the investment strategy through manager oversight, negotiation of IMAs and guidelines, derivatives implementation, and deliver investment performance via portfolio construction and asset allocation. Security level analysis and monitoring will be required in some cases.

The Head of Portfolio Management will also help drive Tactical Asset Allocation decisions and take specific responsibility for defined asset intensive portfolios.

The role will have the opportunity to gain exposure to investments across the Reinsurance balance sheets and will also be involved in other aspects of the team's activities including risk management, performance analysis, reporting, and the continuous build-out of the investment operating infrastructure. The environment is fast paced, flexible, and will allow the individual to gain exposure to all aspects of the investment process.

The role can be hybrid working although the ideal candidate is likely to be London based.

What you'll do:

Developing and executing liability driven investment strategies, including portfolio construction and repositioning to support the acquisition of new reinsurance business.
Proposing transaction specific asset and hedging strategies that optimize return on capital within regulatory, accounting, operating and risk management constraints.
Support new business pricing with input on asset and credit related pricing assumptions for Asset Intensive transactions.
Work closely with investment managers to determine the best path to transaction execution, including analysis of market risks and portfolio transformation strategies.
Help negotiate investment guidelines and treaty terms with clients to deliver the flexibility necessary to manage asset risk and generate target return.
Be responsible for transaction implementation including operational aspects of receiving the initial portfolio and deploying assets into the chosen Strategic Asset Allocation.
Work closely with the derivatives and market risk teams to ensure strategies employed are priced correctly and liquidity is actively monitored and managed over the transaction life.
Manager Oversight: monitoring specific investment mandates and assessing performance reviews.
Support the Asset Intensive team to deliver significant asset growth in the global annuity and life reinsurance markets in the next 3 to 5 years.

What you'll bring to the role:
Significant experience gained within a life reinsurer, PRT insurer, or investment manager ideally focused on liability driven credit investing for (re)insurance balance sheets.
Experience of collateralised reinsurance, working with different investment solutions and investment managers strongly desired.
Excellent knowledge of interest rate derivatives, bond and repo markets, TRS, and liability driven investment.
Experience of interest rate and/or credit structuring solutions including areas such as forward bonds, term repo, optimising cross currency hedging strategies, SPV repack and fund structures.
Quantitative approach to investment analysis and happy to help support development of our ALM and pricing models.
Highly numerate with strong organisational and problem-solving skills
CFA qualified and/or bachelor's degree in finance or a relevant Quantitative field with significant relevant work experience.
Exceptional communication and Influencing skills
Strong problem solving and decision-making skills
Experience in planning and organising
Confident in team working and cross functional collaboration
A passion for operational excellence & process improvement

Benefits of working at Canada Life

We believe in recognising and rewarding our people, so we offer a competitive salary and benefits package that's regularly reviewed. As a Canada Life UK colleague, you'll receive a competitive salary and comprehensive reward package including a generous pension and bonus scheme, along with, income protection, private medical insurance and life assurance. We have a fantastic number of other benefits and support services as well as regular personal and professional development.

How we work at Canada Life

Our culture is unique and incredibly important to us. We care about doing the right thing for our people, customers and community and helping others to build better futures. Our blueprint behaviours shape and influence how we work, and are central to the relationships we have with others. Every day we are encouraged to be more curious, own the outcome, face into things together and find a way forward.

We want colleagues to have rewarding careers with us so we invest in the development of our people, technology and workplaces. That's why we offer a range of training, flexible working and opportunities to grow and develop.

Diversity and inclusion

Building an inclusive workplace with a diverse workforce where everyone can feel they belong and achieve their potential regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other characteristic is a key commitment for us. We are proud of the progress we're making in DEI, and we continue for it to be a significant focus.

"At Canada Life we believe in the power of great people from different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives coming together to build better futures. Emerging talent is crucial to our growth and creating an environment that continues to inspire us all." Nick Harding, Chief People Officer, Canada Life UK

We appreciate that everyone has different work and life responsibilities. We're happy to discuss flexible working arrangements, including part time, for any of our roles should this be a requirement for you.