Practice Lead / Principal – Actuarial Life - Belgium

In one sentence….

Triple A Belgium is looking for a Principal Life Insurance profile with strong technical credibility, the ability to develop people and business, and enough ambition and entrepreneurial drive to progressively become one of the key pillars of Triple A.

The context

Triple A currently has a team of around 15 enthusiastic professionals, with a well-balanced structure across junior, medior and senior profiles, Life and Non-Life expertise, as well as French- and Dutch-speaking consultants.

The company has evolved into a scale-up, while keeping a genuinely entrepreneurial environment. This is quite different from a traditional Big Four setting: people are expected to take ownership, create opportunities, develop client relationships and actively contribute to building the business.

The objective of this hire is to strengthen the senior layer of the team with someone who can bring additional expertise and leadership, with a clear focus on Life Insurance.

What we are really looking for

First and foremost, this person should be a strong technical reference on the actuarial knowledge but with a Life/health Insurance focus. We are not necessarily looking for an ultra-specialist in one narrow technical area. The person should instead have enough technical depth and breadth to be credible with senior clients, lead complex topics and act as a genuine sparring partner for the mediors and seniors already within the team.

Non-Life experience would certainly be an advantage, but it is not the priority. The main expertise we want to reinforce is clearly Life. Ideally, we are looking for someone with at least/around 15 years of experience, who has been exposed to different environments and preferably several insurance companies throughout their career. Previous consulting experience would be particularly relevant, especially on the advisory/consulting side rather than pure audit.

A role with three key dimensions

Technical leadership

This person should become one of the key technical references within the team for Life Insurance, take ownership of complex topics, contribute to RFPs and bring the necessary technical credibility during client and commercial discussions.

People leadership

The role would involve managing people, but we are looking for more than someone who can formally manage a team. The person should genuinely enjoy developing people, transferring knowledge, bringing consultants onto their projects and progressively increasing their exposure and responsibilities.

Commercial and entrepreneurial

This is an important part of the role. The person will participate in commercial meetings and bring the technical credibility required in those discussions but should also be capable of developing business independently.

That could mean opening new accounts, bringing a network that is complementary to Triple A's existing client base, or developing new relationships and teams within clients where Triple A already has a presence.

The person should therefore be both staffable and able to generate staffing opportunities for others: someone who can personally deliver on projects while progressively creating enough business to involve other members of the team.

The type of profile that would work particularly well

Beyond the CV, we are looking for someone who is dynamic, entrepreneurial and genuinely people-oriented.

Ideally, the person has a strong track record and has experienced two or three different environments throughout their career. We want someone who can bring something new to the team, whether through technical expertise, methodologies, market knowledge, client relationships or network.

There should also be a certain level of ambition.

Initially, the person would work closely with  the management of Triple A Belgium on developing the business and the team. Over time, for someone with the right capabilities and ambition, there could be an opportunity to take on significantly broader responsibilities, potentially including the overall management of the office.

From a language perspective, the ideal candidate speaks at least one of the two national languages — French or Dutch — in addition to English.

Key points to validate during the search - MUST have

• Strong enough Life actuarial expertise to become a technical reference within the team.
• Approximately 15 years of experience, ideally across several organisations or environments.
• Proven people-management experience and the ability to develop and mentor consultants.
• Advisory / consulting experience is a strong plus.
• Ability to lead projects and contribute to or lead RFPs.
• Genuine commercial capability: network development, hunting, opening accounts and expanding existing client relationships.
• Dynamic, entrepreneurial and people-oriented personality suited to a scale-up environment.
• Ability to combine delivery, team management and business development.
• Ambition and potential to progressively take on broader leadership responsibilities within the organisation.

Package & employment model

Triple A is open regarding both the package and the type of collaboration. The person could join as a permanent employee or potentially as an independent, depending on the profile and individual situation.

The priority is to identify the right person first and then build an appropriate proposition around them.

Recruitment process

The process would start with an initial discussion with representatives of Triple A to assess the overall fit, motivation, technical background and entrepreneurial/commercial dimension. The candidate would then meet several members of the team, particularly the Life and Non-Life Practice Leads and potentially other team members. This would ideally include a visit to our offices, as it is important for both sides to understand whether there is a genuine cultural and personal fit. This could also involve alignment with the relevant stakeholders in the Netherlands.

See: Triple A Risk Finance: Specialist in Risicomanagement en Actuariaat.