Purpose of the Job
How insurance is underwritten here hasn't changed in 300 years – until now. At Ki, we are genuinely solving problems that haven’t been solved with technology in the insurance space. We are building the first fully digital and data-led insurance platform in the London Market.
Ki is used by the world’s leading insurance brokers to provide cover for their clients against some of the planet’s biggest risks. We are the first movers in this space. Think challenger bank, but for complex risks like hurricanes and natural disasters.
Having reached c.$1bn of Gross Written Premium in the first three years of trading, and becoming a Top 20 Lloyd’s of London syndicate, Ki continues to invest in its technology and capabilities across its full scope business functions – not least the area of Risk Aggregation which it sees as a critical enabler to its success.
Having benefited significantly from the support of its incubating sponsor Brit through its formative years, since late 2023 Ki has built out its own standalone capabilities in the areas of risk aggregation at pace and presents unique opportunities to make an impact in the fields of research and development.
We are seeking a forward-thinking and proven leader with the academic, practical and relationship management capabilities to lead the charge on risk aggregation research and development in a fast moving, technology focused and driven environment.
The Senior Catastrophe Research Analyst will report directly to the Manager - Risk Aggregation R&D.
Principal Accountabilities:
The purpose of the role:
• Assist in the delivery of all research and development projects required by the team.
• Assist in the ongoing refinement and embedding of Ki’s view of risk through the identification, evaluation and adoption of market leading tools and modelling practices - adapted and enhanced as appropriate to reflect the latest scientific thinking and the specific characteristics of the underlying Ki risk profile.
• Ensure business understanding of its risk profile is robust and reflects the latest science (including relating to climate change) in order to achieve an efficient deployment of aggregate and maintain positive regulatory and stakeholder perceptions and confidence in Ki’s abilities to manage risk.
• Work closely with the Catastrophe Modelling and Exposure Management leads across both Natural and Non Natural Catastrophe Risk and a dedicated internal Development function to help drive the direction of investment in data augmentation, infrastructure, automation and bespoke tooling.
• Liaise with the wider risk analytics, data science and underwriting functions to leverage and enhance the collective understanding of risk and embed a joined up approach to aggregation management.
• Collaborate closely with the Enterprise Risk and Actuarial teams to form, communicate and act upon a Ki wide view of the emerging nature of risk in an evolving physical, geopolitical and economic climate
• Work with the Product Delivery organisation to support the digitisation of RA processes as well as their embedding into our algorithmic underwriting/quoting processes.
• Support the liaison with Lloyd’s in respect of RIO Principles, Model Completeness, the Ki View Of Risk and demonstrating the requisite capabilities that maintain the ‘Advanced Rating’ currently assigned.
• Represent Ki at external forums, including but not limited to those related to external catastrophe modelling vendors, and act as a conduit for knowledge and best practice development and sharing.
• Provide subject matter expert input into wider Commercial division projects and deliverables including through the design and maintenance of appropriate data schema and processes.
• Interact with and maintain good relationships external model vendors ensuring that the interests of Ki are best served by current and future model developments and enhancements.
• Assist in the evaluation of the appropriateness of both existing and potential new external models and, where appropriate, the development of bespoke internal Ki approaches to the evaluation and modelling of risks where these are not adequately served by external modelling providers.
• Non-Property, Non-Natural Catastrophe risks are a growing area of responsibility for exposure management teams, you will work with and lead research on best practice for such risks.
• Provide own scientific and portfolio insight on active events.
• Responsible for writing and maintaining documentation. (model evaluation framework, model evaluation documents, Ki view of risk, research papers etc)
Education, Qualifications, Knowledge, Skills and Experience
• Educated to degree level with additional post graduate qualifications gained through further academic study (e.g., Masters, PhD or equivalent working research experience).
• Previous experience in the Lloyd’s/London Market gained at a (re)insurer, broker, software vendor, regulator, or consultancy.
• Understanding of commercial catastrophe modelling tools used in the (re)insurance industry (e.g. RMS/AIR) is preferred with previous experience of validating these models desirable.
• Experience researching catastrophe perils and a deep interest in understanding how climate change impacts these perils.
• Previous experience developing cross-class views of risk for Flood, Wildfire, SCS.
• Experience across both Property and Specialty classes (Cargo, Energy, Terrorism, Specie).
• Experience with non-property/non-nat cat classes desirable.
• Previous experience implementing views of risk into aggregation, pricing, and portfolio optimisation.
• Expertise in commercial and open-source GIS tools, systems, and data (e.g. ESRI / QGIS).
• Comfortable using modern engineering tools, especially SQL, Python.
• Experience with good software development practice (e.g. agile development, version control in Git) highly desirable
• A good understanding of the (re)insurance industry and catastrophe modelling concepts.
• A high level of numeracy skills with a good understanding of actuarial concepts is desirable.
• A willingness to undertake continued personal and professional development.
• Project management skills are desirable.
• Good communication skills with the ability to communicate complex frameworks / ideas to a range of internal / external stakeholders from different disciplines.
• The ability to independently prioritise tasks and meet tight deadlines.
• A positive and flexible approach to work and colleagues.
Regulatory Conduct and Rules
1. Act with integrity
2. Act with due skill, care and diligence
3. Be open and co-operative with Lloyd’s, the FCA, the PRA, and other regulators
4. Pay due regard to the interests of customers and treat them fairly
5. Observe proper standards of market conduct
6. Act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers.
Ki Values
Know Your Customer: Put yourself in their shoes. Understand and balance the different needs of our customers, acting with integrity and empathy to create something excellent.
Grow Together: Empower each other to succeed. Recognise the work of our teams, while celebrating individual success. Embrace diverse perspectives so we can develop and grow together.
Be Courageous: Think big, push boundaries. Don’t be afraid to fail because that’s how we learn. Test, adapt, improve - always strive to be better.