Hiring guide
How to Hire an Actuary
Where to find actuaries, how SOA, CAS and IFoA credentials map to the role, a pricing or reserving work sample, red flags and onboarding.
The short answer
Hiring an Actuary comes down to verifying progress in a recognised exam system (soa asa/fsa, cas acas/fcas, ifoa or an equivalent), probability, statistics and financial mathematics and pricing, reserving or valuation methods for your practice area before you commit interview time. The process below runs 5 stages, screens on evidence rather than résumé claims, and scores every candidate against the same criteria.
- Watch for: Cannot explain the assumptions behind a model they say they built
- Watch for: Presents a single point estimate with no view on sensitivity or uncertainty
- Score on: Technical correctness and reasonableness of the work sample results
- Score on: Assumptions stated, justified and tested for sensitivity
Paste your Actuary job description; Cohesyve finds, contacts and tests candidates on the real work and ranks them. Ten candidates free, no card.
Applying for a role like this? Practise the assessment free →To hire an actuary well, you need to match the candidate's exam track and practice area to the work: life, health, pensions and property and casualty each need different knowledge. Credentials tell you how far someone has progressed through a professional exam system, while a work sample tells you whether they can build, check and explain a model your business will rely on. This guide covers where to find actuaries, what to test, red flags and how to bring a new actuary into your team.
Why this role matters
Actuaries set prices, hold reserves and model risks that can decide whether an insurer, pension scheme or benefits plan stays solvent. Their assumptions flow into regulatory filings, board reports and product decisions. A strong actuary produces work that is correct, documented and explained in terms a non-actuary can act on. A weak one can leave an organisation underpriced, under-reserved or exposed in front of a regulator.
Where to find candidates
- Society of Actuaries (SOA) and Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) job boards and career centres in the US and Canada
- Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) in the UK, and the Institute of Actuaries of India for candidates in India
- Specialist actuarial recruiters such as DW Simpson and Ezra Penland
- University actuarial science programmes and student actuarial clubs for entry-level and intern hires
- Actuarial meetings and regional actuarial clubs, where practising actuaries network
- Referrals from your existing actuarial staff and consultants
Skills to look for
Red flags
- Cannot explain the assumptions behind a model they say they built
- Presents a single point estimate with no view on sensitivity or uncertainty
- Exam progress is strong but they have never had their work reviewed or reviewed anyone else's
- Unfamiliar with the practice area you hire for, yet claims it transfers without effort
- Explanations full of jargon when asked to brief a non-actuary
The interview process
- 1
Credential and experience screen
Confirm exam progress, designation and practice area, and which reporting bases and software they have worked with. Check credentials directly with the relevant actuarial body where possible.
- 2
Technical interview
An actuary on your team discusses a past project in depth: the data, the method, the assumptions, how results were checked and what changed after review.
- 3
Modelling work sample
Give an anonymised dataset suited to the role, such as claims triangles for a reserving actuary or policy and experience data for a pricing actuary. Ask for an estimate, the key assumptions, a sensitivity check and a one-page note for a non-actuarial manager. A job simulation of this real work is one option if you want every candidate to face the same task.
- 4
Stakeholder interview
Meet with an underwriter, finance lead or product owner who will use their work. Assess how the candidate handles questions they cannot fully answer.
- 5
References
Ask former managers about accuracy, documentation and how they responded to peer review comments.
Cohesyve
Start the Actuary interviews from a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Actuary job description, finds and contacts candidates and tests each one on an AI job simulation of the job, so the stages above start with people who have already done the work. Ten candidates free, no card.
How to evaluate
- Technical correctness and reasonableness of the work sample results
- Assumptions stated, justified and tested for sensitivity
- Clear documentation another actuary could review and reproduce
- Plain-language summary a decision-maker can act on
- Fit between exam track, experience and your practice area
- Professional judgement when data is thin or messy
Onboarding
- 1Agree an exam study policy early if they are still qualifying, including study time and support
- 2Walk through your models, assumption documents and the review and sign-off process
- 3Start with a supervised update of an existing model before a new build
- 4Introduce them to the underwriting, finance and risk colleagues who use their numbers
- 5Share past regulator or auditor questions so they understand what scrutiny looks like
Common questions
Should I hire a fully qualified actuary or a student?
Hire a fellow when the role signs off reserves, regulatory filings or opinions that require a qualified actuary. Students on an exam track suit analytical and modelling roles under supervision, and many organisations support them through the exams.
Are SOA, CAS and IFoA qualifications interchangeable?
No. SOA covers life, health, pensions and finance, CAS focuses on property and casualty, and IFoA is the UK body. Match the credential to your practice area and the jurisdiction where the work is signed off.
Can a data scientist do an actuary's job?
A data scientist can help with modelling and analytics, but actuarial sign-off, reserving and regulated opinions usually need a credentialed actuary. Many teams combine both.
What software should an actuary know?
Excel is near universal, and R, Python and SQL are increasingly expected. Industry valuation and projection tools vary by employer, so ask which they used and test the underlying method rather than the tool.
Cohesyve · Skill assessments for hiring
Hiring an Actuary? Start with a ranked shortlist
Cohesyve takes your Actuary job description, finds candidates, reaches out to them and runs an AI job simulation of the real work, then ranks them for you.
1,500+
assessments completed
50%
faster time-to-hire
5 min
from JD to assessment
No credit card · 10 free candidates · Plans sized to your hiring volume
From the blog