Cost Analyst

Legal & General looks after around 700,000 institutional customers who have their retirement benefits secured with us. Operating continuously in the UK market from our entrance in 1987, we are the UK’s longest-running insurer.

Our Institutional Retirement division provides pension risk transfer (PRT) solutions for UK and US defined benefit (DB) schemes, and reinsurance solutions from our global hub in Bermuda. We work with companies, DB pension schemes and their advisors to help them secure and protect scheme members’ retirement benefits.

Joining us means you’ll support customers’ financial security in retirement; help companies to settle their pension liabilities and focus on growing their businesses; and enable investment for the long term to back our pension promises.

We’re recruiting for a Cost Analyst to join our Institutional Retirement division. 

In this varied and collaborative role, the post-holder will be responsible for assisting in various aspects of expense analysis, reporting and forecasting for the Institutional Retirement division, This includes: 

• Supporting the production of cost and FTE forecasts on an ongoing basis, working closely with stakeholders including HR and cost centre managers
• Tracking of expenses and FTE against budgets and forecast
• Assistance with cost allocation reporting involves maintaining large datasets that feed into the reporting model and developing new allocation reports as requirements evolve continuously.
• Undertaking quarterly expense forecast and budget uploads as well as also having the chance to monitor controls compliance within the Expense team

What you'll be doing:

• Assist the monthly/quarterly production of unit cost reporting to ensure long term operational expenses are understood and accurately reported in the P&L
• Coordinate with business divisions throughout LGRI to guarantee that expense allocations accurately represent the costs associated with different business activities and to ensure that all cost allocations are precisely reported within the group and divisional reporting systems (MiCost and Anaplan), consistent with the agreements made with each business area
• Assist the update of the division’s 5 year FTE/cost forecast on an ongoing (monthly) basis using Anaplan to ensure accurate forecasting of the divisions long term costs 
• Prepare an analysis of variances to the budget or previous forecast to provide the team with a clear understanding of changes and their impact on the feasibility of FTE and cost targets for both the current year and the long term Additionally, oversee the approvals of VN and Contractor requests as needed, applying stringent financial control to ensure that requests stay within budget
• Produce accurate upload of the LGRI quarterly expense forecasts into MiCost and Anaplan, ensuring that the uploaded forecasts and budgets reconcile to expectations, and between systems
• Assist with the quarterly cost forecasting and the annual budgeting processes by collecting FTE/Cost information from the business, ensuring that expenditures align with the business plan
• Assist in the wider team’s FP&A activities such as presenting expense MI within PowerBI, producing MI, understanding the underlying cost base
• It is essential to design and execute business processes and internal controls within the cost allocation framework according to Group standards, to maintain robust financial controls

Who we're looking for:

• Part-qualified Accountant – ACA, CIMA, ACCA or equivalent 
• Advanced knowledge of Excel and a good working knowledge of other Microsoft Office products is essential
• Ability to design, develop and maintain complex financial models  .
• Knowledge of Anaplan highly desirable and Power BI would be advantageous
• Strong attention to detail (e.g., the ability to spot errors in large quantities of data). 
• Prior experience of financial planning & forecasting, preferably with a particular focus on expenses & FTEs within the Life Insurance or Financial services. 
• Experience of presenting data in a meaningful and effective way – understanding the needs of the end users and tailoring the presentation to their requirements. 
• A demonstrated ability to work independently focusing on priorities, and managing a range of tasks, deadlines, requirements, and decisions.

Whatever your role, we reward performance and behaviour with a package that looks after all the things that are important to you. Here are some of the benefits we offer: 

• The opportunity to participate in our annual, performance-related bonus plan and valuable share schemes  
• Generous pension contribution  
• Life assurance   
• Private medical insurance (permanent employees only) 
• At least 25 days holiday, plus public holidays, 26 days after 2 years’ service. There’s also the option to buy and sell holiday 
• Competitive family leave 
• Participate in our electric car scheme, which offers employees the option to hire a brand-new electric car through tax efficient salary sacrifice 
• There are the many discounts we offer – both for our own products and at a range of high street stores and online   
• In 2023, some of our workspaces were redesigned. Our offices are great spaces to connect and collaborate and have your wellbeing at the heart 

Legal & General is a leading financial services group and major global investor, named Britain’s Most Admired Company in 2023, for the second year running. Rated top in our sector and top for inspirational leadership, we have a strong heritage and an exciting future.

We aim to build a better society for the long term by investing our customers’ money in things that make life better for everyone.

If you join us, you’ll be part of a welcoming culture, with opportunities to collaborate with people of diverse backgrounds, views and experiences. Guided by leaders with integrity who care about your future and wellbeing. Empowered through initiatives which support people to develop their careers and excel.

We strive to be open, mindful and inclusive, so are always willing to discussing flexible working arrangements and reasonable accommodations for candidates with specific needs.

If you’re open to find out more, we'd love to hear from you.