Our roles

At Aegon Asset Management, we invest beyond borders, with a global portfolio of 337 billion US dollars (as at March 31 2024). We have deep expertise in fixed income, real asset, equity and multi-asset markets and we serve pension plans, public bodies, insurance companies, banks, wealth managers, family offices and foundations around the world. Combining innovation with probity, we go the extra mile to maximise the returns on our clients’ investments – and to help our people get the most out of their careers.

Transformation and Change plays an important part in realising Aegon’s goal to deliver the leading digital platform for pensions. We run a substantial portfolio of projects and we’re here to make things better for customers by improving processes and ensuring adherence with changing regulations.

To make this happen, we look at the high-level thinking behind the changes, as well as getting involved in interpreting business requirements, designing solutions and finding ways to make concepts work. The programmes are large and challenging, and our portfolio of activities changes constantly. In particular, we are always seeking ways to speed things up for the customer, using the latest technology. For example, we are increasingly deploying biometrics to get customers on board, which cuts down on a lot of the paperwork.

There are about 90 people within Transformation and Change, who come from very diverse backgrounds. Some focus on project leadership and there are around 25 colleagues in the Project Management Office. They are essentially the air traffic controllers for everything that happens: making sure that stakeholders are reporting the risks and issues so they can be addressed. There are around a further 15 colleagues in business design, who look at the architecture of the organisation and consider how any changes they make will impact on the systems Aegon already has.

A financial services background is not essential to join the team. We need people with organisational skills – an agile mindset, attention to detail and planning abilities. Above all, you’ll require the passion and the determination to drive things forward, plus a high level of resilience, as this is a department that’s always going to stretch you. If that sounds like you, this is your chance to work your way to the top, as there’s always something you can be offered that will give you the chance to prove yourself.

Technology is central to service delivery at Aegon. We want to offer the most advanced digital pensions platform in the business – in fact, in the world – to give customers more insight into their retirement savings and more opportunities to take control of their financial future.

To make this happen, we’re significantly enhancing our in-house capabilities. Technology isn’t simply a backroom function here: it’s central to transforming the culture of the business and the experiences of our customers. We’re rolling out innovations every day and the people who work with us get to shape those developments from scratch and contribute a wide range of ideas and perspectives.

The great thing about Technology is that we are not just undertaking development or testing or business analysis – we operate across the whole of the technology function, so we get to see things from end to end. That overview is unique – you won’t get to deal with business and solutions analysis, testing, development, release management and ongoing operational support in many jobs.

In fact, we’ve created a whole new career path where people can progress from being developers into senior developers and then principal developers before moving into management or specialising in architecture. Whenever someone joins our small team, we ask them where they want to be in six or 12 months’ time and we agree milestones to help them get there. Along the way, we will give them the freedom to challenge conventional wisdom as they bring our strategy and vision to life and make their mark on our technology – and on our customers’ retirements.

Our finance department is extremely wide-ranging, interacting with just about every area of the business and of course with customers.

At the simplest level, one of the most important things we do is ensure that all payments are effectively processed, so people receive the right amount of money right on time. There are numerous other functions within finance, including our actuarial team, which ensures that Aegon has the right level of liquidity and the correct management structure in place. The actuaries’ challenge is to make certain that the business is fit for purpose and is delivering the right solutions for investors and customers; they also play an important part in confirming that any information Aegon provides is factual and correct.

Our reporting and tax specialists do exactly what their job titles imply, whilst our investment proposition team focuses on our Environmental, Social and Governance products.

Ultimately, our responsibility is to make the company as sustainable as possible whilst doing the same for our customers’ investments. That sustainability is at the heart of everything Aegon does – whether it’s reducing our electricity consumption or finding new routes to advertise and market our products.

Aegon has recently rebranded its Operations department as Customer Care – a more accurate reflection of what we do as everything here is about the customer. Our mission is to help people live their best lives and be a force for good by stepping up and tuning in. As a department, we always go the extra mile to ensure that we deliver the right outcome.

This starts with putting the customer at the front of everyone’s mind instead of just focusing on operational processes. It’s all too easy to hit buttons and forget that you’re dealing with people, and we make sure that colleagues never fall into that trap.

Quality control is at the heart of Customer Care and we aim to deliver a cycle of continuous improvement. When we make mistakes, we try to put them right before they affect the customer and deliver training to colleagues to ensure that errors are not repeated. A key part of this is root cause analysis, in which we attempt to understand precisely why things are happening instead of just considering how they happen. In addition, we play an important role in implementing financial crime controls – ensuring that Aegon mitigates against fraud that could impact on customers’ finances.

This is crucial because we operate across the five propositions that make up Aegon’s business. Working here will enable you to build networks with colleagues across the organisation and gain exposure to all our platforms.

Engagement is at the forefront of everything we do and we ask colleagues for their regular input on all our processes. Our culture is quite different from other areas because of our work – when you’re regularly identifying errors and correcting things that may have gone wrong, it’s vital that you remain positive and focus on the good that you can do by revising processes and implementing new controls.

We’re ideally looking for people with analytical mindsets, who enjoy digging into the details. However, as we’re one of the larger and newer teams within Aegon, it’s crucial that everyone sees the bigger picture and pulls together to have a positive impact on the broader business.

The internal auditing function provides Aegon with real insight into how well it is managing its risks. Where the team spot deficiencies in risk management, we will raise observations and recommend actions to improve the control framework. Within the technology space, the main risks are anything that could disrupt the reliable and resilient services Aegon provides to customers. The business also has to comply with a myriad of regulations and could face fines and significant reputational damage if the internal audit team takes its eyes off the ball.

In addition, we have a firm eye on the future and actively consider the growth and sustainability of the organisation. Managing risks helps to cement profitability and improve customer service by ensuring we put the right strategies in place. Aegon is a business that is constantly evolving and that in itself creates a fair amount of risk – every new capability could have an impact on existing services.

We're working hard to become a leading digital platform provider. In practice that means the company wants to operate much more simply and efficiently whilst offering better services and a more customer-friendly approach. Particularly for pensions products, Aegon can interact with customers throughout their lives from when they start working until after they retire, and we want to make every touchpoint as productive and rewarding as possible.

In short, we take an elevated view across the entire business. Internal audit has become a much broader discipline over the last few years – it’s no longer just about finance and now looks at risk in a holistic way. As such, we have people from all kinds of different backgrounds within internal audit, who collaborate effectively to ensure that technology, processes and controls dovetail effectively to benefit the customer and boost the bottom line. This makes us essential to everything Aegon does, so this is an amazing department in which to build your future.

Our regulatory risk department plays a crucial role within key projects, providing advice and guidance to senior management and challenging accepted wisdom where necessary. We also help to manage the regulatory horizon by ensuring compliance with new laws and guidelines as they emerge.

Within the department, the financial crime risk team goes the extra mile every day to keep our customers safe from fraud and potential harm. Meanwhile, the risk oversight team has the vital responsibility of ensuring that our suppliers and partners are managing their own risks effectively. Our prudential risk team is staffed by actuaries who are extremely technically minded and have a deep understanding of investment and capital risk. Finally, our enterprise risk colleagues make certain that we have up-to-date risk registers in place, that our risk controls are properly documented, and that we maintain the right policies and practices at all times.

A career within regulatory risk will place you at the heart of everything we do, with profound impact on the way we think and work – and ultimately on both our corporate reputation and the bottom line.

Marketing is an exceptionally broad discipline at Aegon, spanning propositions, communication, branding, public relations and digital. The challenges we face are fascinating as we have some particularly interesting customer problems to solve. We already have four million customers but that’s just the beginning, and we have some very big aspirations.

Our mission is to help customers live better lives via long-term savings products, but many people find the pensions landscape complex and confusing – in some cases, downright overwhelming. If we can convince them to save enough for a comfortable retirement, we can really transform their futures. This will involve delivering financial education in a way that’s stimulating and engaging without being daunting – and this will require considerable creativity and insight.

Strategy and planning are at the heart of everything we do. Strategy means defining the direction we need to take as a business and how we promote our products via Retail Advisors and our Workplace pensions channel. Our objective is to maximise commercial opportunities in both spaces, so we can help the maximum number of customers enjoy their best lives. Planning involves implementing the strategy we’ve agreed: considering where we target our investments, shaping the key activities within our roadmap and setting the milestones we need to achieve to complete our journey.

The culture within Marketing is honest, open and friendly, as we recognise that great ideas can come from anywhere. We also place a strong emphasis on career development and go the extra mile to help colleagues get ahead. Because releasing potential is what we’re all about – both for our customers and ourselves.

We believe that our purpose ‘helping people live their best life’ start from within our team. Thats why, as a People team, we are focussed on creating the best candidate and colleague experience.

In the People function we have teams that focus on all of the things that matter to you such as talent acquisition, inclusion, reward, wellbeing, talent and organisational development, colleague experience, internal communications and employee relations.

There are around 80 colleagues within People, we love to collaborate and work together to improve our colleagues' experience, not just within our own team but will stakeholders across Aegon.

Our CEO Mike Holliday-Williams believes passionately that high engagement drives business performance and colleague and candidate experience is front and centre in our business strategy as a core strategic pillar. We have big ambitions – we want our colleagues to feel heard, feel supported, feel proud and feel inspired – and we’re always listening and acting on feedback to make sure we’re supporting colleagues with the things that matter most to them.

We’re responsible for selling Aegon’s solutions and achieving – and preferably exceeding – retail and workplace pensions targets.

There’s no such thing as a typical day within Distribution, as you could find yourself talking to our adviser partners to increase our reach, which could involve writing proposals and going out to pitch. Alternatively, you might be responsible for implementing new business once we’ve won it. We also have colleagues who specialise in client relationships with employers. They play a crucial role as they solicit customer feedback and ensure that we’re still meeting their needs.

You could also find yourself managing client relationships within our institutional business, which is quite niche. Nothing we do is about old-school hard selling: we’re here to promote Aegon as a business partner with a clear proposition for employers and intermediaries. Some of this promotion is face-to-face via field teams and some is undertaken over the phone. Segmenting the adviser market is very important, as the propositions can be quite different, along with the customers’ needs.

Behind the scenes, we have Platform Consultants, who help our adviser partners use our platform to its fullest effect. This is more about customer service than sales and once again we undertake this both face-to-face and via the telephone. Overall, this a big department, with nearly 200 people, and very much the powerhouse behind Aegon.

We need people who can establish, cultivate and maintain great relationships. It’s transferable skills that really count, provided people can learn fast – they’ll soon need to be experts on our platform and our range of solutions. However, some previous financial services experience is a must, as pensions are complex regulated products.

The Distribution team is based all over the UK, and most of our people work from home, so within reason it doesn’t really matter where you are based. What matters is where you’re going – you need to be able to make your mark within a supportive and collaborative team, you have to be customer-focused, and above all you must be able to hit targets and make things happen. That’s the bottom line.

We've more than 50 colleagues in our legal department, covering all aspects of compliance. We advise on legal matters and help Aegon create new processes. To make that happen, people from all over the business will come to us and ask us whether they are feasible. This is extremely stimulating for us, as we can examine what is possible and what is impossible before involving colleagues in finding new ways of doing things. We also deal with any complaints when they become litigation, negotiating with third parties to find the right resolution.

Overall, we play an important part in shaping the customer journey from a regulatory perspective and we have the vital mission of keeping Aegon at the forefront of best practice.

As one of the UK’s leading financial planning firms, Origen is here to build brighter financial futures. For almost 140 years, our expertise has delivered the best possible outcomes for individuals, families and businesses. With a highly qualified team of advisers across the UK, we shape the lives of thousands of clients every year. We’re also a remarkable place to work – and build your own brighter future.