Embedded AXIS Modeling Support for a Growing US Annuity Platform

Objective

A growing US annuity platform engaged Graeme Group to place a credentialed actuary inside its modeling team to support AXIS model development, testing and reinsurance modeling across its annuity product lines. The requirement was capacity and capability rather than a discrete work product: the client needed an experienced actuary working in the model, to its direction and priorities.

The timing mattered. Annuity writers expanding quickly face a compounding problem. The in-force grows across several product types at once, each with its own modeling demands. Reinsurance structures multiply as capital is managed actively. And the statutory reporting framework for non-variable annuities is moving to a principle-based footing under VM-22, which changes what the valuation model has to be able to do rather than simply changing an assumption. Any one of those is manageable. Arriving together, they exceed what an in-house team sized for steady state can absorb.

The scarce resource in that situation is a modeler who already knows the platform, knows US annuity valuation, and can be productive inside an existing model without a long orientation period. That combination was the requirement.

Scope of Work

The placement covered annuity modeling on the AXIS platform across the client’s product range, spanning fixed indexed annuities, registered index-linked annuities, variable annuities, multi-year guaranteed annuities and single premium immediate annuities. Four areas of support were in scope:

• AXIS model development and enhancement across the annuity product lines.
• Model testing, validation and quality assurance within the client’s own modeling process.
• Reinsurance treaty modeling using AXIS native functionality.
• VM-22 implementation support, in-force data mapping, data pipeline architecture and model automation.

This was deliberately scoped as areas of support rather than as a fixed deliverable set. On a placement of this kind the client owns the work program and reprioritizes it as its own reporting calendar and project pressures move. A rigid deliverable schedule would have been outdated within a month.

Services Provided

Evidence-Based Candidate Matching

Sourcing for a placement like this fails when it screens on keywords. “AXIS” on a CV covers everything from running batches to building a reinsurance structure from scratch, and annuity experience can mean a single product line. Our screen tested which products the candidate had modeled, what they had personally built as opposed to maintained, and how recently. The placed contractor is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries with substantial US annuity valuation and AXIS modeling depth across exactly the product range in scope.

Fully Embedded Delivery

The contractor works inside the client’s environment, on the client’s systems, under the direction of the client’s valuation modeling lead, with the client approving hours directly. This arrangement was structured intentionally: a contractor held at arm’s length from the team, reporting through an intermediary, is slower to become useful and harder to redirect when priorities change.

Administration Carried by Graeme Group

Contracting, onboarding, background screening, timesheet administration and monthly invoicing all sit with Graeme Group. The client receives one counterparty, one invoice and one point of accountability. The value of this arrangement is clearest when a placement has to be replaced or extended at short notice; it is the difference between a seat that stays filled and a project that pauses.

Continuity of Delivery

On a placement, the deliverable is continuity: the work keeps happening. That means being reachable when the client wants to extend, maintaining a bench for when a resource becomes unavailable, and keeping administration as simple in month five as it was in month one.

Deliverables

This engagement is structured as embedded support rather than as a deliverable-based project, so the outputs are the client’s own model artifacts rather than Graeme Group reports. What we provide is:

• A credentialed actuary matched against the specific platform, product range and valuation basis in scope, verified on evidence rather than on keywords.
• Continuous embedded capacity inside the client’s modeling team, working to the client’s direction and priorities.
• Full contracting, onboarding, screening and payroll administration, with a single monthly invoice and a single accountable counterparty.
• Access to a replacement bench, so that a resource becoming unavailable does not become the client’s problem.

Outcome

• Capacity Where It Was Needed: The client added experienced AXIS annuity modeling capability without running a permanent search in a market where that specific combination is thinly supplied.
• Continuous Delivery: Six months of uninterrupted delivery across the annuity product range, with no gaps, no escalations and no disputes over hours or scope at any point in the engagement.
• Breadth of Support: The placement has spanned model development, testing and quality assurance, reinsurance treaty modeling and statutory implementation work, rather than settling into a single narrow task. That range is only available from someone senior enough to be redeployed inside the model as priorities shift.
• Extended by the Client: The clearest evidence on a placement is whether the client chooses to extend it. This placement has been extended beyond its initial term at the client’s request.
• A Standing Relationship: The engagement has developed into an ongoing dialogue about where else specialist support would help, which is the outcome we aim for on every placement.

This engagement reflects the placement side of Graeme Group’s practice: a hard-to-find actuary, matched on evidence, embedded in the client’s team, and kept in seat, with the administrative weight carried by Graeme Group rather than by the client.