Graduate Programme - Operations

Role name:  Operations Graduate 

Application deadline:  7th November 2025

Programme start date:  September 2026

Eligibility:  Final year students graduating in Summer 2026

 

Who we are:

Rothesay is the UK’s largest pensions insurance specialist, purpose-built to protect pension schemes and their members’ pensions. With over £69 billion of assets under management, we secure the pensions of nearly one million people and pay out, on average, approximately £350 million in pension payments each month.

Rothesay is dedicated to providing excellence in customer service alongside prudent underwriting, a conservative investment strategy and the careful management of risk. We are trusted by the pension schemes of some of the UK’s best known companies to provide pension solutions, including British Airways, Cadbury’s, the Civil Aviation Authority, the Co-Operative Group, National Grid, NatWest, Morrisons and Telent.

At Rothesay, we are striving to transform our industry. We believe deeply in creating real security for the future and our leadership in finding new and better ways to do that is the key to our success. To do that, we need the very brightest original thinkers to bring creativity as well as rigour. Rothesay is a rewarding place to work, where quality people can thrive and prosper. We pride ourselves on the connections our people build, many of whom have been with us for over ten years.

Graduate Programme:

Our UK graduate programme is designed to kick-start careers for ambitious and analytical graduates who want to make an impact. Rothesay is built on a multi-talented, multi-disciplined model, collaborating directly and with singular focus to shape the future. Rothesay’s inclusive and collaborative working environment allows our graduates to build a broad skill-set and shape a strong internal network. We support your development journey, growth in your career, in addition to offering a competitive salary and tailored benefits.

Our 2 year* programme starts with a fundamentals week for the entire graduate cohort, where you will have in depth networking and insight sessions on Rothesay as a whole. From week two, you will join your team for professional integrated learning and start to make meaningful contributions. Throughout your first year, alongside your permanent role, you will be part of an on-site graduate development programme with both technical and business skills training.  Our teams run lean, giving you excellent visibility and exposure throughout the business, and we will provide continuous training and upskilling for your future.  Rothesay is a rewarding place to work, where quality people can thrive and prosper.  Regular reviews will take place to support your learning and development with a formal assessment towards the end of the programme.

 

This opportunity is open to summer 2026 graduates who are looking to launch into their career within an entrepreneurial environment where talent can thrive and excel.

The role

Operations is a first-line control and support function with a mandate to establish and maintain an effective control environment. As an Operations Graduate, you will help:

• Protect our risk and capital position through robust processes and controls
• Deliver best-in-class outcomes for policyholders and stakeholders
• Enable efficient, scalable growth through data, automation, and continuous improvement

Where you could sit (placements may be made anywhere in Ops)

• Liability Operations:
• Payments: Execute accurate, timely payments to policyholders, trustees, and counterparties within regulatory guidelines
• Policyholder Experience: Support Consumer Duty outcomes and oversee Third Party Administrators (TPAs) to ensure fair value and service quality
• Data Integrity: Maintain accurate, complete policy and transaction data for risk, capital, and reporting needs
• Asset Operations:
• Funding & Collateral: Aggregate cashflows; ensure daily liquidity; coordinate with Money Market Fund providers; oversee collateral across multiple products
• Trade Support: Support daily hedging and asset deployment; ensure accurate trade capture, confirmation, lifecycle management, and reconciliation; support long-term illiquid asset management
• Scheme Installations:
• Client Relationship Management: Serve as a key point of contact for scheme Trustees and Third Party Administrators (TPAs)
• Scheme Implementations: Support the onboarding of new clients covering all de-risking transaction types

What you’ll do:

• Operate and enhance core controls across payments, trade support, funding, collateral, and data quality.
• Monitor contractual and regulatory obligations; support audit and governance activities.
• Partner with TPAs, Trading, Risk, Finance, and Technology to resolve issues quickly and sustainably.
• Produce accurate MI and reconciliations; investigate breaks and exceptions to root cause.
• Support new structures and product launches with fit-for-purpose processes and controls.
• Identify and deliver efficiency and cost-saving improvements, leveraging Excel, Python and automation where possible.
• Embed Consumer Duty principles in day-to-day decision-making.
• Contribute to continuous improvement of policies, procedures, processes and documentation.
• Develop and manage project plans to support the onboarding of new clients.
• Ensure contractual and customer commitments are delivered on time.

 What we’re looking for:

• Education: Minimum 2:1 (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline from a leading university, or equivalent practical experience.
• Mindset and behaviours:
• Strong problem-solver; comfortable handling ambiguity and prioritising under time pressure.
• Creative and curious; keen to challenge and improve processes.
• Self-starter with high initiative; reliable team player with strong ownership.
• Accuracy and absolute attention to detail.
• Skills:
• Strong MS Excel (formulas, lookups, pivot tables); aptitude for learning new tools.
• Basic understanding of risk management and control principles.
• Clear, concise communication; stakeholder management with both internal teams and TPAs.
• Numeracy and data literacy; comfort working with large data sets and reconciliations.
• Nice to have (not required):
• Exposure to financial markets, operations, payments, collateral, or trade lifecycle.
• Experience with data analysis/automation tools (e.g., SQL, Python, Power BI/Tableau).

What we offer 

• A meritocratic environment where impact and achievement are recognised.
• Direct mentorship from experienced leaders; meaningful responsibility early on.
• Structured learning alongside real-world delivery.
• Competitive starting salary with performance-related bonus and benefits.

Disclaimer This position description is intended to describe the duties most frequently performed by an individual in this position. It is not intended to be a complete list of assigned duties, but to describe a position level.  The role shall be performed within a professional office environment. Rothesay has health and safety polices that are available for all workers upon request.  There are no specific health risks associated with the role.

Inclusion Rothesay actively promotes diversity and inclusivity. We know that our success depends on our people and that by nurturing a culture that values difference, we create a stronger, more dynamic business. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of race, colour, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability or age.

The collection of applicant diversity data allows Rothesay to map and gain insights into the impact of our DEI strategy for talent attraction. This data is anonymised and is not analysed against individual applications. By requesting mapping our applicants’ demographic profiles, we can identify the under-represented groups. This enables us to identify any barriers to increasing our diversity and take action.