If you run a managing general agent (MGA), you're hiring into a market that's tilting towards higher-skilled, more technical roles. In the Financial Services sector, recruitment was generally for Regulatory Qualification Framework (RQF) 6+ roles, rather than RQF 3-5 GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report. In plain terms, RQF 6 sits at degree level, so employers are reaching for people who can interpret and judge, not just process.
That matters when you're sizing your first portfolio analyst. A pure data-entry brief is rarely the right call now. The signal from the market is that demand concentrates around people who can read a book of business, spot the patterns and explain them to underwriters and capacity providers.
An MGA sits between the broker and the capacity provider, holding delegated authority to underwrite on a carrier's behalf. Your first portfolio analyst is the person who turns that delegated authority into evidence: loss ratios, bordereaux accuracy, premium versus claims trends, and the early warning signs that a scheme is drifting off plan.
The honest question to ask first is which of two roles you're really hiring. One is a reporting-led analyst who keeps the management information clean, builds the dashboards and feeds the monthly carrier packs. The other is an insight-led analyst who interprets the numbers, challenges pricing assumptions and sits close to the underwriting conversation. The qualification bar, the salary and the reporting line all flow from that single decision.
Start with scale. Count your live schemes, the number of capacity providers you report to, the frequency of each bordereaux, and the volume of policies and claims moving through each month. A single-scheme MGA with one carrier needs a very different first analyst to a multi-class MGA reporting to several syndicates on different cycles.
A useful test: if you removed this person for a month, what breaks? If the answer is only the monthly packs, you're sizing a reporting role. If renewal decisions and capacity conversations stall, you're sizing an insight role, and you should pay and hire accordingly.
Write for the work, not the title. Lead with the three or four outcomes the analyst owns in year one, then list the tools and data they'll touch. Be explicit about the qualification level you expect, because the market is competing for degree-level, RQF 6+ candidates in financial services GOV.UK - Temporary Shortage List: Stage 2 report, and a vague advert loses them to a clearer one.
Test the right things at interview. For a first analyst, a short practical exercise beats a long competency grid: give them a messy bordereau and ask what they'd check first. Look for someone who asks about data quality before they build the chart. And move quickly: strong analysts in a tight market rarely stay on the table long, so a slow process costs you the best people.
When you're ready to hire, we search a database of 15 million candidates to build you a ranked shortlist, and we manage the process end to end so you can keep the focus on your book. Our recruitment agent manages recruitment end to end for 8% on a successful hire, with no monthly fee and no upfront cost, through Reed.ai. Tell us what the role needs to own in year one, and we'll start shortlisting today.
