Associate Actuary II

About Wildfire Defense Systems, Inc.
Wildfire Defense Systems (WDS) is the North American leader in insurer wildfire services, combining professional wildfire consulting and loss intervention services with Qualified Insurance Resources (QIR). Founded in 2001 to fulfill initial-attack assignments for the US Forest Service, the company added professional services support in 2005 and launched wildfire loss-intervention programs for insurers in 2008.
WDS Wildfire Loss Intervention Service (WDS Service) applies a comprehensive approach to reducing risk in catastrophic exposure on an industry scale, decreasing the average annual loss (AAL) for our insurer clients, and providing peace of mind to their policy holders during wildfire events. WDS provides these industry-leading services to insurer clients and their policy holders across a 22-state service area.
Purpose and Scope of Position
The Associate Actuary is a pivotal technical and collaborative role within WD InsurTech's Actuarial Pricing & Analytics function. This position sits at the intersection of traditional actuarial science and modern data science, responsible for designing, building, and maintaining advanced pricing frameworks across WD InsurTech's property and casualty insurance and reinsurance portfolios.
The incumbent will leverage statistical modeling, machine learning, and predictive analytics to develop rate indications, evaluate price adequacy, and support underwriting strategy across commercial, specialty, and reinsurance lines. Working in close partnership with Underwriting, Claims, Reserving, Catastrophe Modeling, and senior leadership, this role drives data-informed decision-making that directly influences portfolio profitability, growth strategy, and risk selection.
This is a high-impact individual contributor role with mentorship responsibilities, offering the opportunity to shape the evolution of pricing capabilities at WD InsurTech through the adoption of modern tooling, advanced analytics, and scalable model infrastructure.
Duties And Responsibilities
Your duties may include, but are not limited to:
Pricing Model Development & Data Science
Analyzes statistical data and applies mathematical models to assess risk, price insurance products, and support the financial soundness of the organization.
Develops and maintains actuarial models to estimate reserves, premiums, and liabilities across lines of business.
Design, build, and validate predictive pricing models using statistical and machine learning methods, tailored to P&C and reinsurance lines.
Develop and maintain end-to-end pricing pipelines, from raw data ingestion and feature engineering through model training, validation, deployment, and monitoring.
Apply credibility theory, loss development, trend analysis, and exposure rating in combination with data science techniques to produce robust rate indications.
Develop pricing tools and actuarial models that support estimation of price adequacy, rate change measurement, and portfolio segmentation across all assigned lines of business.
Automate recurring pricing workflows and reporting using Python, R, or SQL to improve efficiency, consistency, and auditability.
Maintain version control and documentation of models, code, and assumptions in alignment with company standards and actuarial professionalism guidelines.
Rate Indications & Regulatory Filings
Perform regular rate indications for all assigned states and programs using standard actuarial methods, including loss ratio, pure premium, and experience rating approaches.
Recommend rate actions with a focus on long-term profitability, market competitiveness, and regulatory feasibility.
Research peer company filings and develop actuarially supportable rates in emerging or data-sparse segments.
Portfolio & Transactional Pricing
Perform portfolio-level and individual account/treaty pricing analyses across property, casualty, specialty, and reinsurance lines.
Assist senior staff in review and pricing of new program opportunities, facultative submissions, and treaty structures.
Identify areas of strong profitability for growth and underperforming segments for re-underwriting, contraction, or exit.
Develop segmental and trend analyses to support underwriting decisions and strategic planning.
Evaluates the probability and financial impact of future events such as claims, mortality, morbidity, and policyholder behavior.
Performance Monitoring & Analytics
Monitor pricing performance metrics including rate change, price adequacy, loss ratio emergence, and plan-vs-actual comparisons.
Design and maintain dashboards and reporting tools that deliver actionable pricing intelligence to underwriting teams and senior leadership.
Conduct experience studies, parameter reviews, and assumption updates on a defined schedule; present findings and recommendations to key committees.
Support reserve reviews for assigned segments and respond to ad hoc data calls from internal and external stakeholders.
Monitors emerging trends, legislation, and industry developments that affect actuarial assumptions and outcomes.
Cross-Functional Collaboration & Stakeholder Engagement
Liaise with Underwriting, Claims, Reserving, Exposure Management, and the Managing Actuary to ensure pricing reflects all relevant loss, exposure, and operational information.
Provide training and technical guidance to underwriters on pricing methodology, rate change requirements, and model outputs.
Clearly and concisely present findings, model results, and recommendations to diverse audiences including senior actuarial management, underwriting teams, compliance officers, MGU/MGA partners, and regulators.
Ensure data quality, integrity, and completeness in pricing tools; identify data gaps and champion improvements.
Build and maintain constructive working relationships with internal and external partners identified as key to the role.
Collaborates with underwriting, finance, and product teams to inform strategy and ensure adequate risk management.
Process Improvement & Governance
Identify opportunities to improve pricing processes, methodologies, and data infrastructure; contribute to and lead delivery of such improvements.
Maintain pricing model documentation at required frequency, obtaining appropriate managerial sign-offs and adhering to model governance standards.
Understand and apply the company's pricing quality assurance process; support underwriting controls related to pricing and relevant regulatory principles.
Keep abreast of industry best practices, emerging data science techniques, new actuarial initiatives, and changes in regulatory requirements.
Prepares actuarial reports, rate filings, and reserve analyses to support pricing, regulatory, and financial reporting requirements.
Talent Development & Team Contribution
Operate as an effective team member by supporting colleagues and contributing to overall team and business objectives.
Pursue actuarial examination progress toward FCAS designation and engage in ongoing professional development.
Job Requirements
Basic Qualifications (i.e. education, certifications, etc…)
Educational Qualifications
Bachelor's degree in Actuarial Science, Mathematics, Statistics, Data Science, Computer Science, Economics, or a closely related quantitative field required.
Master's degree (M.S. or M.A.) in Actuarial Science, Statistics, Data Science, Applied Mathematics, or a related discipline strongly preferred.
Casualty Actuarial Society (CAS) Fellowship (FCAS) designation required; ACAS or near-ACAS standing required.
Supplemental credentials such as CPCU, ARe, CERA, or formal data science certifications (e.g., AWS ML Specialty, Google Professional Data Engineer) are a plus.
Experience
3 or more years of progressive actuarial experience in property and casualty insurance and/or reinsurance pricing required.
Demonstrated experience building and deploying predictive models and pricing tools in a commercial or specialty insurance environment.
Experience with rate filing preparation, DOI interactions, and regulatory compliance preferred.
Familiarity with MGU/MGA, program, treaty, or facultative reinsurance business structures is a plus.
Prior experience working in or alongside data engineering or data science teams preferred.
Key Certifications (if applicable)
FCAS certification
Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, & Experience
Actuarial & Technical Knowledge
Strong command of P&C actuarial pricing fundamentals: loss development, trend analysis, credibility theory, exposure rating, retrospective rating, and experience modification.
Solid understanding of reinsurance pricing concepts including burning cost, experience rating, exposure rating, and swing plans.
Knowledge of cata

Work arrangement
Yes