Actuary
Also known as
Work environment
- Usually work regular business hours
- Usually work in offices
- Need to be methodical, accurate and identify and solve problems
Salary information
Typical tasks
- Assess financial risks
- Analyse data to predict future events
- Develop risk management plans
- Use applied mathematics
- Negotiate contracts
- Write financial reports
- Use data to give pricing recommendations
Outlook
In New Zealand, actuaries remain important in insurance, superannuation, banking and risk management as organisations respond to changing regulation, extreme-weather risks and an ageing population. Data analytics, automation and artificial intelligence are changing how actuarial work is done, while increasing the need for careful oversight of models and decisions. Internationally, climate and sustainability risks are also becoming a stronger focus.
What employers and industry want in graduates
- Strong maths, statistics and problem-solving ability
- Confidence working with data, models and digital tools
- Clear communication of complex ideas to non-specialists
- Careful attention to detail and accuracy
- Sound judgement about risk, uncertainty and model limits
- Professional ethics, curiosity and willingness to keep learning
AUT programmes
The above is a suggestion only and a starting point. You may need to meet other criteria or take additional steps to work in this career.
Further study options
Content is reviewed by our experts, but information can change over time. Some content is created with AI support.
This data is sourced from the Tertiary Education Commission through the Tahatū Career Navigator website (www.tahtu.govt.nz) and used under the CC BY 4.0 licence. Some of the information has been modified by AUT. TEC has not approved, endorsed or tested these modifications. TEC will not be held accountable for any errors within this data.
