Pricing Actuary at Amazon
- Where in the world do you work?
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2. Prior to the pandemic, did you work primarily in an office or from home? What about now?
100% in office prior to Pandemic. 100% remote now. Expecting to return to office on a hybrid model in the fall.
3. Do you travel for work? If so, how much? To where?
No work travel outside of occasional conferences.
4. What type of company do you work for? (Ie. Traditional Insurance, Consulting Firm, Government, etc.) Name of company?
I work for Amazon.com. We are a logistics-focused tech start-up.
5. What do you like about this work environment? What do you find challenging or what would you change?
The work environment is very fast paced. Not having data is not an excuse for indecision. I am encouraged to explicitly state assumptions and point out limitations in my work. Amazon also has a well-documented (pun intended) writing culture. No PowerPoint (or Prezzi, for the cool kids). Everything is written. It allows for more depth and nuance when communicating results. You don’t realize how much time you actually spend trying to color-coordinate graphs in PowerPoint till you don’t have to do them anymore.
While everyone is used to dealing with ambiguity and uncertainty, insurance is kind of its own animal. There is a massive amount of domain-specific knowledge that you can take for granted when you work in an insurance company. These days I constantly wish I had spent more time in the past talking to underwriters, adjusters, accountants, etc. to accumulate more insurance knowledge to apply to new problems.
6. Culture of company/country – What type of vacation benefits do you get? How flexible is your company about when/how you get work done? Are there set “business hours” you’re expected to be working and available?
We get vacation days and personal days. Work hours are largely flexible. But there are definitely core hours that we use to hold meetings. Of course, everyone is respectful of each other’s time zones.
7. Do you often work more than 40 hours per work? Is there pressure from leadership or peers to do so?
I typically work more than 40 hours per week. As the first actuary here, I put a lot of pressure on myself to overachieve for the reputation of the profession. Also, I’m sure any actuary in management knows that once you start getting more responsibilities at work, the 40-hour week becomes a myth. You put in the time to get done what you need to get done.
8. Do you hang out with coworkers outside of work?
The teams I work with are pretty scattered geographically. Many people also have family obligations outside of work. So we don’t really hang out. The days where I close down bars with other analysts are long gone.
9. What types of company sponsored events have you attended or has your company hosted?
I plan to volunteer at company-sponsored charity events once they return post-pandemic.
10. What aspects of working for your company and in your geographic location do you love? What would you change?
I’ll let you know once offices reopen.
11. If you could work anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Vancouver, BC, Canada