My career story: Dipak Hirani
Job title and department or organisation
Dipak is Head of Development at the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD). His role matches the role of Actuary Band 5 on the Analysis Function Career Framework.
Grade
Dipak works at Senior Civil Service 1 (SCS1) level.
Profession and entry route
Dipak is a qualified actuary.
He entered the Civil Service at Higher Executive Officer (HEO) grade on the Graduate Trainee Actuary programme.
Dipak’s career path
I completed my undergraduate degree at University College London (UCL) in Mathematics. I was interested in becoming an Actuary, so I went on to complete an MSc in Actuarial Science. I applied for a range of actuarial jobs after achieving my master’s degree and chose to join the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) Graduate scheme as a Junior Trainee Actuary at Higher Executive Officer (HEO) grade. After the first two years on the programme, I was promoted to Senior Trainee Actuary at (SEO) grade, and I qualified to become a Grade 7 Actuary in November 2016. I worked in the Public Service Pension Schemes Team, leading on police pensions. I was responsible for signing off on work and I managed a small team of trainees.
I then moved roles to support a software transition to a new pension valuation tool. This involved major change management to lead a digital transformation at GAD. My role involved both technical aspects and project management. This included leading a team to carry out technical calculations and reporting to colleagues to support the transition. This role also gave me the opportunity to complete my Prince 2 Agile Project Management qualification.
In 2018 I became the Development Team Lead (Grade 6) in the Analytical Solutions Team at GAD. This role brought much more leadership responsibility, having oversight of my team and people management and development responsibilities which come with a management role. While in this role, I supported the expansion of the team from 3 people to become a team of 16.
In January 2021, I was promoted to Deputy Director and my current role is Head of Development. This was a new opportunity which formed because of the work I had been doing in my previous position. My role involves a lot more cross-departmental work, producing work for clients, and completing business development activity. We look at how we can use technology most effectively to complete our work.
The flowchart shows Dipak’s career progression from achieving a degree in Pure Mathematics to his current role as Head of Development at GAD. It shows the step-by-step journey Dipak has taken to achieve his current grade and experience. Enlarge the flowchart.
My team is currently working on building several tools that are being rolled out to members of pension schemes across the public sector. This includes the fire service, teachers, police, and civil servants. These tools will support those affected by the recent McCloud judgment. Our calculators are hosted online and allow members to understand the potential effect of the legal judgement on their pension. One of our main aims is to increase member engagement with their pension scheme to support their understanding of the benefits and the choices they have. We are using modern technology to enhance user experience. This includes using modern visualisations to enhance member understanding.
I want to continue expanding my knowledge and expertise in model development and analytical techniques. I am aiming to take a more holistic approach and push forward strategic elements to support the direction of GAD and our analysis. This includes linking up with other government departments to have greater influence within GAD and across wider government.
I am proud of the work I have done on the valuation of public service pension schemes. It is the largest project we have within GAD and it covers over 15 million pension scheme members across the UK. It is a significant project which has taken 2 to 3 years to complete and uses a range of data analysis techniques. Most of the department is involved in this project and we work with a significant number of clients, so I am proud to work on such a large scale and important project with my colleagues.
My greatest challenge is making sure that I and my team keep up with evolving technology. There are so many different pieces of software available to analysts and actuaries and it is always developing. It is important to keep ahead of the developments and use the most up to date technology to support my role and ensure we provide high quality work that represents good value for money for our clients. Most of GAD’s stakeholders are within government, so it is important that we find efficient methods to develop our products using the technology available.
Dipak’s advice
Learn from others and ask lots of questions. My career progression has been helped by being inquisitive, learning from others, and taking an interest in colleagues’ career paths to find out how they got to where they are. Make sure to learn from everyone around you, not just those more senior to you, as getting a diverse range of experience and insights is really important. Work on a range of projects, take on new challenges, and push yourself out of your comfort zone.
This career story was published on Tuesday 1 August 2023.