Without careful consideration today, tomorrow’s pensions don’t exist.
That’s where Isio comes in, giving our clients the advice and support they need to deliver better outcomes and financial wellbeing for their members in the decades to come.
Isio provides full-service pensions consultancy to our 1000+ corporate clients, from actuarial expertise through to investment advice and third-party administration and advising clients on providing the best possible reward and benefits packages for their employees. Isio launched in March 2020 out of KPMG UK’s pensions practice and has grown to over 1000 people working across 10 offices across the UK.
We’re a People First business, so we want to make sure that you are supported to reach your goals, whatever they may be. We’ll support you with studying, be flexible around family life and enable you to give back to the community through paid volunteering days.
We aim to create an environment where you can succeed in a role which makes the most of your existing skills and develops new ones.
We are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion – bringing your whole self to work every day. We have hubs across the UK and many of our roles are flexible in location to help create a work-life balance that works for you.
The role
We are keen to support those starting their career at Isio with building a strong foundation for success. Whether as a Graduate, Industrial Placement student, summer intern or as an Apprentice, Isio will provide a great experience working alongside experienced professionals. You will have the opportunity to help fulfil our Purpose of creating better outcomes for our clients, their members and society by empowering and developing our people.
Isio is growing at a fast and exciting pace. Starting your career at Isio will be a great balance of working with experts in their field within an innovative organisation that is looking to drive positive and innovative change in its sector.
Graduates at Isio have acknowledged their positive experience, as shown by our ranking as the Top Employer for Graduates to work for in Consulting according to the Job Crowd 2023 rankings.
Role Title: Defined Contributions Pension (DC) Investment Advisory Graduate Programme
Length of programme: Around 3 years to achieve your relevant professional qualification, however you are employed on a permanent basis from the start of your graduate role
Qualifications you’ll work for: Charterholder of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) qualification or equivalent.
Entry requirements
To apply for this role you need to have completed an undergraduate degree or higher level qualification by 1 September 2025 and have achieved a 2.1 or higher. If you are in your final year of university study, we are looking for those on track to achieve this.
We are open to applications from those studying any subject. Studying towards the CFA or equivalent exams will require strong mathematical skills and a keen interest in financial concepts.
You will need to have the right to work in the UK after you complete your university study.
Working as a Defined Contribution Investment Analyst at Isio
Our Defined Contribution team is an area of rapid growth within our Pensions Practice, particularly so on the DC Investment Advisory side. We have a large and established range of existing clients but are winning new work on a regular basis – it really is a fast-moving market. Our DC Investment team provides investment consulting services to both trustees and sponsors of Defined Contribution pension schemes, working alongside our wider non-investment DC specialists to provide joined-up advice and effective scheme governance.
Our Defined Contribution team sits within our wider Reward & Benefits business. Here, we provide a range of services to our clients which are all about supporting them with providing the best possible offering to their employees around Reward and Benefits. This includes supporting with benefit design, benefits technology, risk and healthcare broking, pensions, workplace savings advice and governance, and employee support. Isio’s aim is to help our clients bring those offerings to their employees into an integrated proposition.
For graduates, it’s the chance to take the first step towards becoming an expert in your field. Challenging and rewarding, working in DC Investment Advisory requires strong communication skills and financial acumen, paired with the ability to take responsibility right from the beginning. Graduates here have the ambition and confidence to take the initiative and develop their own investment ideas. Our environment is one that graduates can thrive in, and where getting our best investment ideas into client portfolios, and ultimately delivering better outcomes for members is our priority.
Pension schemes often pose significant financial risks for organisations and trustees, whilst remaining an important part of any reward strategy. Balancing the costs and risks of a pension scheme as well as meeting best practice governance requirements is becoming increasingly complex – yet essential for a business to succeed. The needs of the industry and our clients are ever evolving and at Isio, we constantly look at ways to innovate and develop new solutions to overcome these challenges. You will build your experience and knowledge in:
- Financial Modelling – enabling our clients to better understand the risks and expected returns arising from different investment strategies.
- Investment Performance Analysis – monitoring and reporting on how our clients’ and their members’ DC investment strategies have performed compared to their objectives and the wider market.
- Capital Markets Views – assessing investment opportunities for our clients’ portfolios.
- Fund Manager Selection – helping clients to pick high quality fund managers.
- Implementation and Transition Management – helping clients to implement our advice in the most efficient way.
- DC Provider Selection – advising clients on selecting, implementing and monitoring a DC pensions provider from an investment perspective.
As a Graduate working in DC Investment Consulting at Isio you will get involved in:
- Preparing and presenting DC investment performance reports to our clients.
- Drafting DC investment reports on fund selection, default strategy reviews and other DC investment client reports.
- Researching DC pension providers, investment managers and products.
- Supporting DC pension provider reviews, analysing tender responses and drafting high quality summaries and reports.
- Dealing with queries from DC pension providers and clients over the telephone and email in a timely manner applying judgement as to when issues need to be escalated.
- Sharing knowledge with colleagues throughout the department.
You’ll study for a professional qualification whilst being trained on the job. Your role will see you build up a wide range of knowledge on DC markets and DC investments, through delivering both client work and researching DC pension products and providers.
Training and Development
As an DC Investment Advisory graduate at Isio, you’ll study for the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) exams or equivalent. We recognise the challenges and time constraints involved in balancing work and study commitments, so we’ll support you with a study day allowance and tutorials. Additional support will come from:
- Meeting your peers and senior leaders at a Graduate induction event.
- Support with developing key personal and professional behaviour.
- Regular technical training and opportunities to develop wider market knowledge throughout your career within Isio.
- A buddy from your first day to help you settle in.
- A Study Mentor who helps advise and guide students through the study and exam process.
- A Performance Manager to support you with your individual progress and performance.
What we are looking for in Graduates in Investment Consulting
Our success stems from the quality of our team. That’s why you’ll find we’ve an entrepreneurial atmosphere that offers the opportunity for every member to influence the shape and future development of the team. So, as well as financial and commercial acumen, we look for graduates who are articulate with strong communication skills. It is important to be able to maintain a good level of self-discipline and time management to balance your work while studying for professional exams. We are looking for individuals who are excited about developing strong client facing and consulting skills and are motivated about achieving commercial targets.
We will also be looking to see how applicants align to our core beliefs:
- Power in Partnership: We work in partnership with our clients & each other – building open and trusted relationships. Working together allows us to deliver the best for our clients.
- Future Focus: We want to push our industry forward by solving problems in better ways that benefit both our clients & society
- Strength in Difference: We work with diverse perspectives to find better solutions. Working with differences makes us stronger.
- People First: We recognise that pensions is a people business. People are the source of Isio’s expertise and it is people’s lives that we affect through our advice.