Top 12 Pension Analyst Skills to Put on Your Resume

Standing out as a pension analyst means showing range: technical depth, sharp judgment, and composure with messy data and shifting rules. Put the right skills on your resume and you signal confidence with complex pension schemes, asset-liability dynamics, and the day-to-day that keeps plans solvent and people paid.

Pension Analyst Skills

1. Excel
2. SQL
3. Actuarial Science
4. Data Analysis
5. Risk Management
6. Financial Modeling
7. SAS
8. Python
9. Regulatory Compliance
10. Pension Legislation
11. Tableau
12. Power BI

1. Excel

Excel is the day-to-day workhorse for organizing pension data, crunching valuations, and packaging results clearly. Spreadsheets become models; models become decisions.

Why It's Important

You need quick calculations, transparent logic, and repeatable workflows. Excel handles complex formulas, audits, and what-if analysis fast—vital for liability projections, cash-flow timing, and reporting.

How to Improve Excel Skills

1. Adopt modern functions: XLOOKUP, dynamic arrays (FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE), and LET/LAMBDA to simplify knotty formulas.

2. Use PivotTables and PivotCharts to summarize contributions, benefits, and performance trends without bloated formulas.

3. Lean on Power Query for data cleaning and merging; Power Pivot and the Data Model for relationships and large volumes.

4. Scenario planning: Goal Seek, Solver, and data tables for sensitivities on discount rates, mortality, and investment returns.

5. Automate drudgery with VBA or Office Scripts; standardize inputs, outputs, and checks.

6. Build readable models: clear tabs, named ranges, consistent formatting, version control, and change logs.

7. Tell the story: concise charts, sparklines, and conditional formatting that spotlight what changed and why.

How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume

2. SQL

SQL retrieves, shapes, and checks the data that feeds models and dashboards. Clean data in, credible analysis out.

Why It's Important

Pension data sprawls across systems. SQL ties it together—accurate queries, faster reporting, tighter controls over contributions, payments, and member records.

How to Improve SQL Skills

1. Master joins, subqueries, CTEs, and window functions for time-based measures and cohort analysis.

2. Design for speed: indexing, partitioning, and reading execution plans to trim query lag.

3. Model wisely: normalize for integrity; denormalize when analytics demand speed.

4. Harden quality: constraints, checks, and reconciliation queries that catch anomalies early.

5. Parameterize and document queries; create reusable views for standardized reports.

6. Respect privacy: restrict PII, apply role-based access, and mask where appropriate.

7. Build repeatable pipelines (ELT/ETL) to refresh data on schedule without manual drama.

How to Display SQL Skills on Your Resume

3. Actuarial Science

The mathematics of uncertainty applied to pension promises—survival models, discounting, risk, and prudence stitched together.

Why It's Important

It underpins contributions and benefits. Sound actuarial methods keep plans solvent, equitable, and resilient when assumptions wobble.

How to Improve Actuarial Science Skills

1. Refresh the core: probability, statistics, time value of money, life contingencies, and survival models.

2. Use current assumptions: mortality improvement scales, credible discount curves, salary growth, withdrawal behavior.

3. Link assets to liabilities: learn ALM basics, duration/convexity, and liability-driven investment mechanics.

4. Get fluent with actuarial and analytical tools (e.g., Prophet, AXIS, R, Python) and quality-control workflows.

5. Know the rulebook: funding rules, disclosures, and accounting standards (such as ERISA-leaning frameworks, IAS 19).

6. Pursue credentials (ASA/FSA or regional equivalents) and keep up with continuing education and peer review.

How to Display Actuarial Science Skills on Your Resume

4. Data Analysis

Turning raw records into insight. Trends pop, outliers bark, and strategies sharpen.

Why It's Important

Accurate analysis protects funding, forecasts cash needs, and keeps reporting defensible. Decisions get clearer and faster.

How to Improve Data Analysis Skills

1. Strengthen statistics: regression, hypothesis testing, time-series methods, and uncertainty quantification.

2. Engineer data well: define business rules, handle missing and messy values, and create audit-ready lineage.

3. Visualize with intent: pick the right chart, reduce clutter, annotate meaning, and highlight exceptions.

4. Segment smartly: cohorts by plan, age, service, vesting, and benefit type to reveal patterns.

5. Make it reproducible: notebooks, scripts, and versioning; automate refreshes and checks.

6. Narrate results: pair metrics with context, caveats, and a recommended next step.

How to Display Data Analysis Skills on Your Resume

5. Risk Management

Find the risks, size them, and tame them. Market swings, longevity drift, operations hiccups—no surprises.

Why It's Important

Pension promises span decades. Without disciplined risk controls, volatility erodes funded status and threatens benefits.

How to Improve Risk Management Skills

1. Map the universe: market, credit, liquidity, operational, cyber, counterparty, and regulatory risks. Maintain a living risk register.

2. Stress and scenario test: rate shocks, inflation spikes, equity drawdowns, longevity shifts, and liquidity squeezes.

3. Model stochastically for funding outcomes; quantify risk with clear metrics (VaR, tracking error, surplus at risk).

4. Design policy: articulate risk appetite, rebalancing rules, hedging thresholds, and escalation protocols.

5. Use LDI where appropriate: align hedge ratios with liability sensitivity and monitor collateral/liquidity needs.

6. Tighten governance: roles, independence, regular reporting, external reviews, and controls testing.

7. Monitor continuously: early-warning indicators and dashboards that trigger action before trouble grows teeth.

How to Display Risk Management Skills on Your Resume

6. Financial Modeling

Mathematical representations of plan economics—assets, liabilities, and behavior stitched into a coherent forecast.

Why It's Important

Models pressure-test strategy, inform contributions, and expose sensitivities that matter to trustees and sponsors.

How to Improve Financial Modeling Skills

1. Structure cleanly: separate inputs, calcs, and outputs; label assumptions; log changes.

2. Build ALM muscle: cash-flow projections, yield-curve dynamics, duration matching, glidepaths, and rebalancing rules.

3. Go beyond base case: scenario and Monte Carlo analysis for rates, returns, mortality, and inflation.

4. Validate relentlessly: back-test, reconcile to accounting and actuarial results, and peer review.

5. Quantify impact: sensitivity tables, tornado charts, and clear funding ratio trajectories.

6. Automate refresh and QA checks; maintain version control for auditability.

How to Display Financial Modeling Skills on Your Resume

7. SAS

SAS provides robust data management and statistical tooling for large, regulated datasets—right at home in pensions.

Why It's Important

Repeatable analytics, strong audit trails, and enterprise-grade performance make SAS a steady choice for reporting and modeling.

How to Improve SAS Skills

1. Get fluent in the DATA step and PROC SQL for efficient transformation and joins.

2. Use macros to automate repetitive tasks and standardize parameter-driven jobs.

3. Apply statistical procedures (e.g., regression, GLM, logistic) for experience studies and forecasting.

4. Produce clear outputs with ODS; standardize layouts for recurring regulatory or trustee reports.

5. Tune performance: indexes, formats, and memory-aware processing on big tables; validate logs cleanly.

6. Explore SAS Viya when available for scalable, cloud-aligned analytics.

How to Display SAS Skills on Your Resume

8. Python

General-purpose, readable, and powerful. From data wrangling to simulation, Python covers ground quickly.

Why It's Important

It accelerates analysis, automates reporting, and opens the door to advanced modeling and visualization—without reinventing the wheel.

How to Improve Python Skills

1. Master the core: data types, functions, classes, and clean code patterns.

2. Use the data stack: pandas and NumPy for tables and arrays; statsmodels or scikit-learn for analysis; matplotlib/Seaborn/Plotly for visuals.

3. Work in notebooks for exploration, then package production jobs as scripts with configs and tests.

4. Model the pension-specific bits: cash-flow engines, mortality and longevity modeling, ALM simulations.

5. Harden pipelines: schedule jobs, validate inputs, log outcomes, and protect PII.

How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume

9. Regulatory Compliance

Keeping plans inside the lines—law, guidance, and governance—so benefits stay secure and scrutiny passes cleanly.

Why It's Important

Noncompliance risks penalties, reputational harm, and member impact. Good controls avert headaches and keep stakeholders confident.

How to Improve Regulatory Compliance Skills

1. Track rule changes and guidance that affect funding, disclosures, and operations (for example, recent updates like SECURE Act 2.0 provisions in the U.S.).

2. Maintain a compliance calendar with owners, due dates, and evidence of completion (think filings, notices, testing).

3. Document procedures: eligibility, calculations, QDROs, corrections, and record retention with clear control points.

4. Strengthen vendor oversight: review SOC reports, SLAs, data protection, and incident response expectations.

5. Protect data privacy and security: apply least-privilege access, encryption at rest/in transit, and breach playbooks.

6. Self-audit regularly; remediate gaps quickly and record the fix.

How to Display Regulatory Compliance Skills on Your Resume

10. Pension Legislation

The legal framework for establishing, funding, administering, and paying pensions. It shapes every operational and strategic decision.

Why It's Important

Legislation sets the boundaries for contributions, benefits, disclosures, and governance. Knowing the rules lets you anticipate change and advise with conviction.

How to Improve Pension Legislation Skills

1. Build a baseline: understand core statutes, guidance, accounting standards, and how they interact with plan documents.

2. Monitor change: maintain summaries of pending bills, effective dates, and operational impacts; brief stakeholders early.

3. Create decision guides: checklists and flowcharts for tricky areas (eligibility, late remittances, corrections).

4. Coordinate with counsel and administrators: align interpretations, document positions, and keep evidence trails.

5. Educate plan sponsors and HR: short memos and training that translate rules into practical steps.

How to Display Pension Legislation Skills on Your Resume

11. Tableau

Interactive dashboards that make pension metrics breathe—funding, flows, and performance at a glance.

Why It's Important

Stakeholders grasp complex trends faster when visuals are precise, responsive, and thoughtfully designed.

How to Improve Tableau Skills

1. Model your data well: use relationships or joins wisely; prefer tidy tables and pre-aggregations where needed.

2. Level of detail and table calculations: compute rates, rolling periods, and year-over-year effects without clutter.

3. Design for clarity: consistent color scales, accessible labels, guided navigation, and helpful tooltips.

4. Parameterize: give users scenario controls and slicers that actually matter (assumptions, time frames, cohorts).

5. Secure access with row-level controls; publish with explicit refresh schedules and ownership.

6. Profile performance: optimize extracts, limit heavy calculations, and prune unused fields.

How to Display Tableau Skills on Your Resume

12. Power BI

From raw records to sleek visuals and automated refreshes, Power BI locks in a robust reporting rhythm.

Why It's Important

It blends data prep, modeling, and DAX-driven analytics with enterprise governance—ideal for recurring pension reporting.

How to Improve Power BI Skills

1. Think star schema: fact tables for transactions and measures; dimensions for members, time, plans, and investments.

2. Write reliable DAX: time-intelligence, cohort metrics, and cumulative funding measures that perform.

3. Master Power Query (M) to clean and reshape inputs; document transformation steps.

4. Use incremental refresh and composite models to keep big data nimble.

5. Secure with row-level security and sensitivity labels; separate dev, test, and prod with deployment pipelines.

6. Tune reports: Performance Analyzer, reduced visuals, and careful use of high-cardinality fields.

How to Display Power BI Skills on Your Resume