Written by:
Head of Service Operations
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5 minutes
Published:
28 / 09 / 2026
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Opening the door to a career in pensions
Fay Knight, Head of Service Operations at Brightwell
Let’s be honest: few people grow up saying they want to work in pensions. I certainly didn’t. I began my career in HR before being asked to cover a role in pensions for six months. Twenty years later, I’m still here.
My experience is not unusual. Many people enter pensions almost by chance, only to discover a varied, purpose-driven industry where their work can make a meaningful difference to people’s lives.
The opportunity is there. The challenge is making it visible and accessible to people who might never previously have considered pensions as a career.
That means reaching beyond the usual recruitment channels. As an industry, we need to engage with schools, colleges, universities and careers fairs, while telling a much more compelling story about the breadth of roles, skills and progression available. We should not assume people already understand what a career in pensions can offer.
This is particularly important in pensions administration.
Administrators are central to the experience of scheme members and policyholders, who rightly expect their questions to be answered accurately, promptly and empathetically, often at significant moments in their lives. Yet demand for experienced administrators continues to grow.
We cannot meet that demand simply by competing for the same established professionals. We need to widen the routes into the industry and become better at recognising aptitude, values and transferable skills, rather than focusing solely on previous pensions experience.
That was the thinking behind the Brightwell Pensions Academy, launched in 2022. It provides a structured route into the profession for people with little or no experience of pensions. Participants complete a nine-to-12-month programme at our Chesterfield administration hub, combining classroom learning and technical training with practical workplace experience.
Our latest cohort is the Academy’s largest yet, with 27 trainees joining Brightwell. Since the programme began, it has recruited around 150 colleagues and achieved a 90% retention rate. Nearly half of those joining have been aged between 18 and 24. We’ve recruited from service industries, universities and straight from school.
But widening access is not only about attracting younger people. Academy recruits have included a former midwife and a former secondary-school teacher, both bringing valuable experience and transferable skills from their previous careers. The aim is to give people from different backgrounds and at different stages of their working lives the opportunity to build a rewarding new career.
Graduates have already progressed into senior pensions administration positions and other roles across Brightwell. This demonstrates why developing entry-level talent is not simply a response to immediate vacancies. It is a long-term investment in people, service quality and the future resilience of our industry.
Pensions may not be the most obvious career choice, but it can be a compelling one. It offers professional development, genuine progression and, most importantly, purposeful work that helps people achieve greater financial security in retirement.
If we want to build the workforce our industry needs, we must open more doors, look beyond conventional career paths and become much better at communicating what pensions has to offer.
Hear more from Fay Knight, together with Girish Menezes President of the Pensions Management Institute in the latest episode of Brightwell’s Pensions Unpacked podcast: Pensions Unpacked Podcast :: Brightwell
If you’d like to know more about Brightwell, get in touch at: hello@brightwellpensions.com
