Retail Direct Trading Director

Ready to lead the future of Retail Insurance? Join AXA Retail as our dynamic Direct Trading Director!

We’re searching for an inspiring, commercially savvy leader to take the helm of our Retail Direct division and lead our strong AXA, Swiftcover and Moja business — a key driver of market-leading distribution, profitability, and growth for AXA Insurance.

This is your chance to shape the strategy, influence multi-year P&L performance, and deliver transformational customer experiences that set new industry standards.

As the Direct Leader, you’ll spearhead trading performance and work collaboratively to optimise pricing, customer experience and proactively manage risk— ensuring our customers receive exceptional outcomes across all Retail Direct products. This high-impact, growth-focused role demands strategic vision, operational excellence, and a strong collaborative spirit to work seamlessly with regulatory and governance teams.

If you’re a visionary, collaborative leader ready to make a real difference in the insurance landscape, we want to hear from you. Join us and lead the charge into a future of innovation, growth, and customer-centric excellence!

What you’ll be doing:

• Develop and execute the Retail Direct strategy, aligning with the overarching AXA Retail and AXA Insurance business plans to achieve targeted growth and transformational customer improvements.
• Oversee the trading and financial performance of the multi-year end-to-end P&L (top-line and bottom-line), including customer experience, portfolio/channel optimisation, and managing multi-year volume and value trade-offs through the development and implementation of trading strategies.
• Work collaboratively to drive an enhanced customer experience and optimise Retail Direct marketing and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns to maximise quotes, conversion rates, and build trust across AXA brands (e.g., AXA, Swift Cover, Moja).
• Responsible for market pricing in collaboration with the Director of Retail Pricing, setting risk selection appetite, underwriting acceptance criteria, and developing/deploying counter-fraud rules and functionalities for all products.
• Ensure delivery of excellent customer outcomes through compliant product design, clear wording, and adherence to regulatory standards.
• Proactively manage relationships with price comparison websites and distribution partners, ensuring compliance with contractual obligations and regulatory requirements set by the FCA and other relevant bodies.
• Lead the business teams with passion, fostering a commercial and customer focused culture, accountability, and continuous improvement—encouraging innovation and supporting the development and capabilities of team members.
• Take personal responsibility for strengthening governance, controls, and risk management practices, ensuring good customer outcomes. Develop and implement plans to manage and mitigate business and compliance risks, maintaining adherence to all regulatory and legislative requirements through a culture of risk awareness and capability.

At AXA we work smart, empowering our people to balance their time between home and the office in a way that works best for them, their team and our customers. You'll work at least two days a week (40%) away from home, moving to three days a week (60%) in the future. Away from home means either attendance at one of our office locations, visiting clients or attending industry events.

What you’ll bring:

• Educated to degree level or equivalent.
• ACII qualified or equivalent professional qualification.
• Significant experience the UK insurance industry working in a Senior Management Role and reporting into Executive level.
• Track record of successfully leading teams to deliver outcomes.
• Experience of delivering and leading change.
• Established market relationships with suppliers – typically between Director and MD level.
• Strong commercial acumen, able to demonstrate a long standing deep technical knowledge of the relevant UK insurance market.
• Ability to communicate effectively and explain complex issues, influencing stakeholders at all levels.
• Ability to think strategically and understand the “big picture” - organisational awareness – knowledge of business structures, pinch points and dependencies.

This position has been defined as an Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) role under the IDD regime which means that in addition to pre-employment screening checks, the successful candidate will be subject to background screening every 4 years with an annual declaration in interim years.

Please be aware that this position is also a Certified Function role / Senior Management Function role under the SM&CR regime, which means the successful candidate will be subject to an enhanced level of background screening requirements.

What we offer:

At AXA UK, we’re appreciative of the people who work for us and our rewards package is reviewed regularly to reflect that. You can expect to receive:

• Competitive annual salary dependent on experience
• Annual company & performance-based bonus
• Contributory pensions scheme (up to 12% employer contributions)
• Life Assurance (up to 10 x annual salary)
• Private Medical Cover
• Company Car Allowance
• 28 days annual leave plus Bank Holidays
• Opportunity to buy up to 5 extra days leave or sell up to 5 days leave
• Wellbeing services & resources
• AXA employee discounts

To apply, click on the ‘apply for this job’ button, you’ll then need to log in or create a profile to submit your CV. We’re proud to be an Equal Opportunities Employer and don’t discriminate against employees or potential employees based on protected characteristics. If you have a long-term condition or disability and require adjustments during the application or interview process, we’re proud to offer access to the AXA Accessibility Concierge. For our support, please send an email to kate.wilding@axa-uk.co.uk

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Who we are:

AXA Retail helps people live the life they love, knowing we’ve got their back, at home and on the road. Our people are vital to us becoming more digital, faster and easier to access. We’re a dynamic team of experts completely committed to making sure our customers ‘get back to the good stuff’ when the unexpected happens.