Greetings Wolf Street

I’m Mike Ledney, a long-time reader of Wolf Street, and I’ve kicked around data observations with our host for some time now.  I recently began recruiting a successor to lead the data and analytic functions of my company, American Risk Services, and Wolf thought this would be a good way to reach the right audience. I think he’s right.

If you, or someone you know, live in that world beyond spreadsheets, work in high level business analytics, understand basic data science, predictive modeling, forecasting, neural nets, etc., please read on, especially if you have automotive experience.  If that’s not you, check back in a couple of hours and I’m sure Wolf will have another detailed take on the latest data drop.

The Job – At the highest level I’m looking for someone to own the data, analysis, reporting, and insight delivery functions for our specialty insurance brokerage.  Email me directly for a detailed job description:  mledney@americanriskservices.com

Feel free to share a resume there as well and maybe a few words on why you’re right for the job.  I’ll answer each query personally and make every effort to provide quick and thorough feedback.  Below I’ve highlighted skills and knowledge of particular interest, as well as a description of the company, comp tiers, etc.

We’re casting a wide net, an insurance background is not required, but you should be comfortable with the following tasks:

• Building, maintaining, optimizing, and expanding your own predictive models
• Synthesizing results and forecasts into reports and recommendations
• Communicating these results, reports, and recommendations to technical and non-technical users, decision makers, business partners, and clients

In short – get the numbers – figure out what they mean – explain it to everyone else.  Exposure to the automotive asset class (generally), and auto finance (specifically), is infinitely valuable, but not necessary.  We can teach you the business if you can do the math.

On this last point, I speak from experience – I started in auto finance 25 years ago almost by accident, after a Chemistry degree and a few years as a marketing research quant.  It was the best move I ever made, and I strongly encourage business analytics professionals and those with associated skills to consider us, regardless of your current field of study.  For you, this is an opportunity to apply your existing talents to a new asset class, one that is data intensive, logically consistent, and profitable across multiple business cycles.

You will work directly with decision makers.  You will own your part of the process and have a seat at the table when the decisions are made.  Your income growth will be determined by the profitability of the business, and you will be instrumental in driving that profitability.

That said, if you already know the auto business AND have the data skills, I’d REALLY like to talk to you.  Ours is a very specific slice of the auto-finance risk pie.  It requires a detailed understanding of vehicle depreciation from granular to macro, twenty years back and ten years forward.  If you already have this aptitude, I’m that much closer to retirement.

Can you use this knowledge to build models and systems to project our business performance and that of our clients / insurance partners?  Do you understand the impacts of negative equity and incentives on the secondary market?  Can you speak sensibly about the following chart?  What’s your over/under on the dashed red forecast line? (click on the chart to enlarge it)

For candidates with industry specific experience this is the opportunity to take over an existing shop and run it your way.  Get familiar with the current data structure / insights engine, then modify them as you see fit.  Master our system, then make it your own.

The Company – American Risk Services (ARS) is an insurance brokerage, underwriter, and administrator operating within the Assured Partners (AP) family of agencies.  Our clients and partners are a who’s who of auto finance captives, dealer groups, and insurers.  We started out in the early 90s as the Lender Services Division of Great American Insurance, developing collateral and asset protection coverages for banks and captive lenders.  In automotive these offerings included Residual Value Insurance (RVI), Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP), and we were first to market with Excess Wear and Tear (EWT) in 2004.  As a standalone entity, ARS was born in 2010 when this Lender Services Division went private, retaining key data, systems, and personnel.  Twelve busy years later we were acquired by AP for a healthy multiple, reflecting a proven history and solid expectations for the future.

We’re small – ARS has about 30 employees and on any given day there are 15-20 people in the building.  Our small size allows us (forces us?) to be nimble and efficient.  Our flexibility translates into sticky relationships with our clients at all levels; we’re able to do things that they simply cannot get done in-house.  We’re better, faster, and more reliable than their internal support teams so they come to us first.  Most importantly, they know our interests are aligned.  Our business prospers when theirs does; if that sounds attractive to you, this might be a good fit.

We’re also huge – As part of Assured Partners (a $5bn enterprise) we have access to benefits, resources, and opportunities that were unavailable to us previously.  Our 401k and healthcare options have grown fivefold since the acquisition.  If we need to spin up a new server, we just need to know who to ask.  Traveling?  We’ve probably got a discounted rate at a nice hotel within walking distance of the client site.  It really is the best of both worlds.

Compensation, et al – Starting salary depends on what’s in your toolbox and what you’ve done with it.  We’re casting a wide net, but below I’ve tried to increment the value of general and specific experience within a handful of broad ranges.  Don’t consider these binding, everything is negotiable, but this should help you figure out whether it’s worth your while to follow up.

• Recent grads with < 2 years of experience in a parallel field (actuarial, CPG, retail, attribution, marketing mix, non-auto finance, etc.)
  • $60-$70k/year with opportunity for 50%+ growth in base salary within 2-3 years – you’ll be a lot more valuable after we teach you the business

• Increase this estimate by ~$10k for each additional year of experience in a parallel field, up to 5 years total
  • 5 years of parallel experience -> ~$100k starting salary – 50% growth opportunity within 2-3 years

• Industry specific history in or adjacent to auto finance is worth another ~$30-$50k in annual salary
  • $90-$120k @ 2-3 years / $150k+ @ 5 years

• Someone who can walk in and do the job on day one?
  • You know how much this is worth, help me craft a package that works for everyone

We’re in Cincinnati, and candidates with < 5 years of industry specific experience would be expected to office here 3 or more days per week for at least 2 years.  If we’re gonna teach you the business, you’re gonna learn it in situ.  However, a generous relocation package is available.  More broadly though, we’re in the process of hiring our next generation of executive leadership, and this role is a key part of that team.  Your peer relationships will be vastly stronger if forged in the same foundry…  That said, if you can do the job on day one, nobody cares where you sit.

If any of this sounds fun, email me for the job description or just send me a resume, mledney@americanriskservices.com

We at ARS are nothing but a flea on the wagging tail of that behemoth, but we’ve managed to parlay that into a fairly comfortable existence.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled Wolf Street – Mike Ledney