The war for talent

Walk into any insurance boardroom in Hamilton today and one topic cuts across underwriting cycles, regulatory reforms and capital inflows: talent. In an island that punches far above its weight in global re/insurance, the question of who will build, lead and reinvent the next generation of firms has never felt more urgent – or more complex.

Bermuda’s re/insurance sector continues to boom with capital inflows, strategic innovation across emerging lines of business and alternative risk structure expansion. But beneath the surface of growth lies quite tension: a tightening labour market, a generational shift in skills and a mounting competition for the people who make the machine run.

A market built on expertise

Bermuda has long been defined by its people. The island’s re/insurance hub status relies on a high concentration of actuaries, underwriters, lawyers, accountants and modellers who collectively give the jurisdiction its edge. Yet that concentration also makes the system fragile. When the industry expands faster than the talent pool, even paradise feels the pinch.

Speaking exclusively to Bermuda:Re+ILS, Natasha Scotland Courcy, CEO of Athena Life Re, said: “There’s a greater and growing demand for talent. Bermuda has become such a big hub for insurance excellence, and we are competing in a small jurisdiction for that talent.”

That competition has intensified as new players enter the market, particularly in the life reinsurance and legacy sectors. The island has seen a wave of capital appetite and ambition: AM Best reported that Bermudian reinsurers reported capital growth of 16% in 2024, accounting for a total of 15% of global capital which reached $500 billion. (‘Market Segment Report: Momentum Remains for Dedicated Reinsurance Capital Beyond the Market Peak’, August 2025).

The consensus within the leadership ranks of the industry is that this growth is catalysing in an ecosystem already stretched for skilled labour. For many companies, attracting and retaining the right people has become a strategic priority.

The talent crunch

Phil Hernon, CEO of Carrick, told Bermuda:Re+ILS that: “Talent is a massive problem, particularly with attracting talent to the legacy market. When I started in the business, run-off was the dirty word; people didn’t want to work on it. Even now, with it being a business stream in itself, people still don't come into the market wanting to be in legacy.”

Hernon’s frustration is echoed across the industry. Legacy and run-off might now be recognised as essential to capital efficiency, but they remain a hard sell for young professionals drawn to sectors such as ILS or fintech. Yet as Hernon points out, it’s also a space where deep experience, innovation and a tolerance for complexity can yield enormous value.

That’s something Dan Sanford, managing director of M&A at Enstar Group, knows well. “Historically, as a run-off industry, we’ve been pretty shy and operated a little in the shadows,” he told Bermuda:Re+ILS. “I think that's changed. Run-off is far more public, and there's a lot more outreach going on. There is much talent in the industry. As the generations come through, a lot of carriers have grown. So I think there are interesting roles for people from all parts of the insurance space to find a role that best suits their skill set and interests.”

Run-off, in other words, isn’t stagnant any more – it’s a proving ground. But changing perceptions takes time, and the pipeline into the sector remains narrow.

Science meets risk

The shift in skillsets required across the broader market mirrors what’s happening globally: the rise of data science, catastrophe modelling and AI-driven analytics has reshaped what “talent” means in re/insurance.

Karen Clark, founder of Karen Clark & Company (KCC), said: “As a catastrophe modelling company, we hire a lot of scientists and engineers, and for them, it's a very exciting business. Catastrophe modelling is a great option for scientists and engineers who want to apply their knowledge in a practical setting.”

But even KCC, a pioneer of the modelling world, struggles to hire fast enough. “Our biggest challenge when it comes to talent is onboarding enough data scientists for catastrophe modelling, as the competition is very high,” Clark adds. Building up the STEM pipeline and making these opportunities better known could help bridge this gap.

Culture and character

Beyond technical skills, industry leaders say the human qualities of adaptability, collaboration and entrepreneurial drive are what really make the difference. For Bob Forness, CEO of MultiStrat, culture is everything.

“To build a segment in an industry, you need people who have great expertise, are very hard-working and entrepreneurial in their mindset,” he told Bermuda:Re+ILS. “At MultiStrat, we have a high degree of respect for each other, and work well together. It’s especially important because when you’re trying to do new things, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Professionals need to learn from them and adapt quickly, pivot and push forward.”

It’s a description that could apply to Bermuda itself. The island’s success has always depended on its ability to innovate faster than larger markets, and that agility is rooted in teams that trust one another. Forness’s comments underline that talent isn’t just about skills – it’s about mindset.

Building the pipeline

While Bermuda’s small size can make recruiting challenging, its tight-knit community also provides a natural foundation for developing home-grown talent. While speaking at the  Bermuda:Re+ILS Roundtable during Monte-Carlo Rendez-Vous this year, Christian Dunleavy, group CEO of Aspen, was bullish on the long-term outlook for talent: “In the Bermuda context, if we look at the long-term talent pipeline, there is no group of people more attuned to the insurance industry from a talent perspective than young Bermudians.

“From what I have seen, they are thinking quite strategically now. Young Bermudians are planning to spend more time outside Bermuda in their 20s – they want to stay in London after they graduate, or go to the US, gain international experience, then come back. As a result, I think the pipeline in Bermuda is actually going to be super strong.”

That optimism is supported by a growing ecosystem of training and development initiatives. Organisations such as Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsurers (ABIR), ILS Bermuda and Bermuda International Long Term Insurers and Reinsurers (BILTIR) have been investing heavily in scholarships, mentorship programmes and work-shadow opportunities aimed at Bermudians entering the sector. The industry has also partnered with Bermuda College to strengthen the local STEM pipeline, particularly around actuarial and risk-related disciplines.

Scotland Courcy, in her capacity of as BILTIR chair, highlighted these efforts as critical to the island’s future competitiveness: “We’ve supported Bermuda College and its maths programmes to help develop actuarial talent. We have internship programmes within BILTIR and our member companies, and we attract a lot of young Bermudians who are potentially looking to be actuaries. We give them the opportunity to come in-house, see the experiences, get their feet wet and hopefully build a foundation for future opportunity.”

Her point is clear: if Bermuda wants to maintain its status as a world-class re/insurance hub, it must invest not just in capital and regulation, but in people.

Tightrope between local and global

The tension between nurturing Bermudian talent and attracting global expertise is one that every company on the island must manage. Bermuda’s immigration framework allows firms to import talent where skills are unavailable locally, but the long-term goal is clear – create pathways for Bermudians to rise into leadership roles too.

“Continuing to invest in our local talent is going to be important,” Scotland Courcy says, “but also continuing to attract global talent and strengthen the professional services ecosystem to support all this innovation.”

That hybrid approach reflects the reality of an international market. Bermuda’s appeal lies in its ability to offer both a home-grown workforce that understands the island’s culture and a cosmopolitan community that brings global ideas and experience. The challenge is maintaining that balance in a labour market where demand can outpace supply.

Opportunity and pressure

If Bermuda can get it right, the reward potential is enormous. The island’s global re/insurance ecosystem is expanding into new territories, from cyber to climate resilience to life and annuity reinsurance. Each of these sectors demands new kinds of talent including data scientists, engineers, sustainability experts, financial modellers.

But for now, the pressure remains. An ageing workforce and a limited pipeline have created what some executives quietly call “musical chairs” among employers, as professionals move from one firm to another in search of better packages or career progression. For a jurisdiction of 65,000 people hosting dozens of multinational re/insurers, the maths is tight.

Still, industry leaders tend to see this as a challenge worth having. Bermuda’s small scale, they argue, fosters collaboration, mentorship and rapid development that few larger markets can match. John Huff, CEO of ABIR, also speaking at the Bermuda:Re+ILS roundtable, noted that Bermuda has its perks for upcoming talent: “The island offers unparalleled exposer to leaders here because everyone is right on the doorstep. You just wouldn’t get that anywhere else.”

The next generation

For young professionals, Bermuda represents both an opportunity and a proving ground. The island’s intimate and unique ecosystem can offer an opportunity to accelerate careers in a community environment.

Forness believes that spirit of learning and iteration is what will sustain the market. “You need a team that can problem solve united, as opposed to a group of people who are just concerned about their own role,” he says. “That’s what keeps you moving forward.”

And as the industry transforms – driven by technology, capital innovation and climate risk – the talent conversation will only grow louder. The firms that thrive will be those that view people not as a cost, but as the ultimate competitive advantage.

In the end, Bermuda’s most valuable export might not be its reinsurance paper or its risk models – rather the expertise of the people who create them. From the data scientists coding catastrophe models to the underwriters building alternative capital structures, talent is the true currency of the island’s success.

As Scotland Courcy puts it: “Talent is key to what we’re doing.”

In Bermuda, that’s more than a slogan – it’s survival.

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