The Admiral Story
Admiral came into being over 25 years ago.
The Admiral Group's founding CEO, Henry Engelhardt, was headhunted to set up and lead the new direct insurance operation. Henry began setting up the company in 1991 together with current CEO, David Stevens.
They set about creating a business plan and building an acceptable structure. The strategy was simple yet bold: to capture a market not well covered by existing direct motor insurers. While Admiral would target all car insurance customers, they’d have a bias towards higher premium business, such as city-dwellers, younger drivers and motorists with performance cars. In other words, people who traditionally found it difficult to get cheaper insurance.
On the 2 January 1993, Admiral launched (on time and under budget) from its headquarters in Cardiff, capital of Wales.
Admiral now has a presence in nine countries, including France, Spain, Italy and the USA. And it’s no longer all about car insurance - we have a fast-growing home insurance operation in the UK, and in recent years we’ve launched travel insurance, loans, and other financial products too.The Admiral Group is a “start-up that made it” - We grew from 50 staff members and no customers at our launch in 1993 to 7 million customers, over 11,000 staff members and a market cap of £6bn in 2019. Part of the FTSE 100, Admiral is the UK leader in the car insurance market and is recognized as one of the most profitable and innovative Property & Casualty (P&C) insurance companies in Europe.
Our history is one of amazing growth and inspired innovation. And while our business has changed dramatically, there’s one thing that’s remained the same throughout the years: our working culture. We’re proud to be an entrepreneurial workplace with a start-up mentality.
We are the only company to have been named one of "The Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For" every year since 2001 and were ranked the Best Big Company to work for in 2019. We were also crowned the 7th best multinational workplace in Europe in 2019 by the Great Place to Work Institute.
So, if you're interested in combining a strategic role full of entrepreneurial opportunities with a great work/life balance in a collaborative and international environment, you've come to the right place!
Visit our corporate site to find out more about our business and our culture and to read our latest results.
MBAs at Admiral
We’re always looking for the best minds and brightest talent to drive our businesses forward. That’s why we’re keen to recruit the very best MBA graduates to key roles throughout the Admiral Group. Admiral itself was founded by two INSEAD graduates and we have continued to attract and retain talent from the best business schools around the world.
Our MBA jobs help you launch a career without boundaries. You will grow, develop and excel in a multinational company, which continues to expand and launch new ventures year on year. We’ll give you the freedom you need to innovate, plus the practical support to help turn your ideas into reality.
You can read some of our success stories in our MBA blog.
MBA graduates work with us in a number of strategic roles:
International Business Development Managers (BDMs) work as internal consultants to the UK and international operations, investigate new expansion opportunities, and help the company stay on the cutting edge of innovation.
International Pricing Managers (IPMs) must quickly become experts in this key area of the business, leading pricing and data projects and sharing knowledge among all of the international operations, as well as seeking out new ways to enhance our competitive advantage.
We also run a MBA Summer Internship, which gives MBA candidates the opportunity to complete a strategic project while learning about our business and getting to know the city of Cardiff.
Many of our most senior leaders began their Admiral journey in one of these positions. UK Insurance CEO Cristina Nestares, Head of European Insurance Milena Mondini, and Admiral Seguros (Spanish Insurance operation) CEO Sarah Harris, among others, joined as BDMs. Alberto Schiavon, the CEO of Elephant Insurance in the USA, and Cosmin Sarbu, the Head of Travel Insurance in the UK, both joined as IPMs.
Whatever it is they’re working on, MBA talent tends to either increase revenue or improve efficiency. They add real value to the top and/or bottom line, which in turn adds return value for our customers and shareholders.
Where we are today
Where we’ve led, others have followed: we were practically the only large financial services company based in Cardiff at the time of our launch, but today, Cardiff is a thriving centre of financial services and has been voted one of the best cities in Europe to live in.
Today, the Admiral Group is a highly profitable and fast-growing financial services intermediary. As the largest car insurer in the UK, we’re a household name and the only FTSE 100 company in Wales.
The Group now includes insurance operations in the UK, Spain, Italy, France and the USA, Price Comparison businesses in the UK, Spain, France, the USA, and Mexico (with more to come), and a fledgling UK Loans business.
While growth (which has all been organic) has been impressively swift, we’re still headquartered in South Wales, where we are an integral part of the community. We still maintain an ethos of looking out for our customers. And we still believe (and always will) in rewarding everyone who works with us. Our company philosophy is that people who like what they do, do it better.
And tomorrow?
That’s where you come in.
We have many exciting new ventures in the works- including new product launches (both insurance and beyond), forays into the sharing economy, partnerships, and Insurtech.
We’re open to new ideas and innovative thinking and that’s what we recruit our MBA graduates for.
