Markel underwrites its growth with expansion of Leeds workforce
Markel is looking to increase its Leeds workforce by 40 people by the end of 2026 as it settles in to its new city centre offices.
The specialist insurer moved into City Square House next to Leeds railway station in September as part of a major investment in its largest site outside London.
It has now revealed plans to increase the number of jobs based in the city by 25% over the next two years, including an increasing number of roles in shared services supporting the wider UK business.
Neil Galjaard, Markel’s divisional managing director for the UK, told TheBusinessDesk.com the company “is a really good Yorkshire success story”.
He said: “Back in 1990 this was the start of taking, effectively, a Lloyds’ market and taking it out to the regions to trade with the brokers in the regions, rather than sat in the centre of London.
“That started with three people in Leeds, now it’s 160, but interestingly, that model of operating regionally has fed our development growth around the world.
“What Markel Group has learned about the business here is that being local to the people you trade with matters to the people that you trade with.
“Yes, it’s cheaper here than being in London, of course it is. But being in the centre of Leeds – or Manchester or Birmingham – aren’t the cheapest places. You also need a strong foundation, so you need to go somewhere that has a strong insurance and financial services base.”
The insurance business is part of Markel Group, a Fortune 500 company with 22,000 employees worldwide described as a “family corporate”.
The insurer grew significantly during the pandemic, gaining market share as competitors withdrew from some areas such as care organisations.
Galjaard is now shaping the business’s plans to take it up to the end of the decade and is confident that the momentum can continue.
“We don’t see any slowing down in that growth between now and 2030,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that there won’t be market dynamics that will have an impact, but we believe we can navigate how the market evolves during that period.”
