The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has opened recruitment for Officer Grade A (Assistant Manager) 2026, offering an opportunity for candidates from diverse academic backgrounds to enter a financial-sector regulator. The recruitment advertisement, issued on September 3, covers 30 vacancies across four streams — General, Research, Actuary and Official Language (Rajbhasha).
Applications can be submitted online from September 3 to September 24, 2026. Candidates should note that PFRDA will not accept applications through any other mode. The first-stage online examination is scheduled for October 15, followed by Phase II on November 20. The interview date will be communicated separately to candidates who qualify for Phase II.
30 vacancies across four streams
The recruitment has 25 posts in the General stream, while Research and Actuary have two posts each and Official Language (Rajbhasha) has one post.
The General stream has relatively broad eligibility: candidates can qualify with a master's degree or postgraduate diploma of at least two years' duration in any discipline, a law or engineering degree, or specified professional qualifications such as CA, CS, CMA or CFA.
For Research, PFRDA has prescribed specialised postgraduate qualifications in areas including economics, finance, statistics, data science, artificial intelligence and related disciplines. Actuary applicants need a graduation degree along with a pass or exemption in all seven Core Principles subjects of the Institute of Actuaries of India examination. The Rajbhasha post has specific postgraduate-level Hindi/English or related language qualifications.
Candidates must be 30 years or younger as on July 31, 2026, meaning they should have been born on or after August 1, 1996. Age relaxation is available for eligible reserved categories and certain other categories as specified in the notification.
The application fee is Rs 1,000 for General, EWS and OBC candidates, inclusive of GST. SC, ST, PwBD and ex-servicemen candidates are exempt from the fee. Candidates applying for more than one eligible stream must submit a separate application and pay the applicable fee for each stream.
The selection process is divided into Phase I, Phase II and an interview. Phase I is a screening examination with two papers. Paper I tests English, quantitative aptitude, reasoning and general awareness, including financial-sector awareness. Paper II tests stream-specific knowledge. There is one-fourth negative marking in both papers.
Phase II again consists of two papers, including a descriptive English test and a stream-specific paper. Importantly, the final merit list will give 85% weightage to Phase II marks and 15% to the interview, while Phase I marks are used only for shortlisting.