Chief Operating Officer at Discovery Limited

Job description

Key Purpose

The position is responsible to oversee the effective management and functioning of the Group Risk operations. This is a core operational management function and the incumbent would be required to manage and control holistically all the operations of the Group Risk business. The incumbent must ensure that appropriate processes and procedures are designed and implemented, in order to ensure that the team managed are able to conduct all the operational and underwriting activities effectively and efficiently. The incumbent will also maintain and continuously review the most effective and efficient structure and team, in order to ensure the delivery of committed services by the Group Risk business

Areas of responsibility may include but not limited to:

• Develop and managing change of the Group Risk Operations towards the strategic intent of the Employee Benefits business
• Ensure adherence to and improvement of Service Level Agreements and deal with escalations.
• Development of staff in line with the most optimal organizational design and dealing with the full Human Resources function for staff managed.
• Define processes and procedures and ensure others are trained on all aspects of Group Risk as the incumbent is the Subject Matter Expert in these areas.
• Ensure regular & comprehensive management reports for submission to superior
• Managing projects and responsible for signing off business requirements.
• Communicate effectively with clients to resolve issues/escalations and ensure client expectations are met.
• Develop and maintain excellent business relations with internal and external brokers.
• Participating in product development, leading operational implementation of products
• Managing allocated budget.
• Continuously finding and implementing smarter and more efficient/effective ways of working and integration with other group business offerings. Adopting and applying technology which may be introduced to improve operational best practice and service delivery
• Create a 12 month plan aligned to the Corporate Strategy and submit this plan to superior for approval and sign-off. Once the plan is signed off the incumbent would need to implement the plan and report on progress against the plan to the Head of Employee Benefits.

Personal Attributes and Skills

• The ability to lead and supervise the business in meeting its strategic objectives.
• Ability to plan, organize and deliver on individual deliverables and effectively deliver multiple projects simultaneously.
• Must be able to apply expertise as subject matter expert and continuously modernize operational environment by using state-of-the-art technology solutions
• Ability to deal with pressure, tight deadlines and setbacks in order to deliver results and meet customer expectations.
• Must be able to present and communicate information effectively.
• Data Analytical Skills - ability to understand and work with big data sets in order to achieve desired outcome. Excel proficient.
• Self-starter - able to show initiative and drive projects to completion with guidance.

Education and Experience

Essential:

• Matric
• BComm Qualification or similar
• Certificate in Business Administration
• 10 – 15 years of experience in Employee benefits management

Advantageous:

• Postgraduate Qualification
• 3- 5 years of experience in Operations business development within employee benefits would be advantageous
• 3- 5 years’ experience in project management within the financial industry would be advantageous