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PPS has more than 200 000 members who enjoy access to a comprehensive suite of financial and healthcare products that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of graduate professionals. PPS is the largest South African company of its kind that still embraces an ethos of mutuality, which means that it exists solely for the benefit of its members. Thus, ...
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A senior management role, reporting to the Head of Production Development. This role will be accountable for strategically driving and executing product enhancements as well as ensuring that there is ongoing support to business stakeholders in PPS Insurance.
The successful incumbent will actively assist with establishing a work environment that is conducive to an agile development approach with user feedback in mind, where development costs are minimised, and solutions are delivered quickly and iteratively.
In addition, the role would involve leadership direction and managerial responsibilities to junior colleagues who perform wider product development and pricing functions in the team.
Scope:
The suitable candidate will have good interpersonal skills, interacting efficiently with various role players and managing a wide variety of stakeholders through the execution of product enhancements. The candidate must be comfortable with environments that are dynamic and must be able to respond quickly to demands from a variety of stakeholders. The optimal candidate will have a good understanding of software development, have excellent knowledge of the Life Insurance industry and have significant experience using Prophet or similar software.
The candidate will also be expected to drive the execution of product development initiatives through the management and mentoring of junior actuarial staff and driving the execution of the formal governance process within PPS.
Key Responsibilities:
- Strategically driving thorough investigation of new initiatives, conceptualisation and the successful implementation
- Establishing and deploying new (or enhancements to) products and processes
- Accountable to ensure the following tasks are executed and driven per initiative, where relevant:
- Industry, competitor and consumer research
- Concept design and documentation
- Stakeholder identification and buy-in
- Driving adequate levels of engagement with all stakeholders towards implementation of initiatives
- Compiling of business cases for approval of funding requirements
- Compiling business requirement specifications to identify IT development needs
- Engaging with expert stakeholders (data analytics vendors, reinsurers, etc) where specific skills must be outsourced in the development and testing of solutions
- Driving the execution of new initiatives through the PPS Product Governance processes
- Actively coaching and mentoring actuarial team members to enhance their work competency levels
- Creating a culture of high performance, continuous optimisation and management of team performance
- Keeping abreast of best practice and new developments within area of expertise
Education:
- Grade 12 (Matric)
- An Actuarial degree at Honours level
- Recently qualified actuary or nearly qualified, with up to 3 exams outstanding
Experience and Knowledge:
- 5+ years’ experience working in the Financial Services industry
- Up to 5 years’ experience in Life Insurance product development and pricing experience would be an advantage
- 2- 4 years’ experience in managing and mentoring of actuarial staff members
- Knowledge of coding languages such as SQL or Python
- Excellent proficiency in actuarial cashflow modelling software. Specifically, Prophet experience would be an advantage.
- Sound knowledge of consumer trends and movements in the Life Insurance industry
- Good computer knowledge - MS Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint and Word essential
- Previous experience with the operational implementation of new concepts would be an advantage
Strategic Orientation:
- High strategic focus with the purpose of developing new initiatives from concept to implementation. Aligns to the strategic vision of being a product leader, offering best-in-class financial solutions to Professionals.
Communication:
- Articulate and communicates in a logical way, and structures information to meet the needs and understanding of intended audiences
- Expresses opinions, information and key points of view clearly and assertively
- Confident in conceptualising, building and presenting to a variety of stakeholders
- Anticipates and responds appropriately to the needs, reactions and feedback of an audience
Commercial Acumen:
- Demonstrates awareness of market trends and opportunities and keeps up to date with competitor developments impacting area of responsibility
- Able to apply actuarial judgment and intuition to problem-solving, gained through active industry experience
Computer Literacy:
- Adaptable in the use of the latest MS Office package, particularly Excel, Word and PowerPoint
- Proficient in Prophet actuarial modelling software (or similar)
- Proficient in other coding languages such as Python and SQL
Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Skills:
- Analysing data and extrapolating insights
- Applying expertise and technology
- Leading and working with people
- Building stakeholder relationships
- Entrepreneurial and commercial thinking
- Achieving personal work goals and objectives
- Adapting and responding to change
- Adhering to principles and values
- Responsible and accountable
- Sound communication skills
- Business acumen
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