Head of Actuarial at Robert Walters

• An exceptional opportunity has arisen for a Head of Actuarial to play a pivotal role in ensuring the financial resilience and sustainability of a leading organisation based in Centurion. This is your chance to shape the future of actuarial practice, driving sound reserving, pricing, capital management, and providing expert actuarial insight that supports strategic decision-making and regulatory compliance at the highest level.

What you'll do:

As Head of Actuarial you will be entrusted with leading a highly skilled team responsible for delivering critical actuarial services that underpin the organisation’s financial strength. Your day-to-day activities will involve

• Lead the actuarial and pricing team by developing technical skills, supporting growth, and encouraging collaborative problem-solving.
• Oversee monthly reserving calculations and reviews, ensuring accuracy and providing key insights on reserve movements.
• Uphold data integrity through robust governance across actuarial models and reports.
• Manage regulatory and economic capital calculations in line with industry standards and evolving regulations.
• Advise on capital strategy decisions, including adequacy targets, allocation optimisation, and solvency monitoring.
• Develop and maintain well-documented, calibrated, and validated actuarial models for reserving, capital, and pricing.
• Set premium rates that balance expected losses, expenses, profit margins, and capital requirements.
• Present clear actuarial reports to executives, boards, and regulators, simplifying complex concepts for non-specialists.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory standards like IFRS 17 through accurate disclosures and documentation.
• Collaborate across teams, Economists, Underwriters, Risk Managers, Finance, Portfolio Management, Political Analysts, and Economic Researchers, to align projections with organizational goals.

What you bring:

To excel as Head of Actuarial you will bring deep technical knowledge honed over many years in senior actuarial positions, spanning reserving practices / capital optimisation / pricing policy development / model validation / data governance / compliance reporting.

• Bachelor’s degree in Actuarial Science or related field, with actuarial qualification (Technical Member/Associate/Fellow) from the Actuarial Society of South Africa or equivalent; Fellowship preferred.
• 10+ years’ experience in actuarial roles covering reserving, capital management, and pricing within insurance or financial services.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word for reporting, Excel for modeling, PowerPoint for presentations).
• Skilled in actuarial tools and programming languages like VBA, R, Python, and SQL for automation and data analysis.
• Expertise in developing and maintaining reserving, capital, and pricing models with proper calibration, validation, and documentation.
• Strong knowledge of IFRS 17 standards and Prudential Authority regulations for insurance entities.
• Excellent communication skills to convey complex actuarial concepts to executives, boards, staff, regulators, and stakeholders.
• Proven ability to manage multiple functions under pressure while maintaining attention to detail and meeting deadlines.
• Collaborative team player who fosters trust, information sharing, and learning across business units.
• High integrity with ethical decision-making and problem-solving aligned to organizational values.