Head: Protection Solutions [Cape Town] at Metropolitan

Role Purpose    
Oversee and lead the management, development and growth of the product portfolio, through identifying opportunities for product innovation, product improvements and close alignment of product offerings to the business strategy.

Requirements    

• Actuarial degree
• Qualified Actuary
• Management development programme
• 3 - 5 years management experience
• 5 - 7 years product management experience with a proven track record of managing all aspects of the product lifecycle
• Financial services industry experience 
• Deep understanding of the insurance industry landscape and changing legislation impacting the design and development of innovative product offerings
• Expertise with respect to the competition, leveraging that expertise to drive product innovation and capture market opportunities
• Product domain expertise spanning the customer discovery, planning, and product development processes
• Deep understanding of customer-centric product practices
• Experience partnering with design teams to define, build and maintain products which are critical to customer growth, engagement, and retention

Duties & Responsibilities    
INTERNAL PROCESS:

• Develop a product, pricing and positioning strategy aligned to business strategy, to ensure business growth and sustainability.
• Liaise closely with business to gain a deep understanding of customer experience, identify and fill product gaps and generate new ideas that grow market share, improve customer experience and drive growth.
• Recommend additions and changes to the product portfolio, to ensure the product portfolio and go-to-market strategy is correctly positioned to ensure the business retains its competitive edge. 
• Translate product strategies into detailed requirements and actionable goals and manage designated product development projects aimed at protecting or increasing shareholder value, improving client experience, improving value for money for clients, from inception to final execution, including post implementation evaluation.
• Initiate and manage market research, data mining and quantitative analysis to identify risks and opportunities, ensuring sustainability and future competitive growth.
• Explore local and international markets for new products and trademarks to expand and strengthen the business' market position.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders (legal and compliance, group tax, group finance) to elicit requirements for new initiatives and provide feedback on ongoing projects.
• Liaise with internal stakeholders regarding financial results, proposed valuation basis changes or any issues affecting the profitability of products.
• Liaise with other product houses to coordinate and align activities and ensure consistency in strategy and implementation.

CLIENT:

• Build and maintain relationships with clients and stakeholders that promote cross delivery practice solutions.
• Contribute to sustaining a competitive edge through external networking and benchmarking and representation on related forums.
• Define fair and innovative client service practices which build rewarding relationships and allows team to provide exceptional client service.
• Engage with key internal and external stakeholders to identify changing client needs and make recommendations to align service offering with client needs.
• Manage a client service excellence culture which builds enduring relationships and allows team to provide exceptional client service.
• Manage the introduction of new channels for client interaction in order to improve client services against service expectations.

PEOPLE:

• Create a positive work climate and culture to energise employees, give meaning to work, minimise work disruption and maximise employee productivity.
• Identify, attract, appoint, grow, engage, reward and retain top talent to drive strategic execution.
• Demonstrate exemplary leadership behaviour, through personal involvement, commitment and dedication in support of organisational values.
• Drive a culture that guides and directs best practice, fostering an environment of continuous learning, improvement and cohesiveness.
• Enable a learning and growth culture whereby information regarding successes, issues, trends and ideas are actively shared between team members.
• Identify employee growth and development needs and schedule interventions to enable ongoing development, training and personal growth.
• Effectively manage performance within the team in order to ensure business objectives are achieved.
• Ensure that employees are effectively recognised and rewarded in line with organisational practice and governance set by the REM committee.
• Encourage innovation, change agility and collaboration within the team.

FINANCE:

• Implement and compile budgets to minimise expenditure in alignment with tactical delivery plans.
• Control the budget for area, including the authorisation of expenditures and implementation of financial regulations.
• Manage high risk and problematic financial issues in area of accountability and contribute to the development of policy.
• Implement and manage financial risk methodologies, techniques and systems and use to monitor and report on financial activities.
• Implement and provide feedback on the effectiveness of financial policy, practice and procedures: preventing illegal, unethical or improper conduct.
• Implement risk management, governance and compliance policies in own practice area, to identify and manage governance and risk exposure liability.
• Investigate reported wilful acts of non-compliance to organisation policy and practice and report on findings. 

Competencies    

• Interpreting Data
• Developing Strategies
• Making Decisions
• Providing Insights
• Convincing People
• Directing People
• Generating Ideas
• Articulating Information