Journey Lead - Section S37C Death Claims – SARAF, NARAF and SuperFund at Old Mutual

Job Description

• As Journey Lead, you will work closely with the S37C Journey Owner in leading and delivering the transformational customer journey for S37C Death Claims.
• This role involves aligning strategic objectives, driving collaboration across cross-functional teams, and identifying and executing innovative solutions and improvements to enhance customer experience.
• The Journey Lead plays a pivotal role in leading a Team within RRFA, fostering a customer-centric culture, and embedding agile practices.
• Section S37C technical understanding and environment knowledge and experience are vital for this role. This is a unique field where you will need to apply your knowledge, skill and experience in an operational environment through your own efforts and efforts of others.

Responsibilities:

Journey Management

• Lead the design and implementation of customer journeys, ensuring alignment with business objectives and customer needs.
• Utilize data and insights to identify trends, pain points and opportunities for journey improvement.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to define success metrics and monitor progress.

Agile Implementation

• Embed agile methodologies within teams to enable iterative development and faster delivery of improvements.
• Act as a champion for agile practices and facilitate agile ceremonies such as stand-ups, retrospectives, and planning sessions.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Build strong relationships with cross-functional teams, including product, legal, tax, compliance, finance, IT, as well as regulatory bodies, boards of trustees and their sub-committees, other retirement funds and fund administrators, corporate clients and advisors.
• Act as a liaison between teams to resolve conflicts, address dependencies, and maintain alignment on goals.

Technical Process Delivery

• Ensure compliance with legislative requirements such as the Pension Funds Act, Income Tax Act, POPI Act and AML.
• Identify and implement best practices consistently.
• Follow and enforce technical policies, SOPs, and fund rules.
• Manage service delivery, ensuring adherence to service promises, case management, and SLA’s.
• Monitor and react to feedback to maintain quality assurance.
• Conduct gap and root cause analysis to drive process improvements.
• Oversee business plans and special projects, ensuring smooth execution.
• Allocate resources effectively, assigning the right jobs to the right individuals at the right time.
• Adapt quickly to changing circumstances and implement agile execution strategies.
• Resolve complex technical and administrative challenges.

People Leadership

• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure productivity, quality of work and efficiency of the S37C journey.

Manage direct reports.

• Full suite of people management (i.e. capacity planning, recruiting, goal setting, performance management, coaching, employee wellbeing, employee skills matrix and learning, recognition, ad hoc items etc).

Performance and Capability Building

• Set performance objectives for teams and provide feedback to ensure alignment with strategic priorities.
• Identify capability gaps within teams and implement development plans to address them.
• Mentor and coach team members to enhance their professional growth.

Control Environment

• Maintain and update control libraries to ensure compliance.
• Identify, log, and mitigate risks within the operational framework.
• Ensure strict adherence to standard operating procedures and protocols.
• Track, raise, and resolve audit-related items to maintain compliance.

Communication

• Manage inbound and outbound communications effectively.
• Handle enquiries, escalations, and complaints efficiently.
• Develop and deliver presentations and workshops as needed.

Data (MIS) and Reporting

• Monitor and act upon management information for performance improvement.
• Diagnose and resolve workflow issues effectively.
• Plan and allocate work based on skills and competency matrices.
• Generate accurate statistical and progress reports to support decision-making.

Risk and Compliance Management

• Proactively identify risks associated with customer journeys and implement mitigation strategies.
• Ensure compliance with organizational policies, procedures, and relevant regulatory requirements.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE (REQUIRED FOR THE JOB)

• Matric and or Degree, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience in a leadership role with a focus on customer journey management, customer experience, or technical operations.
• Proven track record of implementing agile methodologies within teams, with experience leading cross-functional squads.
• Experience in stakeholder management, including both internal teams and external stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to use data-driven insights to improve processes, customer satisfaction, and the efficiency and effectiveness of processes.
• Umbrella and/or Retail Retirement Fund administration and product knowledge and experience. SuperFund Umbrella Fund and/or SARAF experience would be an advantage.
• In-depth knowledge of S37C and experience working with the process is mandatory.
• Microsoft Office suite.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE (PREFERRED, NOT A REQUIREMENT)

• SME knowledge in customer experience design, journey mapping tools, or operational transformation.
• Experience working with Old Mutual product administration systems, workflow, digital platforms and customer correspondence systems is advantageous.
• Experience in driving digital transformation initiatives.
• Degree in Business Administration or a related field.
• Agile, Product Owner or Scrum certification.

Skills

• Action Planning
• Agile Implementation
• Agile Project Management
• Building Capability
• Change Management
• Communication
• Compliance Risk Management
• Executing Plans
• Journey Management Plan
• Legal Practices
• Management Information System (MIS) Reporting
• Occupational Safety and Health
• Oral Communications
• People Leadership
• Performance Management (PM)
• Policies & Procedures
• Process Delivery
• Professional Presentation
• Project Delivery Management
• Regulatory Compliance Management
• Safety Management
• Servant Leadership

Competencies

• Builds Effective Teams
• Communicates Effectively
• Customer Focus
• Directs Work
• Drives Engagement
• Drives Results
• Ensures Accountability
• Financial Acumen

Education

• Bachelors Degree (B), NQF Level 7 - Degree, Advance Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate or equivalent

Closing Date

• 08 July 2025