Operations Manager at Old Mutual

Job Description

• We are seeking a dynamic professional to oversee client services, operations, and administration within our international investment environment. This role ensures exceptional client experiences, operational efficiency, and compliance with regulatory standards. 
• The person would be required to play a pivotal role in ensuring the short, medium and long-term business operational processes, systems, infrastructure and objectives are achieved across 3 jurisdictions to ensure the success of the Client Service and Operational teams.
• It includes the involvement in and delivery of projects and improvement initiatives.

The role includes the following responsibilities:

Operations Management

• Oversee an operational area with guidance from senior colleagues. Could involve responsibility for development or delivery (or both).

Business Planning

• Contribute to the development of annual and longer-term business plans; forecast performance against business key performance indicators (KPIs); develop business cases for key activities/projects; and estimate the financial and human resources required to deliver performance targets.

Leadership and Direction

• Communicate the actions needed to implement the function's strategy and business plan within the team; explain the relationship to the broader organization's mission, vision, and values; motivate people to commit to these and to do extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.

Performance Management

• Manage and report on the performance of a substantial, diverse team; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports or project/account team members and hold individuals accountable for achieving them; take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of team/personal objectives.
• Ensures adherence to service and quality standards.
• Uphold service and quality standards through ensuring quality checks are in place and are effective.

Retail Service Operations

• Manage day-to-day service operations, developing and/or delivering a plan and outcomes for a service operations area with guidance from senior colleagues.
• Often acts as a point of escalation and liaise with internal and external stakeholders to ensure resolution.

Work Scheduling and Allocation

• Develop medium- or long-term work schedules that enable the organization to achieve its business goals. Involves coordinating across multiple teams.

Improvement/Innovation

• Identify shortcomings in existing business practices, then suggest and implement improvements while developing and delivering projects or a work stream within the organization's change management program.
• Involves working with guidance from senior colleagues.

Policy Development and Implementation

• Develop procedures and interpret and apply policy for area of expertise to achieve specified outputs, or advise the wider business on application of policy, then monitor implementation of those procedures within the organization.

Recommendations

• Recommend changes to policies, processes, standards, and practices that would improve operational support.

Internal Communications

• Develop and/or deliver a plan for significant aspects of internal and external communications with guidance from senior colleagues.

Organizational Risk Management

• Develop and/or deliver a contingency plan for significant aspects of the risk management and/or risk control processes.

Budgeting

• Develop and/or deliver budget plans with guidance from senior colleagues. This includes support to the sales teams to ensure targets are met.

Organizational Capability Building

• Use the organization's formal development framework to identify the team's individual development needs.
• Plan and implement actions, including continuing professional development specified by professional or regulatory institutions, to build their professional capabilities.
• Provide informal training or coaching to others throughout the organization in own area of expertise to enable others to improve performance and fulfill personal potential.

Operational Compliance

• Monitor and review performance and behaviors within area of responsibility to identify and resolve noncompliance with the organization's policies and relevant regulatory codes and codes of conduct.
• Perform client risk assessments and due diligence in line with AML, FATCA, and FICA regulations.
• Ensure governance and compliance across all relevant industry regulations.
• Maintain data integrity and remediate client information as needed.

Additional Job Description

• Accountable for execution of tactical business plans (derived from BU Strategy) at operational level. 
• Manages direct (Team Leaders and Specialists) and indirect (Clerical staff) reports, usually amounts to between 40 to 100 staff.
• Owns operational efficiency and quality including an operations balanced scorecard incorporating finance, people, process and customer dimensions of the business.
• Integrates decision making across all of these spectrums.  Contributes to projects impacting on business deliverables (Delivery of level three plans).
• Makes major operational decisions within business plan.  Provides operational and best practice context for internal environment.
• Builds relationships with peers and or colleagues that impact across business areas.
• These responsibilities offer an overview of the role and are not confined or restricted solely to what is listed.

Qualifications and Experience required

• Matric essential
• Relevant tertiary education advantageous
• 5+ years of experience in operations, client engagement and processing/administration within an FSP
• Strong understanding of investment products, regulatory frameworks, and client servicing models
• Proven leadership and team management capabilities.
• Proficiency in operational systems, CRM platforms, remediation and reconciliation
• Highly structured individual, and is able to plan appropriately for short-, mid- and long-term activities.
• Agile in being able to prioritise multiple and meet critical deadlines.
• Individual that has an innate pattern-spotting ability to look for and identify anomalies, resolves them and determines immediate and long-term steps to rectify the instance, the data and the process.
• An individual who is determined to drive things through to completion in a deliberate manner.
• Sound International Investment Product knowledge.
• Thorough knowledge and understanding of the various legal entity structures.
• Excellent communication skills.
• The ideal candidate must have an advanced working knowledge of Excel and Word.
• Ability to work independently.
• Strong attention to detail and organisational skills.

Skills

• Action Planning, Backlog Management, Change Management, Data Compilation, Executing Plans, Legal Practices, Occupational Safety and Health, Oral Communications, Organizational Design, Policies & Procedures, Professional Presentation, Project Budget Management, Project Delivery Management, Readiness Assessments

Competencies

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

Education

• NQF Level 7 - Degree, Advance Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate or equivalent

Closing Date

• 04 December 2025