S37C Death Claims - Knowledge Manager at Old Mutual South Africa

Job Description

• Deep subject matter expertise in all matters relating to Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act (the “Act”). This is a unique field which can be considered as semi-professional (delegated powers to make decisions on behalf of the Trustees of SuperFund and Protektor).
• The individual applies this knowledge, skill and experience (acquired through specialization in this field over many years) in an operational environment through own efforts and must ensure compliance of others in respect of the execution of duties as per Section 37C of the Act.

Responsibilities

Knowledge Management:

• Owns and maintains all Process Guides, SOP’s and Practice Notes for all the Section 37C death claims processes (prepare/investigation/payment).
• Build and maintain a knowledge/information taxonomy.
• Creates and maintains all information documents, claims forms, email and letter templates.
• Creates fit for purpose workshops with internal stakeholders (up and downstream) and external stakeholders (financial advisors/planners/brokers).
• Regular assessment of technical-legal competence of investigators and maintaining of the mandate/decision-making parameters.
• Enquiries and communication to Journey Leaders, Screeners, Investigators etc in respect of any process related issues.
• Any process execution issues referred by senior management for resolution.
• Acts as expert resource on matters / projects related to technical-legal process execution (Section 37C of the Act).
• Stays abreast of all applicable changes in the environment (Act & Income Tax Act etc) and steers the operationalization of these changes.
• Uses feedback from objections/complaints to identify and address process/knowledge gaps.

Training and Coaching:

• Designs and curates robust training programs & schedules which ensure comprehensive training iro all applicable legislation/common law and probing/investigation skills.
• Training of technical-legal part of the S37C process with constant pro-active monitoring of process execution.
• Conduct needs analysis and 3-way technical check-ins with team members and Journey Leaders to ensure RCA and mitigation where issues are evident.
• Consulting with all team members iro problem/stuck/complex investigations and coaching iro alternative solutions.
• Ensures consistent compliant process execution through quality assurance measures.
• Uses monitoring and other feedback from Risk, Legal and Compliance teams to ensure proper RCA and mitigation.

Risk Management:

• Consults with all levels of leadership in respect of process risk.
• Does RCA in respect of sub-standard process execution, liaises with Journey Leaders and Investigators in respect of mitigation and process execution reviews/updates.
• Identify and solve compliance issues.

Reporting:

• Maintains a quantitative and qualitative feedback register in respect of work monitoring findings pertaining to technical-legal competence of all team members.
• Gives input into performance management discussions of Journey Leaders.
• SuperFund/Protektor Death Claims Sub-committee 
• Permanent invitee, identifying and raising technical-legal issues/suggested process changes for consideration by the Trustees, debates with Trustees on principle issues and delivers items as tasked by the Trustees.
• Liaises with the Principal Officer in respect of pertinent technical-legal matters.

Delegated Decision-Making:

• Own decision-making mandates

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE (REQUIRED FOR THE JOB)

• At least 10 – 15 years’ specialization in respect of Section 37C of the Act in respect of: Identification and investigation of dependants and nominees. Independent decision-making in respect of death benefit allocations and modes of payment. Independent resolution of objections in respect of allocation percentages. Training of staff who are required to operate in the Section 37C environment.
• Sound consultation, collaboration and influencing skills.
• Sound application of discretion.
• Disciplined planning / organizing skills and execution of duties
• Resilience to manage wide scope of workload within legislated parameters.
• Agility to deal with constantly changing regulative and legislative environment.

ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS/EXPERIENCE (PREFERRED, NOT A REQUIREMENT)

• Business Analysis.
• Project Management.

COMPETENCIES REQUIRED

• Ability to understand, interpret and teach the application of various pieces of legislation to sets of facts.
• Probing skills and ability to interrogate information and ability to teach these skills.
• Building of sound and defensible arguments.
• Strong case management skills.

Skills

• Action Planning, Adaptive Thinking, Analytical Thinking, Budget Management, Business Case Development, Current State Assessment, Data Analysis, Data Compilation, Data Modeling, Evaluating Information, Gaps Analysis, Policies & Procedures, Project Performance Management (PM), Solution Analysis

Competencies

• Communicates Effectively
• Cultivates Innovation
• Decision Quality
• Ensures Accountability
• Manages Complexity
• Optimizes Work Processes

Education

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

Closing Date

• 28 September 2025