Fresh Roles at Santam Insurance

CAREER OPPORUNITY

• Santam Specialist Solutions has a career opportunity for a Business Head: Heavy Haulage which will be based in Alice Lane, Johannesburg.
• The primary purpose of this position is to take accountability for the overall strategic, commercial, underwriting, and distribution performance of the Heavy Haulage business.
• The role carries end-to-end responsibility for sustainable growth, underwriting profitability, governance, people leadership, and market positioning, in alignment with Santam’s strategy, brand promise, and Treating Customers Fairly principles.
• The role integrates business leadership, underwriting excellence, and sales & distribution oversight to ensure balanced growth, strong technical outcomes, and long-term commercial sustainability within the Heavy Haulage portfolio.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic & Business Leadership

• Define and execute the Heavy Haulage business strategy, aligned to Santam and Santam Specialist Solutions objectives.
• Set long-term strategic direction to drive sustainable growth, profitability, and market leadership.
• Assess market, client, regulatory, and competitive trends to identify risks and growth opportunities.
• Represent Santam as a senior leader in relevant industry, broker, and stakeholder forums.
• Promote and embed Santam’s values and brand promise internally and externally.

 Financial & Commercial Stewardship

• Own top-line growth, underwriting performance, and profitability of the Heavy Haulage portfolio.
• Prepare, manage, and deliver against the approved budget, ensuring strong expense discipline.
• Partner with actuarial teams to ensure competitive, data-driven pricing aligned to loss ratio targets.
• Monitor portfolio performance, claims trends, and risk metrics, taking corrective action where required.
• Ensure disciplined premium collection, debtor management, and cancellation reserve controls.

Underwriting Strategy & Technical Governance

• Accountable for underwriting strategy, risk appetite, and governance within Heavy Haulage.
• Ensure compliance with underwriting mandates, authorities, and Santam’s Underwriting Practice Policy.
• Provide guidance and sign-off on complex, high-value, or non-standard risks and wordings.
• Drive consistency, quality, and best-practice underwriting disciplines to minimise operational and financial risk.
• Lead research and development of products, risk solutions, and technical enhancements.

 Sales, Distribution & Market Development

• Define and own the Heavy Haulage sales and distribution strategy in partnership with Sales, Underwriting, and Operations.
• Drive revenue growth, portfolio expansion, and market penetration through effective broker and client engagement.
• Build strong, long-term relationships with key brokers, clients, reinsurers, and strategic partners.
• Act as senior escalation point for complex commercial, broker, or client matters impacting revenue or reputation.
• Oversee national and regional marketing initiatives, ensuring return on investment and alignment to strategy.

Client & Stakeholder Engagement

• Maintain strong internal partnerships across Underwriting, Claims, Sales, Actuarial, Legal, Risk, Compliance, and Operations.
• Ensure delivery of a differentiated, high-quality client and broker experience
• Support cross-selling opportunities across Santam and group businesses.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Governance, Risk & Compliance

• Ensure adherence to regulatory, statutory, and internal governance requirements, including FAIS and insurance legislation.
• Act as custodian of underwriting binders, outsourcing arrangements, and delegated authorities where applicable.
• Oversee internal and external audits, ensuring timely remediation of findings.
• Implement robust risk management and internal control frameworks across the Heavy Haulage business.

Data, Insight & Reporting

• Leverage data analytics and management information to drive insight-led decision-making.
• Monitor dashboards and performance reporting to track growth, underwriting performance, and operational effectiveness.
• Provide regular reporting to management and governance forums

 People Leadership & Talent Development

• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing leadership and specialist team.
• Create a culture of accountability, collaboration, excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Drive engagement, capability building, and succession planning within the business.
• Identify and mentor future leaders to ensure long-term sustainability of the function.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Relevant Bachelor’s degree (Commercial, Insurance, Risk, Finance or related).
• FAIS compliant.
• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in the insurance industry.
• At least 5–7 years’ experience at senior leadership level.
• Proven track record in leading a specialist insurance portfolio or business.
• Strong experience across underwriting, risk management, sales/distribution, and financial management.

COMPETENCIES

• Strategic and commercial acumen
• Executive leadership and people management
• Strong underwriting and risk judgment
• Client and broker relationship management
• Financial and analytical capability
• Governance and compliance orientation
• Influencing, negotiation, and decision-making
• Results-driven with high attention to detail

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Role Purpose

• The Human Capital Business Partner provides strategic and operational HC support to designated business units within Santam. The role partners with leaders to enhance organisational effectiveness, build leadership capability, drive people-related initiatives, and ensure alignment to Santam’s culture, values, and strategic objectives.
• The HCBP acts as a trusted advisor, enabling a high performance, inclusive, and future-fit workforce.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Partnership

• Partner with business leaders to understand strategic priorities and translate these into people plans.
• Provide insights and data-driven recommendations that shape workforce planning, organisational design, and talent strategies.
• Influence and challenge leaders to adopt best-practice people solutions and support organisational change programs.

Talent Management & Workforce Planning

• Lead annual talent reviews, succession planning, and critical skills management.
• Support leaders in building robust talent pipelines and identifying development needs.
• Guide the business on workforce planning, staffing requirements, and future capability needs.

Employee Relations & Engagement

• Provide expert advice on employee relations matters, ensuring compliance with labour legislation and Santam policies.
• Partner with ER and Labour Net specialists on complex cases.
• Drive employee engagement by supporting action plans, change initiatives, and culture-strengthening activities.

Performance & Development

• Support leaders in managing the performance management cycle and embedding a high performance culture.
• Provide guidance on poor-performance management, development planning, and coaching conversations.
• Facilitate leadership development, team development and skills interventions where required.

Organisational Effectiveness & Change

• Support organisational design initiatives and advise on structural changes.
• Partner with leaders on change management strategies, ensuring smooth adoption and minimising disruption.
• Facilitate team effectiveness sessions, culture activation engagements and leadership alignment workshops.

Reward & Remuneration Support

• Guide leaders on remuneration processes (job evaluations, salary benchmarking, merit increases, STI and LTI cycles).
• Ensure compensation decisions are fair, consistent, and aligned to Santam’s reward philosophy.

HC Governance, Reporting & Compliance

• Ensure accurate and timely reporting for HC dashboards, metrics, and compliance requirements.
• Maintain adherence to all HC frameworks, policies, processes, and legal requirements.
• Support internal and external audit processes where required.

Key Relationships

Internal:

• Business Unit Leaders, employees
• Human Capital Centres of Excellence (Talent Acquisition, Learning and People Development, OD, ER, Reward, HCSS)
• Human Capital Operations Team
• Finance, Risk, Compliance and other enabling functions

External:

• Regulatory bodies (e.g., CCMA where applicable)
• External service providers, consultants, and training partners

What will make you successful in this role?

Qualifications & Experience

Minimum Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in HR Management / Industrial Psychology / Organisational Development or related field.
• 5–8 years HC generalist or HC business partnering experience, preferably in the financial services or insurance sector.
• Strong understanding of South African labour legislation (LRA, BCEA, EE Act, Skills Development Act).
• Experience in organisational change, talent management, and performance management processes.
• Ability to travel as required

Preferred

• Honours degree or Postgraduate qualification in Industrial Psychology or HR.
• Experience supporting complex, large-scale business units.
• Coaching certification or exposure to leadership facilitation.

Knowledge, Skills & Competencies

Technical Skills

• Human Capital strategy and planning
• Workforce planning & organisational design
• Talent and succession management
• Performance and reward processes
• HRIS knowledge (e.g. SAP)
• Strong ER and labour legislation knowledge

Behavioural Competencies

• Business acumen and commercial mindset
• Strategic and analytical thinking
• Strong stakeholder management and influence
• Coaching and facilitation skills
• Problem-solving and decision-making
• High emotional intelligence
• Resilience and adaptability
• Strong communication and relationship-building

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic partnering
• Leading through influence
• Driving change and innovation
• Building high-performing teams
• Living Santam’s values (Care, Collaboration, Innovation, Integrity)

Key Performance Measures

• Quality of HC advice and strategic input
• Progress against people plans and talent metrics
• ER case resolution and compliance
• Engagement and culture improvement results
• Leadership satisfaction and feedback
• Delivery of HC initiatives on time and within scope