Business Insights Manager

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Job Description

An exciting opportunity has arisen within Group Risk for a Business Insights Manager. The role will have primary accountability for actuarial control cycle monitoring, valuation data integrity, ownership of reinsurance and multinational pooling arrangements, performance and insights, forward-looking business insights, with particular emphasis on the development, interpretation, and embedding of new and emerging actuarial and financial performance metrics.

The Business Insights Manager will translate actuarial, valuation, and financial outputs into robust, decision-useful insight across the full actuarial control cycle. This includes monitoring valuation movements, experience-to-expectation analysis, reinsurance outcomes, and metrics arising from IFRS 17, SAM, capital frameworks, and internal value measures. This will translate into business strategy and insight support for product, pricing, underwriting, business development, technical marketing and claims.

The role operates at the intersection of Actuarial, Finance, Reinsurance, Pricing and Strategy, ensuring consistency, transparency, and insight across reported results, management information, and executive decision-making.

Key Result Areas:

Actuarial Control Cycle Monitoring

• Own and coordinate end-to-end actuarial control cycle insights monitoring for Group Risk across experience, assumptions, profitability and financial metrics, translating the results into meaningful insights to drive business performance and strategy and predictive analytics.

Valuation Data & Results Insight

• Ownership of group risk valuation data required by finance team for valuations.
• Provide insight and interpretation of valuation data and movements across IFRS 17, SAM
• Provide forecast figures for business planning processes.
• Lead development and embedding of new performance metrics and executive insight.

Business Insight & Portfolio Performance

• Provide clear, insights into portfolio performance, including:
  • Claims drivers and emerging experience risks
  • Variance analysis vs pricing and business plan assumptions
  • Sustainability of margins and profitability by segment
• Translate complex analytics into clear, commercially relevant narratives for senior stakeholders.
• Support strategic decision-making on product changes, underwriting approaches, benefit design, and risk appetite.

Reinsurance Performance & Insight

• Ownership of reinsurance for group risk business.
• Ownership of multinational pooling arrangement.
• Deliver insights on reinsurance structures, performance and value.

Governance, Controls & Assurance

• Establish robust governance over data, methodologies, assumptions, and analytical outputs.
• Ensure alignment with actuarial standards, internal governance frameworks, and regulatory expectations.
• Provide assurance to senior management on the quality, consistency, and integrity of experience-based insights

Leadership, Talent & Collaboration

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team.
• Foster strong collaboration across Actuarial, Pricing, Product, Claims, Finance, Distribution, and Data teams.
• Build a culture of excellence, curiosity, and commercial relevance.

Reporting

• Oversee the production of regular and ad-hoc experience reports and management dashboards
• Communicate insights, implications, and recommendations to senior management and key stakeholders
• Provide analytical support and input into pricing reviews, basis setting, and strategic discussions

Automation and Optimisation

• Drive automation of data preparation, reinsurance processes, actuarial models and reporting processes
• Improve efficiency, robustness, and repeatability of analytical engines and tools  
• Enhance the scalability and efficiency of data pipelines
• Identify and implement continuous improvement initiatives across processes

People and Stakeholder Management

• Provide technical guidance
• Manage priorities and workflows across the business insights function
• Build strong relationships across Product, New Business, Claims, Valuations, Underwiring, Scheme Management, actuarial and IT
• Act as a trusted advisor to the business on insight-related matters

Skills, Knowledge, Qualifications and Experience required:

Qualifications & Experience

• Qualified or near-qualified Actuary
• 4–6+ years’ experience in financial services (Group Insurance / Employee Benefits / Reinsurance advantageous).
• Strong exposure to risk products and valuation concepts.
• Experience in valuations, product, business partner, experience analysis or commercial support roles.
• Experience leading a team is advatageous
• Proven ability to manage senior relationships.
• Strong written and presentation skills, with experience engaging executive and trustee audiences.
• Deep expertise in experience analysis, assumptions setting, and actuarial analytics or principals.
• Proven track record of influencing senior leadership through data-driven insights.
• Experience operating at leadership level, with enterprise-wide impact.
• Strong understanding of pricing and valuation mechanics, and claims dynamics.
• Exposure to advanced analytics, automation, or data science initiatives is advantageous

Competencies:

• Business acumen
• Analytical thinking
• Stakeholder collaboration and influence
• Accountability and delivery focus (self-managed)
• Continuous improvement, innovation and automation
• People development and technical leadership

Skills

Action Planning, Adaptive Thinking, Agile Project Management, Data Compilation, Data Controls, Executing Plans, Financial Acumen, Identifying Customer Needs, Information Management, Insurance Product Management, Insurance Sales, Legal Practices, Negotiation, Policies & Procedures, Risk Management, Workflow Management

Competencies

Balances Stakeholders

Builds Effective Teams

Builds Networks

Business Insight

Communicates Effectively

Develops Talent

Directs Work

Drives Results

Education

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

Closing Date

17 May 2026 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

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