Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa
8 days ago
Senior Manager: Commercial Underwriting
Join TIH, home to some of South Africa’s leading financial service providers, and grow your career while being part of an organisation with purpose.

Job Purpose

Oversee a team of Underwriters to ensure risk to business is mitigated and within the companies risk appetite, according to underwriting industry norm standards and guidelines. Assist in product development and system enhancements. Monitor the underwriting systems and provide input into the strategies for underwriting innovation.

Responsibilities

Underwriting

Make authoritative recommendations about technical or professional underwriting and business enhancement solutions that would significantly improve business performance, this would include internal and external partners.
Oversee the underwriting projects and provide technical assistance to the project team when necessary to any system or process to ensure adherence to underwriting rules and system limits.
Provide guidance of renewal actions on individual accounts and ensure adherence thereof. Also determine levels of indemnity.
Provide input into reinsurance requirements and resolve escalated underwriting complaints and escalated underwriting opinions on claims.
Responsible for the acceptance, terms conditions rates and excesses for special arrangements or VIP policies.

Risk Management & Analysis

Manage a significant portion of the organization's risk management and/or control process. This includes contributing to the development and implementation of risk management policies and procedures.
Evaluate the risk of insuring a particular asset.
Proactively identify claims patterns and trends to drive adjustments to Company underwriting practices in order to mitigate risk.
Responsible for evaluating a risk and setting out the appropriate underwriting terms pertinent to that risk and to collaborate with surveyors and underwrite risks in accordance with the prescribed underwriting guidelines, reinsurance treaty and policy wording.
Analyze current performance inhibitors and find solutions to ensure business continuity.
Apply judgement when authorizing discounts for policies in accordance with the authority delegated.

Stakeholder Engagement

Act as a business partner to important internal customers and manage relationships with them.
Manage and maintain external relationships with external partners.
Operate within the SLA's with business on making decisions on referrals.
Provide input into renewal increases and multi-claimant actions for the auto renewal process.
Influence and manage project teams to ensure projects are completed timeously and accurately.

Strategy Formation & Implementation

Focus on Development strategy, Shifts and Departmental strategy. Ensure the strategy is successfully implemented and meets medium-term business needs.

Underwriting Policy Development & Implementation

Develop functional or operational policies and wording and help develop policy frameworks for area of responsibility or department. Take responsibility for creating underlying procedures and monitoring their implementation.

Operational Compliance

Ensure that business activities within the area of responsibility comply with relevant external regulatory and/or voluntary codes and with internal policies and procedures to minimize business risk and to protect the reputation of the organization.
Manage business rules around when audits are required and adhere to underwriting guidelines and standards by managing audits on a regular basis.
Ensure that business objectives and personal delivery aligns to and meets the TSW principles.

Leadership and Direction

Communicate the function's strategy and its relationship to the organization's mission, vision and values; clarify the actions needed to implement it within the area of responsibility; motivate people to commit to these and to doing extraordinary things to achieve the organization's business goals.
Articulate and communicate key deliverables and business context to the team.
Enable the team through required business processes, systems and knowledge.
Ensure development plans for the team are created, contracted and monitored.
Revise role profiles to enable customer focused context and expectations.

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.
Leverage all available information from our partners, the industry and internally to ensure we are constantly reviewing our departmental processes, systems and protocols with a view to improve efficiencies and to ensure best practice.

Data Exploration and Analysis

Conduct research and select relevant information to enable analysis of key themes and trends using primary data sources.
Drive continual market comparison of existing Company standards to industry standards to keep the Company competitive.
Analyze numerical data and all other sources of information, to break them into component parts, patterns and relationships. Makes rational judgements and recommendations from the available information and analysis.

Performance Management

Manage and report on team performance; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports or project / account team members and hold them accountable for achieving these, taking appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of team / personal objectives.
Responsible for all aspects of staff resourcing, succession planning, management and development ensuring the right people are in place to support service delivery, achieving production and performance targets at all times.
Align performance management contract to overall business drivers and customer experience expectations.
Hold monthly team meetings and ensure that actions are recorded and executed.

Budgeting

Manage budget plans for a department and effectively manage the financial requirements of the business unit to meet business and profit targets.

Personal Capability Building

Act as subject matter expert in an area of technology, policy, regulation, or operational management for the team. Maintain external accreditations and maintain an in-depth understanding of national and international underwriting technology, external regulation, and best practices through ongoing education, attending conferences, and reading specialist media to mitigate risk.

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.

Education

Grade 12/ SAQA Accredited Equivalent (Essential); Relevant Degree in Business Management/ BCom or equivalent (Essential); FAIS & RE5 (Essential); IISA or accreditation in Insurance or equivalent (Advantageous); Key Individual Accreditation (Advantageous); Diploma in Risk Management/Insurance or similar (Advantageous)

Experience

8 to 10 years in short-term insurance (all personal lines of business Assets, Policy wordings, VAPS experience) (Essential);
Short-term insurance industry- technical underwriting experience at a senior level (Essential); Insurance product knowledge (Advantageous); Knowledge of regulatory requirements (Essential). 6 to 10 years experience of planning, managing and organizing resources within short / medium timescales within the overall policy framework (Essential)

Think you have what it takes to be part of an unstoppable team who constantly finds better ways to give peace of mind? Don't wait, apply now.
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