{"id":3949961,"url":"https://alion.io/job/discovery-senior-research-development-manager-2","title":"Senior Research & Development Manager","company":{"id":1811548,"name":"Discovery","domain":"discovery.co.za","url":"https://alion.io/company/discovery-co-za","size_band":"1001-5000","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"SuccessFactors","truth_index":null},"role":"Management","role_family":"Management","seniority":"lead","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Johannesburg, South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"SQL","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-10-12T09:03:28Z","employer_posted_date":null,"last_verified_at":"2026-10-12T09:03:28Z","board_verified":false,"closed_at":null,"days_open":27,"trust":{"level":"not_scored","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":27},"description":"Key Purpose\n\n Conceptualise and drive existing and new R&D projects in support of the Discovery Insure business strategy. Bringing exciting new products and enhancements to the market on a regular basis is a key priority for Discovery Insure; the individual will play a leading role in driving the work behind this.\n\nAreas of responsibility may include but are not limited to:\n\n Drive exploratory research and analyses to develop strategic insights and identify core R&D questions, ideas, and solutions to inform the innovation agenda.\n\n Develop the product strategy and R&D priorities in line with the overall Discovery Group and Discovery Insure strategy.\n\n Analytical and pricing capabilities to understand the financial implications and parameters involved when developing new products, to ensure profitable results.\n\n Lead complex R&D projects which have an impact across multiple Discovery businesses, actively driving close collaboration within the team and with relevant business units to ensure buy-in and smooth handover post execution.\n\n Present regular updates to obtain executive input on key decisions. Relevant forums include but are not limited to the R&D Steerco, Insure Exco, and Actuarial Committee.\n\n Drive project execution working closely with Project Managers, Systems teams, Partners teams, and other teams affected by a particular R&D project.\n\n Take accountability and signoff on product launch items.\n\n Continuously refine the R&D process solving for maximum business impact, broad input, cross-functional coordination, and timely implementation.\n\n Build, manage, and train a small team to support the above\n\n Monitoring and reporting ongoing results to ensure products are producing optimal results.\n\nKnowledge and Skills:\n\n Analytical and modelling skills, SQL\n\n Design thinking and innovation processes\n\nEducation and Experience\n\nEducation:\n\n Honours or Master’s degree in an analytical field, eg Computer Science, Statistics, Data Science, Actuarial Science. \n\nMinimum Experience: \n\n 5-10 years’ work experience in financial services, preferably in a product development, problem-solving, or analytical role, eg. Management Consulting / Actuarial / Data Science.","description_format":"text","description_chars":2193,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":null,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Property & Casualty Insurance","Health Insurance & Benefits","Digital Banks & Neobanks","Life Insurance & Annuities"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-09T00:22:45Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":17,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":0.85,"p_active":0.57,"p_room":0.35,"age_days":27,"expected_fill_days":10,"reasons":["seen:27","win:tail"],"computed_at":"2026-11-09T04:52:30Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/discovery-senior-research-development-manager-2","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/discovery-senior-research-development-manager-2.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-09T04:52:30Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":4567,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-10T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":1811548},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=1811548"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fdiscovery-senior-research-development-manager-2"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fdiscovery-senior-research-development-manager-2"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fdiscovery-senior-research-development-manager-2"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/discovery-senior-research-development-manager-2\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fdiscovery-senior-research-development-manager-2"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3949961}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"discovery.co.za","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3949961},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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