{"id":4185203,"url":"https://alion.io/job/firstrand-chief-operating-officer","title":"Chief Operating Officer","company":{"id":4436,"name":"FirstRand","domain":"firstrand.co.za","url":"https://alion.io/company/firstrand","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"A","score":100,"open_postings":4,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":0,"repost_share":0.25,"time_to_fill_p50_days":11,"computed_at":"2026-11-12T10:38:37Z"}},"role":"Operations","role_family":"Operations","seniority":"head","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Sandton, South Africa"],"countries":["ZA"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":15,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":true,"technologies":[],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-12T18:08:36Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-12","last_verified_at":"2026-11-12T18:08:36Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":0,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":0},"description":"Job Description\nThe Chief Operations Officer is responsible for all operations activities of the business by ensuring that all operations of the bank are in total conformance to the Bank's quality system in accordance with customer and the institution's requirementsHello Future Strategic Chief Operating Officer\n\nAre you a strategic leader who thrives in complex, fast-paced environments and is passionate about driving operational excellence, sustainable growth, and customer-centric innovation? Do you have the vision to translate business strategy into execution while building high-performing teams that deliver exceptional outcomes? If so, you may be the Chief Operating Officer we're looking for.\nAbout the Role\nAs the Chief Operating Officer (COO), you will be responsible for strategic integration and execution ensuring Insurance operates as one coordinated business and that investment translates into tangible outcomes, rather than simply completed projects.\nAre You Someone Who Can:\n\nInsurance Target Operating Model:\nDefine and maintain the enterprise-wide Insurance operating model across Life, Short-Term Insurance and other Insurance capabilities.\nClarify capability ownership, decision rights, accountabilities and interfaces across Business, Technology, Finance and the PMO.\nIntegrate the model with the FirstRand ecosystem, using group capability wherever the bank is the stronger home.\nCapability Strategy and Roadmap\nEstablish a single, prioritised Insurance capability roadmap.\nDetermine which capabilities should be built, enhanced, consolidated or retired, and in what sequence.\nAlign investment priorities to customer value, growth, efficiency, risk and strategic relevance.\nEstablish and chair the relevant Capability Councils.\nEnsure business leaders own capability decisions, Technology owns build-and-run delivery, and Finance independently validates benefits.\nRecommend the allocation or reallocation of investment to the Insurance CEO and Exco where priorities compete and run clear escalation for cross-business dependencies.\nWork alongside the Enterprise PMO, which owns delivery governance, planning standards and portfolio reporting\nStrategic Portfolio Prioritisation\nAssess proposals against agreed criteria, including business value, customer impact, regulatory importance, execution capacity and affordability.\nCore-Platform Transition\nSet the direction for the move from multiple legacy policy-administration environments to a modern, internally owned insurance platform.\nSequence the transition so that value lands early and risk to customers, operations and regulatory obligations is actively managed.\nLead the strategic management of critical vendors and partners through the transition, including exit, dependency, performance and value-leakage risk\nProcess Simplification and Redesign\nIdentify priority customer and operational journeys requiring redesign.\nSponsor end-to-end process engineering to remove duplication, manual intervention, fragmented hand-offs and unnecessary complexity.\nEnsure that technology investment is accompanied by the required process and operating-model changes.\nData and AI Enablement\nOwn the Insurance data and AI agenda, including the AI delivery model and the direction of the enterprise data platform, in partnership with the CIO\nPrioritise high-value use cases and ensure that the required business processes, ownership and controls are established.\nTrack whether Data and AI investments translate into measurable business and customer outcomes.\nValue and Benefits Realisation\nDefine the intended benefits and measurable outcomes for each strategic capability or investment.\nPartner with Finance to validate baselines, benefit assumptions and realised value independently.\nHold capability owners accountable for delivering benefits, not only completing projects.\nCross-Functional Delivery Orchestration\nOrchestrate execution across Business, Technology, Finance, PMO, process engineering, vendors and subject-matter experts.\nResolve cross-functional constraints, sequencing issues and delivery dependencies.\nEnsure the Insurance portfolio operates as one integrated agenda rather than a collection of disconnected projects.\nStrategic Vendor and Partner Management\nSet the strategic direction for critical operational and capability-related partnerships.\nEnsure vendor arrangements support the target operating model, capability roadmap and value objectives.\nAddress duplication, dependency, service-performance and value-leakage risks across strategic suppliers.\nExecutive Performance and Risk Reporting\nProvide the Insurance CEO and Exco with an integrated view of:capability-roadmap progress and delivery health;\nbenefits realised against plan, as validated by Finance;\noperating-model and platform-transition progress;\nmaterial risks, dependencies and decisions required.\nEscalate early where investment, delivery or technology activity is not producing the agreed outcomes\n\nHow Success Will Be Measured\nThe role is judged on three questions:\nAre we building the right capabilities?\nAre we moving toward the target architecture?\nAre we creating measurable business value?\nThese will be tracked through:\nbenefits realised and independently validated by Finance;\nprogress on cost-to-income across the insurance businesses;\ndelivery cycle times, such as time to launch a product or change a price;\nmilestones on the core-platform transition, delivered without disruption to customers\nYou Will Be an Ideal Candidate If You Have:\nQualifications\nMinimum Qualification\nBachelor's Degree in Commerce, Business Management, Operations Management, Finance, Actuarial Science, Engineering or a related field.\nPreferred Qualification\nMaster's Degree in Commerce (MCom), Business Administration (MBA), Finance, Operations Management, or a related discipline.\nExperience\n15+ years' experience in Operations, Business Management, Financial Services, or a related environment.\n4 to 5 years' experience in a senior leadership or functional leadership role with accountability for large-scale operational delivery.\nDemonstrated delivery through peers and partners you did not manage directly: influence across executives who own P&Ls and engineering teams.\nExperience leading an operating-model redesign or a major core-system or platform transition in a complex, regulated organisation.\nExperience shaping strategic vendor relationships, including transition or exit.\nAdvantageous: insurance or bancassurance experience, and working knowledge of the regulatory frame (SAM, IFRS 17 and Prudential Authority expectations, including on material outsourcing).\nWhat Sets You Apart\nOrchestration and influence. You get results across peers and functions through clarity, credibility and well-designed governance.\nCommercial and benefits rigour. You define value before money is spent and measure it honestly afterwards.\nArchitectural literacy. You are fluent in technology and target-state architecture without needing to be the technologist.\nProcess engineering. You see how work actually flows and how to redesign it end to end.\nData and AI judgement. You can tell high-value use cases from interesting ones, and know what it takes to put them into production.\nDiscipline to stay lean. You build capability in others rather than headcount around yourself.\nKey Competencies\nStrategic Thinking\nOperational Excellence\nCommercial Acumen\nFinancial Management\nChange Leadership\nStakeholder Management\nGovernance & Risk Management\nCustomer Centricity\nInnovation & Digital Transformation\nPeople Leadership\nDecision Making\nResults Orientation\nYou Will Have Access To:\nOpportunities to shape and influence business strategy.\nA collaborative and high-performing leadership environment.\nMeaningful work that impacts customers, employees, and business performance.\nOngoing opportunities for growth, development, and leadership advancement.\nWhy This Role Is Different\nShape the operating model of what we intend to be South Africa's definitive bancassurer.\nLead a once-in-a-generation move to a modern, AI-native insurance platform.\nWork with data, distribution and customer relationships across the FirstRand ecosystem that no standalone insurer can match.\nSit on the Insurance Exco with direct influence on strategy, investment and the shape of the business.\n#Post\n#FNB\n#LI-TM10\nImportant Closing Date Note\nTake note that applications will not be accepted on the below date and onwards, kindly submit applications ahead of the closing date indicated below.\n20/11/26All appointments will be made in line with FirstRand Group’s Employment Equity plan. The Bank supports the recruitment and advancement of individuals with disabilities. In order for us to fulfill this purpose, candidates can disclose their disability information on a voluntary basis. 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