Senior Underwriter

Reference: NFR011803-Angie-1

An established player in South Africa’s life insurance industry is seeking an experienced Underwriting Manager to lead and manage a team of junior and senior underwriters.

This role combines technical underwriting expertise, risk evaluation and people management, with responsibility for ensuring sound underwriting decisions, operational efficiency and regulatory compliance.

The successful candidate will play an important role in managing underwriting operations, improving service delivery, protecting profitability and contributing to the strategic direction of the business area. Duties & Responsibilities Key Responsibilities

• Lead, manage, coach and develop a team of junior and senior underwriters.
• Ensure optimal staff capacity and appropriate skills within the team.
• Oversee medical risk assessments, including the evaluation of complex medical histories and accurate risk classification.
• Manage financial underwriting, assessing financial information, debt-to-income metrics and insurable interest to prevent over-insurance.
• Work closely with actuaries to develop, audit and calibrate automated underwriting rules engines.
• Manage facultative and treaty reinsurance strategies.
• Monitor service level agreements (SLAs), quality standards and operational performance.
• Identify service failures, errors and opportunities for process improvement.
• Drive initiatives that improve operational efficiency and customer experience.
• Monitor external perception ratings and ensure agreed targets are achieved.
• Contribute to business area strategy and budget management.
• Analyse business processes, reporting information and trends to identify areas requiring improvement.
• Engage with executive management, internal stakeholders and external parties to ensure effective communication and service delivery.
• Participate in cross-functional forums to improve business efficiencies.
• Ensure all correspondence meets professional standards and organisational protocols.
• Manage workflows, deadlines and underwriting decisions, including complex and high-value risk cases.

Job Experience and Skills Required

• Grade 12 with Mathematics (essential).
• Minimum 2–3 years' management experience at management level.
• Several years of hands-on experience in risk assessment.
• Industry certifications and relevant regulatory approvals.
• Strong technical knowledge of medical and financial underwriting.
• Experience with facultative and treaty reinsurance structures.
• Experience working with automated underwriting systems and rules engines.
• Knowledge of business and operational insurance administration processes.
• Familiarity with compliance processes and procedures within the insurance industry.
• Accomplished knowledge of CRM systems.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Excel, Word, PowerPoint and Visio, as well as Adobe.
• Experience engaging with external parties and internal stakeholders.
• Experience analysing business processes and identifying opportunities for improvement.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong leadership, coaching and team management abilities.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Strong decision-making abilities, particularly when dealing with complex risk assessments.
• Excellent communication, interpersonal and negotiation skills.
• Strong stakeholder and broker relationship management abilities.
• Excellent time management and workflow prioritisation.
• A proactive, innovative and quality-driven approach.
• Strong attention to detail and a sense of ownership.
• The ability to work effectively under pressure and meet strict deadlines.
• A results-driven mindset with a focus on operational excellence.
  
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