Website Guardrisk
Guardrisk is a specialist South African cell captive insurance and risk financing solutions provider.
Guardrisk is a specialist South African cell captive insurance and risk financing solutions provider. It is the market leader in this field in South Africa and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Momentum Metropolitan Holdings (MMH), a large South African financial services group. The Guardrisk specializes in cell captive insurance and alternative risk transfer solutions. A cell captive arrangement allows clients (cell owners) to own their own insurance product(s) within Guardrisk’s licensed framework, ring-fencing their risks and potential profits without the full cost and complexity of setting up a standalone insurance company.
Role Purpose
- To take full ownership of the operational function, including policy administration systems, process improvement, vendor management, and IT integration. This role is central to ensuring Zestlife’s operational excellence, customer service efficiency, and technological agility.
Requirements
Qualification and Experience
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in business, Operations, or IT (MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification preferred).
Experience
- 8 years’ experience in operations leadership, preferably within insurance or financial services.
- Strong experience with policy administration platforms
- Proven change management, vendor negotiation, and cross-functional leadership skills.
Duties & Responsibilities
Responsibilities, work outputs and individual contribution
Operations Leadership
- Oversee policy administration, claims, onboarding, servicing, and benefit management.
- Ensure high efficiency and minimal disruption in all operational processes.
Technology & Systems Management
- Take ownership of the OWLS platform – development roadmap, maintenance, close monitoring of production environment, upgrades, vendor management and provide detailed IT business requirements for implementation of new processes, process changes and products,Collaborate with IT teams and vendors to align system functionality with business requirements.
Process Optimization
- Implement process improvements to support scalability, automation, and cost reduction.
- Lead operational implementation of new products across life and non-life portfolios.
Governance and Risk
- Ensure compliance with internal controls and external regulations.
- Review and sign off on templates, client communications, and documentation in line with governance standards.
Team Leadership
- Manage operations and IT teams and drive cross-functional collaboration with Finance, Marketing, and Distribution teams.
- Collaborate with Finance, Actuarial, and Distribution teams for effective business partnering.
Competencies
- Developing strategies: Is focused on developing strategies; thinks in the longer term and anticipates trends; envisages the future and adopts a visionary approach.
- Directing people: Is comfortable leading people; coordinates and directs groups; seeks to control things.
- Making decisions: Is determined and decides on actions; willingly assumes responsibility; is definitive and stands by own decisions.
- Examining information: Analyses and processes information; asks probing questions; strives to find solutions to problems.
- Providing Insights: Is focused on continuously improving things; provides insights by identifying key issues; makes intuitive judgement.
- Managing tasks: Manages tasks by being organised and methodical; plans activities systematically; sets priorities for tasks.
