Senior Journey Owner - Retail & Occupational Retirement Fund Administration: S37C Death Claims

Job Description
As Journey Owner, you will be responsible for the technical process oversight of the execution of death claim processes in terms of Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act (PF Act). This includes designing, optimizing, and managing this death claims journey across various touchpoints and channels to ensure a seamless and positive experience for all claims stakeholders/advisors. You will work closely with cross-functional teams, including legal, tax, compliance, finance, IT, as well as regulatory bodies, boards of trustees and its sub-committees, other retirement Funds and Fund administrators, corporate clients and advisors, to align strategies and initiatives that support the overall death claims journey.Section 37C technical understanding and environment knowledge/experience is paramount for this role. This is a unique field where the individual applies knowledge, skill, and experience in an operational environment through own efforts and efforts of others.

Removing friction, driving point of contact resolution, a seamless and integrated experience across all channels.
Develop a deep understanding of the Section 37C death claims journey, from awareness of death to completion of the statutory process execution.
Identify pain points and opportunities for improvement within the Section 37C death claims journey.
Monitor and analyze claim stakeholder/advisor behavior and feedback to identify trends and insights that can inform decision-making.
Drive initiatives to optimize and streamline the Section 37C death claims journey, leveraging technology and data-driven insights.
Champion a claim stakeholder-centric mindset within the organization and advocate for continuous improvement in the death claims experience.
Stay informed about industry trends and best practices related to regulatory death claims experience and journey mapping.
Ensure all legislation applicable to the Section 37C death claims journey are met and there is appropriate risk monitoring, mitigation, and management.
Monitor the delivery of quality execution of statutory duties on behalf of the Boards of Trustees at the required standard, ensuring swift reaction to feedback loops (GIA, Risk and Compliance findings).
Governance: Oversee and audit controls to ensure they are in place, maintained, and expanded (as required) to enable proactive actions to mitigate against non-compliance in terms of the Section 37C processes.
Risk Management: Ensure all risks are identified, logged, and mitigated (including the reporting of breaches). Maintain a position of proactive intervention.
Compliance: Monitor that standard operating procedures and relevant protocols are meticulously adhered to and take mitigative action.
Audit: Ensure all issues are raised, addressed, and tracked against delivery dates.
High: Critical in terms of compliance with legislation, regulation, and Fund rules, as well as high impact of any regulatory change which requires process and control changes.
Legislative requirements: Stay abreast of developments, understand the impact on process execution, and enable compliance of processes with the PF Act, Income Tax Act, POPI Act, etc.
Monitor adherence to relevant technical Policies, Standard Operating Procedures, Trustee Principles and Guidelines, Reasonable Steps Policies, other relevant technical protocols, and Fund Rules.
Draft proposals/sign-off in respect of management decisions on technical and complex problems to resolve process and administrative inquiries, escalations, and complaints.
High: In-depth knowledge and understanding of Fund-owned products across all segments.
Section 37C death claims are processed on a product and segment agnostic basis.
High: Span of control, size, and cost of team.
Front and back-office management.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to develop and implement strategies to enhance the death claims stakeholder experience.
Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the effectiveness of the claims stakeholder journey.
Manage direct leadership reports, Technical and MI Specialists, as well as a Change enabling team.
Full suite of people management (i.e., capacity planning, recruiting, goal setting, performance management, coaching, employee wellbeing, employee skills matrix & learning/career journeys, recognition, ad hoc issues etc.).
High: Volume and size of financial exposure of claims could impact loss or profitability of Business.
Monitor environment in terms of best practices and consistent execution.
Monitor, guide, and ensure continuous process improvements to ensure execution is optimally effective and efficient throughout the start to end process (speed and pace of progression of cases within the legislative timeframe).
Identify/search out synergies across the business unit and servicing portfolio.
Align with peers in other business units where environments touch/overlap.
Sign-off and oversee campaigns to deliver on business plans and special projects (including output surges to meet deadlines).
Oversee any impact of changes to systems and processes on execution and delivery and take appropriate actions.
Oversee, audit, and track overpayment recoveries.
Understanding overall business objective, competitor landscape, providing thought leadership and foresight to ultimately provide an industry leading Section 37C death claim stakeholder journey experience.
Strategic and tactical planning with agile operational execution (i.e., ability to swiftly pivot when circumstances require it).
Maintain an 'outside-in' view (with a claim stakeholder lens) i.e., continuously compare OM processes to processes of competitors (via external stakeholder interaction and other insights) to identify opportunities for improvement/best practices.
Document and share relevant strategic initiatives across the business.
Identify, craft, and implement strategic initiatives to build towards a future fit S37C capability.
Managing all stakeholders involved in the overall death claims journey experience across departments and also across journeys where relevant.
Internal: Engage with peers in support teams/functions to maintain standards and SLA's etc.
External: Engage with financial advisers, intermediaries, segments, employers, Principal Officers, Fund's sub-committees, external service providers etc. to ensure alignment to best practices (including stakeholder relationships).
Deep understanding of all segments in which we operate and nuances to meet claims stakeholder needs.
Oversight of all inbound and outbound communication (i.e., ensure protocols are always adhered to).
Sign-off/provide guidance (where required) in respect of inquiries, escalations, and complaints in respect of administrative processing and monitor alignment with complaints handling standards.
Ability to create and deliver presentations/workshops to relevant internal and external stakeholders (in respect of process performance, deliveries, projects, etc.).
High: Exposure to media, regulatory scope, product span requiring deep control of outcomes.
Appropriate Bachelor's degree.
Proven track record of risk management experience.
At least 8 years at middle/senior management level.
Demonstrated experience in project and stakeholder management.
Experience in managing cross-functional teams and driving process improvements.
Proven management experience in retail and/or occupational retirement fund administration – particularly Section 37C death claims (i.e., a comprehensive understanding of the start to end process, environment and stakeholders), and journey mapping (or components thereof).
Proven Audit/Forensic investigation experience.
Legal/Compliance.
Knowledge of Agile methodology and experience in managing Agile Teams.

Job Type: Full-time
Application Deadline: 2024/10/30
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