Intermediate Actuarial Specialist
Cape Town

Two opportunities available for actuarial students in the early stages of their career, to gain unique experience in the inner workings of a complex financial services group as an Intermediate Actuarial Specialist.

Both roles would have a mix of exposure to regular production work, as well as ad-hoc project work.

The roles would expose the individuals to the following:
• Consolidated external reporting across a range of bases (IFRS, MCEV standards)
• Group reporting methodologies
• Group’s solvency modelling under various scenarios, together with the management of the shareholder funds, and
• General exposure to stakeholders across the wider Group, both on the actuarial and accounting side

The roles will build networks across the wider Group, which will assist with future career development as part of the actuarial rotation programme.

The first role works with areas across the Group that provide inputs into the consolidated balance sheet and capital calculations (both on an historical and forward-looking basis).
The individual will be responsible for reviewing the inputs, and then moving the numbers through the consolidation process up to CFO review stage, and subsequent external publication. A key component is managing the good working relationships that Group Actuarial has with the various segments and teams.

The second role is more directed towards supporting the shareholder portfolio (a newly created portfolio). At times the support would be needed during the regular reporting cycles (e.g. investigating and explaining results) as well with producing inputs to some of the internal oversight committees. A large component would involve working on current strategic issues affecting the shareholder fund, that need actuarial analysis.

Regular reporting (historical / forward-looking)
• Check the quality and reasonability of input data received
• Consolidate and summarise the results in the agreed formats
• Check the results for reasonability and compare it to previous results
• Engage with suppliers to ensure results are well-explained and understood
• Draft the commentary and prepare slides for the senior review meetings

Thought leadership for actuarial reporting
• Assist with ad hoc requests from the wider business (e.g. product owners, other finance areas)
• Involvement and assistance with projects
• Continuous improvement of existing processes with the aim of improving overall efficiency
• Preparation and improving of existing tools, with a view to developing robust and flexible tools to support our deliveries

Strategic support
Assist with assessing and supporting various strategic projects which will propel and steer the business forward into the future.

Qualifications, Experience, Knowledge and Skills

• BSc and making good progress in actuarial exams
• Min 1 year actuarial experience
• Financial or capital reporting experience would be an advantage
• Strong analytical, technical skills and attention to detail
• Good communication skills (written and verbal)
• Have the ability to interact effectively with stakeholders at different levels in the organization
• Highly motivated and energetic self starter
• Good at working with complex tasks under tight deadlines