Actuarial Systems Developer

Sanlam; Cape Town; Sur place; ZAR 900 000 - 1 200 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

Sanlam Life and Savings seeks a skilled software developer to design, implement and maintain actuarial calculation systems across PC and mainframe environments, ensuring accurate mortality, premium and policy value calculations.

You will translate actuarial rules into robust, auditable code, support migration to new platforms, and collaborate with actuarial, product and IT teams to deliver reliable processing and continuous improvements.

Qualifications

• Undergraduate Degree or Honours in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, Actuarial Science or an equivalent discipline.

Responsabilités

• Translate product, actuarial and regulatory changes into technical specifications, estimates and release plans.
• Develop and maintain risk renewal, matrix processing, mortality, valuation, annuity and interest calculation programmes.
• Conduct PIT and regression testing of product, rate, premium, commission and cover changes.
• Maintain calculation bases, master data, programme versions and integration between mainframe, PC and server environments.
• Support mainframe batch processing and JCL, including annuity rate transfers.
• Apply coding, testing, version control and documentation standards.
• Modernise legacy programmes, automate manual processes and retire redundant components.

Connaissances

Software development

Actuarial calculations

System design

SDLC

Data analysis

IT testing

Data reconciliation

Formation

Undergraduate Degree or Honours in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, Actuarial Science or equivalent

Outils

Mainframe

Description du poste

Who are we?

Sanlam Life and Savings (SLS) is focused on serving our retail and corporate clients in South Africa and further developing our strategic advantages in the South African market. Sanlam Life and Savings consists of the following business units Retail Mass, Corporate, Risk and Savings, Glacier and various business enabling functions. The Sanlam Life and Savings Office provides strategic direction, coordination and support to the four clusters, as well as performing governance oversight that includes assurance provided by second line of defense functions in SLS, to enable us to meet our business objectives.

Who are we?

Sanlam Life and Savings (SLS) is focused on serving our retail and corporate clients in South Africa and further developing our strategic advantages in the South African market. Sanlam Life and Savings consists of the following business units Retail Mass, Corporate, Risk and Savings, Glacier and various business enabling functions. The Sanlam Life and Savings Office provides strategic direction, coordination and support to the four clusters, as well as performing governance oversight that includes assurance provided by second line of defense functions in SLS, to enable us to meet our business objectives.

What will you do?

• Develop, maintain and support the actuarial calculation, renewal and valuation systems that underpin life and risk products for a large organisation.
• Design, develop, maintain and refine tools for Quality Engineers (QE’s) in Systems Control to use to improve performance, accuracy, and turnaround times in their quest to ensure calculation integrity of actuarial calculations in Epsilon and other platforms.
• Facilitate continuous improvement practices across teams, including standardisation and best practice adoption
• Lead the end-to-end delivery of programme and basis changes across the PC and mainframe estate, ensure calculation integrity and version control of mortality and rate bases,
• Produce non-standard quotations and values for investigation purposes on request, and
• Provide technical support that keeps scheduled actuarial processing running, and QE’s able to optimally use the supplied tools.
• Define coding, testing, versioning and documentation standards for the estate.

What will make you successful in this role?

Provide specialised software development and technical expertise, supported by an applied understanding of premium, mortality, annuity and policy value calculations.

Key Responsibilities

Systems Planning and Development

• Translate product, actuarial and regulatory changes into technical specifications, estimates and release plans.
• Develop and maintain risk renewal, matrix processing, mortality, valuation, annuity and interest calculation programmes.
• Conduct PIT and regression testing of product, rate, premium, commission and cover changes.
• Maintain calculation bases, master data, programme versions and integration between mainframe, PC and server environments.
• Support mainframe batch processing and JCL, including annuity rate transfers.
• Apply coding, testing, version control and documentation standards.
• Modernise legacy programmes, automate manual processes and retire redundant components.

Special Quotes and Values

• Calculate special quotes and policy values using approved actuarial programmes and calculation bases.
• Retrieve mortality rates, tables and annuity rate bases as required.
• Confirm the correct rates, mortality basis, effective dates and programme versions.
• Validate inputs, reconcile results and document assumptions.
• Escalate unsupported requests and automate recurring calculations where practical.

Future-Proof Existing Processes

• Document calculation logic, product rules, bases and data flows for migration to the new policy administration platform.
• Partner with migration and IT teams to design and validate calculations on the new platform.
• Conduct parallel-run and reconciliation testing to confirm calculation accuracy before cutover.
• Extract, cleanse and reconcile policy and master data for migration.
• Redesign supporting tools and remove mainframe dependencies in a controlled manner.
• Maintain mainframe stability during the transition and limit development to business continuity or migration requirements.

Client Service

• Manage and resolve requests within agreed service levels, providing regular progress updates.
• Clarify requirements and communicate technical outcomes, assumptions and limitations clearly.
• Build effective relationships with actuarial, product and IT stakeholders.
• Provide guidance and knowledge transfer on calculation programmes.
• Reduce recurring requests through documentation, self-service tools and automation.

Technical Support

• Monitor and support mainframe and PC processing, including batch, JCL, dataset and data-transfer failures.
• Support weekly annuity rate changes and confirm that the correct mortality basis is in production.
• Diagnose programme, connectivity and data-flow issues and implement sustainable solutions.
• Monitor system performance and resolve throughput, processing-window and error-handling issues.
• Support incident and problem management through root cause analysis, preventative action and updated documentation.

Qualifications

Qualifications and experience

• Undergraduate Degree or Honours Tertiary Degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Mathematics, Actuarial Science or an equivalent discipline.

Experience

• Demonstrated experience developing and supporting calculation or policy systems in a life insurance or financial services environment, spanning both mainframe and PC platforms, with exposure to actuarial bases, rate changes and release cycles.

Knowledge And Skills

Core Requirements

• Application Development: Independently develops high-quality software across PC and mainframe environments using appropriate programming languages, while providing technical guidance where required.
• Actuarial and Financial Calculation Systems: Independently develops, tests and maintains systems supporting actuarial and financial calculations, ensuring accurate interpretation of actuarial bases and product rules.
• System Design: Independently designs and implements scalable, high-quality system solutions to address complex technical requirements and challenges.
• Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) Techniques: Applies advanced SDLC practices across requirements, design, development, testing and maintenance to deliver effective software and modelling solutions.
• Mainframe Batch Processing and Job Control: Independently develops, schedules, executes and recovers mainframe batch processes, including job control, dataset management and version control.
• IT Implementation and Integration: Independently implements, configures and optimises systems while integrating and synchronising data across mainframe, server and PC environments.
• IT Testing: Independently designs, executes and reports on system testing, including PIT and regression testing, to ensure solutions meet specified requirements.
• Data Analysis and Reconciliation: Independently extracts, analyses and reconciles policy and calculation data to identify errors, determine affected populations and quantify business impact.

Personal attributes

• Analytical thinking
• Attention to detail
• Accountability
• Reliability
• Collaboration
• Clear communication
• Problem-solving
• Adaptability
• Resilience
• Quality focus
• Learning agility
• Continuous improvement mindset

Core competencies

• Cultivates Innovation
• Client Focus
• Drive Results
• Collaborates
• Flexibility and adaptability

The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is what drives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key components to ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan and targets will be considered as part of the selection process.