Chief Risk Officer

Rand Mutual - RMA; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,600,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Rand Mutual - RMA in Johannesburg seeks a senior executive to lead actuarial, risk and compliance in a strategic, second-line governance role. The position focuses on risk strategy, regulatory compliance, and actuarial oversight to safeguard enterprise value during growth and transformation.

You will integrate risk governance with legal oversight, build capability across risk-related functions, and provide independent challenge to first-line practices while reporting to the CEO, Exco, and Board

Responsibilities

• Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Exco on risk, actuarial, legal, and compliance matters.
• Provide insight and challenge into strategic initiatives, new products, partnerships, acquisitions, and market expansion.
• Influence enterprise strategy by balancing growth aspirations with prudent risk governance.
• Ensure the second line of defence is deeply integrated, proactive, and forward-looking.
• Build capability across actuarial, legal, compliance, and risk teams to meet the future needs of the business.
• Lead the Group’s risk strategy, frameworks, and governance to ensure proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of key enterprise risks.
• Maintain an enterprise-wide risk management framework aligned with regulatory expectations (SAM, Solvency II principles, Prudential Authority guidelines).
• Oversee strategic, financial, operational, conduct, technology, and emerging risks, ensuring alignment with the Group’s risk appetite.
• Provide independent challenge and oversight of first-line risk practices across business units.
• Advise the CEO, Exco, and Board Risk Committee on risk exposures, emerging threats, and resilience strategies.
• Strengthen risk culture and embed risk‑based decision‑making across the Group.
• Lead crisis management, stress testing, scenario planning, and recovery strategies.
• Serve as the Statutory Actuary responsible for reserving integrity, solvency assessment, product oversight, and actuarial governance.
• Ensure robust valuation processes, sound reserving, capital adequacy, and adherence to SAM/IFRS17 actuarial requirements.
• Provide independent actuarial assurance on pricing, product design, underwriting, and claims experience.
• Oversee the actuarial control cycle and ensure actuarial models, assumptions, and methodologies are appropriate, consistent, and defensible.
• Report actuarial findings to the CEO, Exco, Board, and regulators with full transparency and professional independence.
• Provide actuarial insight into long‑term financial stability, business planning, and capital strategy.
• Lead the Group Legal function with strategic oversight, contract management, and regulatory interpretations.
• Ensure legal compliance across product development, partnerships, procurement, distribution, and corporate transactions.
• Support enterprise-wide initiatives by advising on legal implications, regulatory constraints, and risk mitigation approaches.

Job description

THE JOB AT A GLANCE

The Chief: Actuarial, Risk & Compliance (CARC) is the Group’s principal executive responsible for protecting enterprise value by ensuring robust risk governance, statutory actuarial integrity, legal oversight, and regulatory compliance across the organisation.

The Chief: Actuarial, Risk & Compliance (CARC) is the Group’s principal executive responsible for protecting enterprise value by ensuring robust risk governance, statutory actuarial integrity, legal oversight, and regulatory compliance across the organisation.

This role provides strategic leadership over the Group’s second-line of defence — integrating risk management, compliance, legal oversight, and actuarial governance to ensure business resilience, ethical conduct, and regulatory soundness during an accelerated phase of growth and organisational transformation.

The CARC ensures that risk appetite, actuarial judgement, legal frameworks, and compliance structures enable sustainable expansion, protect the integrity of financial results, safeguard customers, and strengthen trust with regulators, partners, and stakeholders.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Executive Leadership and Strategic Partnership

• Serve as a strategic advisor to the CEO and Exco on risk, actuarial, legal, and compliance matters.
• Provide insight and challenge into strategic initiatives, new products, partnerships, acquisitions, and market expansion.
• Influence enterprise strategy by balancing growth aspirations with prudent risk governance.
• Ensure the second line of defence is deeply integrated, proactive, and forward-looking.
• Build capability across actuarial, legal, compliance, and risk teams to meet the future needs of the business.

Strategic Leadership Enterprise Risk Management & Governance (2nd Line)

• Lead the Group’s risk strategy, frameworks, and governance to ensure proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of key enterprise risks.
• Maintain an enterprise-wide risk management framework aligned with regulatory expectations (SAM, Solvency II principles, Prudential Authority guidelines).
• Oversee strategic, financial, operational, conduct, technology, and emerging risks, ensuring alignment with the Group’s risk appetite.
• Provide independent challenge and oversight of first-line risk practices across business units.
• Advise the CEO, Exco, and Board Risk Committee on risk exposures, emerging threats, and resilience strategies.
• Strengthen risk culture and embed risk‑based decision‑making across the Group.
• Lead crisis management, stress testing, scenario planning, and recovery strategies.

Statutory Actuarial Oversight

• Serve as the Statutory Actuary responsible for reserving integrity, solvency assessment, product oversight, and actuarial governance.
• Ensure robust valuation processes, sound reserving, capital adequacy, and adherence to SAM/IFRS17 actuarial requirements.
• Provide independent actuarial assurance on pricing, product design, underwriting, and claims experience.
• Oversee the actuarial control cycle and ensure actuarial models, assumptions, and methodologies are appropriate, consistent, and defensible.
• Report actuarial findings to the CEO, Exco, Board, and regulators with full transparency and professional independence.
• Provide actuarial insight into long‑term financial stability, business planning, and capital strategy.

Group Compliance Management (2nd Line)

• Lead the Group’s compliance strategy, monitoring programmes, and regulatory engagement across the business.
• Ensure compliance with laws, regulatory requirements, industry codes, market conduct obligations, and internal policies.
• Provide independent compliance oversight and challenge into business processes, customer treatment, and product governance.
• Maintain and evolve the Group compliance framework, including regulatory risk assessments and compliance reporting.
• Engage with regulators (FSCA, PA, FAIS, POPIA authorities) and ensure transparent, proactive and constructive communication.
• Oversee monitoring of regulatory changes and guide the business in implementing required controls and process updates.

Legal Governance & Regulatory Advisory (2nd Line)

• Provide strategic leadership of the Group Legal function, ensuring legal risk is well managed and aligned with governance standards.
• Oversee legal advisory services, contract management frameworks, litigation oversight, and regulatory interpretations impacting business strategy.
• Ensure legal compliance across product development, partnerships, procurement, distribution, and corporate transactions.
• Support enterprise-wide initiatives by advising on legal implications, regulatory constraints, and risk mitigation approaches.
• Strengthen the quality, responsiveness, and independence of legal oversight across the organisation.

WHAT WILL YOU GET IN RETURN?

We offer great opportunities for personal and professional development in a stable company that’s 132 years strong. The role comes with a competitive salary package and various benefits. Flexible work arrangements (combination of remote and in the office). Furthermore, you will a part  of a dedicated g..

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers. Kindly note that should you not receive a response within 21 days please consider your application unsuccessful.