Chief Risk Officer

Rand Mutual Admin Services; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 2,000,000 - 3,200,000; Full time

Job summary

Rand Mutual Admin Services in Johannesburg seeks a Chief: Actuarial, Risk & Compliance (CARC) to safeguard enterprise value through robust risk governance, actuarial integrity, legal oversight, and regulatory compliance.

The role leads the second line of defence, integrating risk, compliance, legal oversight, and actuarial governance to ensure resilience, ethical conduct, and regulatory soundness during growth and transformation.

Qualifications

• Postgraduate degree in Finance/Accounting, Business, Risk, Actuarial Science, or equivalent.
• 12–15 years’ experience in risk, actuarial, compliance, or legal leadership roles in insurance or financial services.
• Proven experience in enterprise risk management, regulatory compliance, actuarial governance, and legal oversight.
• Professional designations (e.g., CERA, CFA) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Executive Leadership and Strategic Partnership: advise CEO/Exco on risk, actuarial, legal, and compliance matters; influence strategy and growth with prudent risk governance.
• Strategic Leadership Enterprise Risk Management & Governance: lead risk strategy, frameworks, and governance; align with regulatory expectations.
• Statutory Actuarial Oversight: oversee reserving integrity, solvency, product oversight, and actuarial governance; report findings to regulators.
• Group Compliance Management: lead compliance strategy, monitoring, regulatory engagement, and reporting.
• Legal Governance & Regulatory Advisory: provide leadership of the Group Legal function and advise on regulatory constraints and risk mitigation.

Skills

Risk leadership

Actuarial governance

Regulatory engagement

Compliance leadership

Executive leadership

Legal oversight

Insurance domain

Education

Postgraduate degree in Finance/Accounting/Business/Risk/Actuarial Science

Job description

Introduction:

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.

Description:

The 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 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.

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 be a part of a dedicated group of colleagues who value teamwork and collaboration.

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.

Requirements:

WHAT YOU'LL BRING TO THE TABLE?

• Postgraduate degree in Finance/Accounting, Business, Risk, Actuarial Science, or equivalent.
• Professional designations (e.g., Chartered Enterprise Risk Actuary (CERA), CFA, etc) preferred.
• 12–15 years’ experience in risk, actuarial, compliance, or legal leadership roles in insurance or financial services.
• Demonstrated experience in leading statutory actuarial functions and engaging with regulators.
• Proven experience in enterprise risk management, regulatory compliance, actuarial governance, and legal oversight.
• Proven track record of executive leadership in complex and highly regulated
• Experience in operating within complex, multi-entity or regulated environments.

Established in 1894, RMA has more than 120 years’ experience in administering claims for occupational injuries and diseases according to the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA). RMA is passionate about caring for the lives of its claimants and their families. It embodies its slogan of Caring, Compassionate Compensation at every level of the organisation, from its empathetic staff to embracing good corporate citizenship. RMA’s value lies not only in its compassionate approach, but in the excellent systems and processes it has in place to ensure timeous and efficient payment of valid claims. RMA has the licence to administer COID claims for both Class IV (Mining) and Class XIII (Iron, steel, artificial limbs, galvanising, garage, metals and related industries).

RMA’s high level of service and quick claims processing turnaround time is underpinned by a market-leading integrated claims management IT system that allows for paperless adjudication of claims, placing it as the market leader in the workmen's compensation industry.