Executive Head: Group Performance, Investor Relations & Capital Markets: Group Finance (JG15/16)

Sanlam Limited; Sandton; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 2,000,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services group seeks an Executive Head: Group Performance, Investor Relations & Capital Markets to lead strategic investor engagements and performance insights. The ideal candidate will possess strong investor communication skills, a relevant postgraduate finance qualification, and extensive experience within capital markets. Join a collaborative environment dedicated to leveraging financial performance for strategic decision-making.

Benefits

Opportunity for growth and development

Diverse and inclusive workplace

Qualifications

• 10+ years’ relevant experience, ideally including senior-level investor relations.
• Experience within the financial services sector or capital-intensive industries preferred.
• Strong understanding of South African and global capital markets.

Responsibilities

• Serve as the Group’s spokesperson to investors and analysts.
• Lead investor targeting initiatives to attract and retain shareholders.
• Oversee performance analysis and insights reporting disclosure.

Skills

Investor Communications

Strategic Leadership

Business Insight

Education

CA(SA), CFA, Actuary or equivalent postgraduate finance qualification

Job description

Press Tab to Move to Skip to Content Link

Select how often (in days) to receive an alert: Create Alert

Executive Head: Group Performance, Investor Relations & Capital Markets: Group Finance (JG15/16)

Location:

Sandton, Gauteng, ZA

Who are we?

Sanlam was established as a life insurance company in South Africa but has since transformed into a diversified financial services group that operates across the African continent, India, Malaysia and selected developed markets, with listings on the Johannesburg, A2X and Namibian stock exchanges. In 2018 the Group celebrated its centenary as well as 20 years since demutualisation and listing in South Africa and Namibia. Sanlam is one of thelargest internationally active insurance groups in the world with a presence in 31 countries and has the biggest non-banking financial services footprint on the African continent.

The Group's five business clusters (Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz and Santam) house the Group's business operations. The Group Officeprovides strategic direction and support to the five clusters, assisting them in realising their strategies and meeting their business objectives. The Group Office is responsible for governance and for the Group's centralised functions, which include: Finance, Actuarial and Risk Management, Strategy, Human Resources, Market Development and Sustainability.

Investor Engagement & Communication

• Serve as the Group’s spokesperson to investors, analysts, and rating agencies.
• Lead the execution of IR activities, including roadshows, earnings calls, and capital market days.
• Ensure transparent and strategic communication aligned with company objectives.
• Build strong relationships with institutional investors across South Africa, the UK, US, and Europe.
• Lead investor targeting initiatives to attract a diverse, long-term shareholder base.

Strategic Messaging & Market Positioning

• Develop and maintain the Group’s equity and credit story in collaboration with the CFO, CEO, Strategy, ESG, and Communications teams.
• Monitor market trends, analyst coverage, and peer performance to inform investor messaging and strategic positioning.
• Provide strategic counsel to the executive team on market perception, investor sentiment, shareholder activism, and valuation.

Performance analysis and insights reporting disclosure

• Oversee the preparation of SENS announcements, investor presentations, analyst models, and FAQs in partnership with the Financial Reporting and Communications teams.
• Ensure compliance with JSE and other disclosure regulations.
• Lead continuous improvement of monthly, quarterly, and annual reporting cycles to deliver relevant and strategic insights.
• Align external disclosures with internal performance narratives.
• Lead the Group’s performance insight capability, integrating financial, operational, and external market data.
• Oversee forecasting, variance analysis, scenario planning, and benchmarking.
• Provide actionable insights to support capital allocation, value creation, and strategic decisions at Exco and Board levels.
• Support Group-wide performance dialogues, target setting, and risk identification.
• Maintain a deep understanding of capital market dynamics, investor expectations, and industry developments.
• Inform decisions on capital allocation, dividend policy, M&A communication, and ESG positioning with market insights.
• Conduct competitor analysis and maintain industry benchmarks to guide both internal and external performance conversations.

Insights Infrastructure & Tools

• Lead the development and deployment of digital tools and analytics platforms that enhance performance visibility and strategic decision-making.
• Ensure real-time integration of insights into reporting packs, CMDs, and investor roadshows.
• Drive continuous improvements in insight quality, timeliness, and relevance.

Internal Advocacy & Executive Support

• Represent investor perspectives internally, ensuring leadership is equipped with market intelligence.
• Provide support to the CFO and CEO in engaging the Board, facilitating investor messaging, and identifying performance improvement opportunities.

What will make you successful in this role?

• Consistent and compelling investor messaging.
• Strength and depth of investor relationships.
• Stability and diversification of the shareholder base.
• Enhanced market valuation and peer positioning.
• Value-add insights that drive strategic decision-making.
• Positive feedback from the analyst and investor community
• Consistency and clarity of market messaging.
• Strength of investor relationships and access to capital.
• Shareholder base stability and support for strategic initiatives.
• Enhanced market valuation relative to peers.

In addition to leading the Group’s investor engagement strategy, the role is also accountable for providing deep, data-driven insights into Group and divisional financial and non-financial performance. This includes synthesising trends, surfacing opportunities and risks, and serving as a key strategic advisor to the CFO on capital allocation, performance levers, and enterprise value enhancement.

This executive will lead the Group’s performance analysis and insight generation function, integrating internal financial and operational data with external market intelligence to provide decision-critical insights to Exco, the Board, and investors.

The individual will:

• Oversee the end-to-end performance review process for the Group and business units, including forecasting, variance analysis, and scenario planning.
• Synthesize internal data and external trends to generate actionable performance insights.
• Ensure alignment between internal performance narratives and external disclosures.
• Drive performance benchmarking against peers and relevant industry indices.
• Provide performance analysis and insights leadership across performance reporting cycles (e.g., monthly, quarterly, annual) and ad hoc strategic reviews.
• Assist the CFO with facilitating Group-level target setting, performance dialogues, and identification of value creation opportunities.
• Positive feedback from analyst and investor community.

Qualification and Experience

• CA(SA), CFA, Actuary or equivalent postgraduate finance qualification.
• 10+ years’ relevant experience, ideally including senior-level investor relations, capital markets, corporate finance, or equity research experience.
• Experience within the financial services sector or capital-intensive industries preferred.
• Strong understanding of South African and global capital markets, JSE requirements, and investor expectations.
• Previous IR experience will be an advantage.

Knowledge and Skills

Investor Communications

Investor relations strategy

Strategic business intelligence

Strategic leadership and engagement

Strategic Customer Service and Management

Personal Attributes

Strategic mindset - Contributing strategically

Persuades - Contributing strategically

Balances stakeholders - Contributing strategically

Business insight - Contributing strategically

Build a successful career with us

We’re all about building strong, lasting relationships with our employees. We know that you have hopes for your future – your career, your personal development and of achieving great things. We pride ourselves in helping our employees to realise their worth.Through its five business clusters – Sanlam Fintech, Sanlam Life and Savings, Sanlam Investment Group, Sanlam Allianz, Santam, as well as MiWay and the Group Office – the group provides many opportunities for growth and development.

Core Competencies

Being resilient - Contributing strategically

Collaborates - Contributing strategically

Cultivates innovation - Contributing strategically

Customer focus - Contributing strategically

Drives results - Contributing strategically

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.

The closing date for applications is 02 July 2025.

Our commitment to transformation

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.