Senior AI Actuary

Discovery Ltd.; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Discovery seeks a Senior AI Actuary to lead AI and automation initiatives within Discovery Insure. You will drive the Process Intelligence strategy, prioritise opportunities, and govern cross-functional squads.

You will quantify value, manage vendors, and lead teams to deliver measurable outcomes across claims, underwriting and operations. You will partner with systems and business stakeholders to standardise processes, design experiments, and communicate impact to executives.

Qualifications

• Actuarial analysis for business cases and value tracking.
• Experimental design with A/B testing and control groups.
• Understanding of AI, RPA, ML and practical business application.
• Evaluate third-party solutions and contracts (build-vs-buy).
• Process intelligence, mining, mapping and sizing insights.
• Prioritisation, governance and capacity planning across AI squads.
• Executive communication and stakeholder management at leadership level.
• Leading and developing Process Intelligence Engineers.

Responsibilities

• Lead AI Automation Strategy as Process Intelligence Lead and roll-out squads.
• Size and prioritise AI, automation opportunities with business cases.
• Own portfolio governance and capacity planning across squads.
• Measure value, baselines, KPIs and savings post go-lives.
• Evaluate third-party AI/tools and manage vendor relationships.
• Coach and develop Process Intelligence Engineers across the team.
• Collaborate with Systems, Operations and stakeholders to standardise processes.
• Design experiments to assess impact of AI interventions.
• Report progress to Exco and senior stakeholders.

Skills

Actuarial analysis

Experiment design

AI literacy

Vendor evaluation

Process mining

Portfolio governance

Stakeholder management

People leadership

Process mining tools

Microsoft AI stack

Change management

Education

Matric

Honours in Actuarial Science

FASSA/AMASSA

Tools

Celonis

Soroco

Mimica

Power Automate

Azure AI

Job description

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Senior AI Actuary

Business Unit: Discovery Insure

Function: Actuarial Sciences

Discovery – Insure

Senior AI Actuary

About Discovery

Discovery’s core purpose is to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives. We seek out and invest in exceptional individuals who understand and support our core purpose, and whose own values align with those of Discovery. Our fast-paced and dynamic environment enables smart, self-driven people to be their best. As global thought leaders, Discovery is passionate about innovating in order to not only achieve financial success, but to ignite positive and meaningful change within our society.

About Discovery Insure

Discovery Insure is committed to creating a nation of great drivers through our innovative Shared-value Insurance model. Discovery Insure is South Africa’s fastest growing short-term insurance company with comprehensive products that provide protection against current and emerging risks facing clients in the motor and home insurance sectors. Vitality Drive, an internationally-recognised and award-winning programme, is a key differentiator in the market that incentivises and rewards clients for driving well. The Vitality Drive programme has been scaled to local and international markets which now include Europe and the Middle East. The company employs over 1 000 people who are committed to putting our customers and financial advisers first by providing unique and innovative solutions and cover.

Key Purpose

This role is intended to bring Actuarial rigour to identifying, prioritising, valuing and delivering AI and Automation opportunities and to evaluate and leverage third-party AI solutions effectively. The incumbent leads the Process Intelligence Engineer squads, owns portfolio prioritisation, value realisation, governance and vendor relationships, as well as quantifies and communicates impact to executives across the AI Automation Strategy (Process Intelligence) and all other AI initiatives.

Areas of responsibility may include but are not limited to:

• Lead and execute the AI Automation Strategy as Process Intelligence Lead, including the gated, squad-by-squad roll-out.
• Identify, size, prioritise and value AI, automation and process intelligence opportunities, supported by robust business cases.
• Own portfolio prioritisation, governance and capacity planning across the process intelligence squads and the broader AI team.
• Own value realisation: set baselines, KPIs and benefit-tracking frameworks, measure capacity released and savings after go-lives, and evidence of value before scaling.
• Evaluate, select and leverage third-party AI and process/task mining solutions (build-vs-buy, POC design, commercial assessment) and manage software vendor relationships where appropriate.
• Lead, coach and develop the Process Intelligence Engineers, ensuring end-to-end ownership from discovery through to value realisation.
• Partner with Systems, Operations and business stakeholders to standardise processes before automating, and apply AI only where it improves the intervention.
• Design experiments (e.g. A/B tests, control groups) to rigorously assess the impact of AI interventions.
• Communicate impact and progress to Exco, committees and senior stakeholders through clear, executive-ready reporting.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Actuarial and statistical analysis – business cases, value quantification and benefit tracking (Advanced)
• Impact measurement and experimental design – A/B testing, control groups, causal inference (Advanced)
• AI and automation literacy – generative AI, AI agents, machine learning and RPA, and their practical business application (Intermediate)
• Third-party solution and vendor evaluation – build-vs-buy, POC design, commercial and contract assessment (Advanced)
• Process intelligence – process and task mining, process mapping, opportunity sizing (Intermediate)
• Portfolio prioritisation, governance and capacity planning (Advanced)
• Executive communication and stakeholder management (Advanced)
• People leadership and squad management (Advanced)
• Experience with process/task mining platforms (e.g. Celonis, Soroco, Mimica or similar) (Beginner)
• Microsoft AI and automation stack (e.g. Copilot Studio, Power Automate, Azure AI) (Intermediate)
• Change management and operating model design (Intermediate)

Education and Experience

Education:

• Matric (Essential)
• Honours degree in Actuarial Science and/or Mathematical Statistics (Essential)
• Qualified Actuary – FASSA or AMASSA, or equivalent (Essential)

Experience:

• 6+ years of experience in Actuarial, strategic analytics or data science roles, including people management and a proven track record of identifying, delivering and quantifying strategic business outcomes (Essential)
• Experience leading AI, automation or process improvement initiatives, evaluating and implementing third-party technology solutions, and working in short-term insurance operations (e.g. claims)- (Preferred)

EMPLOYMENT EQUITY

The Company’s approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.