Underwriting Administrator

JenRecruitment; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 200,000 - 300,000; Full time

Job summary

A recruitment agency is seeking an Underwriting Administrator in Cape Town to manage life insurance underwriting processes. The ideal candidate has at least 2 years' experience in individual life insurance underwriting and possesses strong communication and organizational skills. This role demands attention to detail and adherence to underwriting standards, ensuring service excellence. Attractive salary offered.

Qualifications

• Minimum 2 years in life insurance underwriting, preferably medical underwriting.
• Experience with individual life insurance policies, assessing medical information.
• Strong understanding of underwriting standards and policies.

Responsibilities

• Manage and administer the underwriting process for life insurance applications.
• Conduct tele-underwriting and make informed decisions.
• Ensure compliance with underwriting standards.

Skills

Intermediate MS Office (Excel, Word, Outlook)

Attention to detail and accuracy

Excellent communication skills

Time management

Organizational skills

Education

Matric (Grade 12)

Tertiary qualification in a medical field

Tools

OWLS

Job description

Underwriting Administrator required in Claremont, Cape Town.

We’re looking for an Underwriting Administrator to join our dynamic Credit Life Underwriting department, where every decision counts and every client matters.

Salary: R25 000 per month.

Role Purpose:

To manage and administer the underwriting process for life insurance applications by assessing risk, conducting tele-underwriting, and ensuring all decisions and records are handled accurately and efficiently.

The Underwriting Administrator ensures compliance with underwriting standards, delivers service excellence to clients and colleagues, and contributes to a smooth and professional onboarding experience for new policyholders—supporting commitment to Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) and operational excellence.

The role requires a minimum of2 years’ experience in life insurance underwriting, withmedical underwritingbeing strongly preferred. This means the candidate should have worked specifically withindividual life insurance policies(not group or corporate benefits) and have been involved in assessing personal medical information—such as health history or medical exams—to make informed decisions about whether to approve or decline policies, and at what premium.

We are therefore seeking someone withindividual life insurance underwriting experience, who is confident in making final underwriting decisions.

Requirements:

Education:

• Matric (Grade 12) required
• Tertiary qualification in a medical field is advantageous

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years in life insurance underwriting (medical underwriting preferred)
• Familiarity with tele-underwriting and use of SwissRe underwriting manual

Skills:

• Intermediate MS Office (Excel, Word, Outlook)
• Strong attention to detail and accuracy
• Excellent communication, time management, and organizational skills
• Ability to manage workloads under pressure and meet daily targets

Attributes:

• Client-focused with a service excellence mindset
• Proactive, self-motivated, and solutions-oriented
• Team player with a strong sense of accountability
• Commitment to Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) principles

Duties & Responsibilities:

• To adhere to the standard underwriting process and guidelines.
• To extract the days underwriting cases and to accurately process all underwriting cases within the SLA agreement of 24 to 48 hours.
• To contact the identified potential clients and to do the tele-underwriting and to make the appropriate underwriting decisions by using the SwissRe underwriting manual within the stipulated turnaround time.
• To be professional and to provide a high level of service excellence when interacting telephonically with clients relating to their application and with the sales agents and other colleagues.
• To update the underwriting source file with the decision made and to inform the relevant sales agent accordingly.
• To ensure that all the daily underwriting admin work is correctly carried out by double checking that the workflow records have been updated, decision recorded, and the form saved to the client folder.
• To send the declined communication to clients whose applications were unsuccessful.
• To resolve 20 underwriting cases per day.
• To resolve undelivered communications relating to a client’s policy by contacting the client and updating the contact details when the underwriting cases are insufficient to meet your daily target.
• Upload underwriting decision and underwriting form to the client record on the system.
• To ensure that you respond to and resolve underwriting requests with the maximum TAT of 48 hours.
• To notify your manager of any priority issues, queries for escalation or complaints received.
• To be creative and use your initiative in resolving outstanding cases so that the underwriting decision can be finalised.
• Think of working smarter and of ways to improve the process and to add value to the client’s new business policy on boarding experience.
• You are responsible to ensure that you fully understand the relevant insurance products, the administration processes, and the systems so that you can operate efficiently and are competent in your job as an underwriter.
• To daily maintain your workflow Inbox tasks and any stat records for workflow management.
• To identify any additional training needs to be provided to the sales agents relating to the Asset Life credit protection product and to identify any improvement in the underwriting business process.

Competencies:

• Minimum 2 years in life insurance underwriting (medical underwriting preferred)
• This means experience working with life insurance policies that are sold to individuals (not part of a group or company benefit) and handled the process where the insurance company reviews a person’s health information—like medical exams or history—before deciding whether to approve the policy and at what cost.

Technical Proficiency:

• Strong knowledge of life insurance underwriting and policy administration
• Skilled in using systems (e.g., OWLS) and MS Office tools

Accuracy & Decision-Making:

• High attention to detail
• Sound judgment in assessing risk and resolving cases
• Excellent time management under strict deadlines

Communication & Client Service:

• Clear and professional verbal/written communication
• Customer-focused with a commitment to service excellence and TCF principles
• Effective collaboration with team members and sales agents

Behavioral Strengths:

• Proactive and self-motivated
• Resilient under pressure
• Accountable and eager to improve processes and outcomes