Head of Business Intelligence

A well known short term insurance company based in Sandton is looking for a Head of Business Intelligence

**Purpose of the job**:
The Head of Business Intelligence plays a key role in ensuring that the company is, at all times, fully apprised of the external risks that could impact the underwriting profit and solvency of the business. The Head of Business Intelligence is responsible for all business intelligence activities within the company. This would include being responsible for the identification and monitoring of key underwriting risk metrics, management of the catastrophe model, management of probable maximum loss studies, and, undertaking critical research to develop the company’s intelligence regarding critical and emerging underwriting risks.

**Minimum Requirements (Qualifications & Experience)**
- Suitable university graduate degree (actuarial, data science, statistics, mathematics, econometrics)
- CERA qualification, or similar, will be advantageous
- Minimum of 3 to 6 years experience in a similar (risk or actuarial) position

**Duties and Responsibilities**

Operational delivery
- Underwriting risk profile intelligence: Identify, track and report on the key risks affecting the company’s underwriting risk profile.

− Lead team and/or work with suitable industry experts (such as consultants, academics, NGOs, international counterparts, etc) to perform research and analysis to identify economic, political, socio-economic, legal and other risk metrics.

− Maintain a database of events that may/do give rise to claims under the company’s defined perils. This includes working with other departments (such as underwriting and claims) as well as suitable external parties (eg SAPS, NGO’s, social media companies) to develop intelligence to identify and profile events.

− Track and report on trends in key risk metrics through the publication of weekly/monthly dashboards, internal memo’s and reports for Executive and other managers of the business

Catastrophe model: Develop, maintain and manage the company’s catastrophe model.

− Lead team and/or work with suitable industry experts (such as consultants, academics, NGOs, international counterparts, etc) to perform research and analysis (and/or work with suitable industry experts such as consultants, academics, NGOs, etc) to develop suitable catastrophe model(s), which can be used for pricing, reinsurance purchase and optimization, underwriting, strategy development, investment strategy, risk mitigation, etc.

− Determine realistic disaster scenarios (RDS) to be modelled for the purpose of determining the company’s likely catastrophe exposure.

Probable Maximum Loss (PML) studies: Develop, maintain and manage the company’s PML studies.

− Lead team and/or work with suitable industry experts (such as consultants, academics, NGOs, international counterparts, etc) to perform PML studies for the purpose of the company’s reinsurance and capital optimization strategies.

− Provide a report on the PML study use by internal (actuarial, underwriting, reinsurance, etc) and external stakeholders (reinsurance broker, reinsurers, regulator, etc).

− Ensure appropriate documentation is kept for internal needs as well as those of external stakeholders (external auditors, actuarial control function and regulators).

Risk Mitigation

− Work with stakeholders in the company, including Underwriting, Claims and SMD, to identify “hot-spots” for the company’s underwriting risk exposure and to develop practical risk mitigation strategies to reduce the incidence of loss events and/or minimize severity from loss events.

− Examples include the identification of high-risk transit routes along the SA road network; locations within the country that consistently “flare up” following specified events (eg local government elections, university/school registration, etc).

Risk Analytics

− Assist the broader business with reports and analytics, as may be required from time to time.

− Examples may include the development of models to validate claims against a register of potential loss events, identification of multi-claimants, fraud analytics, etc.

Data Collection and Management
- Work closely with IT and BCT to ensure that suitable technological and data management solutions are in place tom support the company’s current and future data and analytics needs.

Business focused and collaboration
- Contribute to the successful achievement of the company’s vision, strategy and business plan, by assisting with the resolution of problems that pose a threat to the Company of not achieving its vision, strategy and business plan.

Strategic Involvement
- Contribute to the creation the company’s long term strategy and short term business plan.
- Shaping the company’s risk culture by ‘setting the tone from the top’ not only through words but actions and reinforcing commitment.

People focus
- Managing own career by being accountable