Senior Project Manager – Life Insurance Technology Delivery

Introduction

An exciting opportunity exists for an experienced Senior Project Manager – Insurance Delivery to lead complex, enterprise-scale digital transformation and technology programmes within the Insurance sector.

This is a specialist insurance technology delivery role requiring a strong combination of Senior Project Management expertise and deep Insurance domain knowledge, with strong Life Insurance experience essential.

The successful candidate will manage the complete project lifecycle from discovery and solution mapping through implementation, testing, deployment and production stabilisation, while ensuring strong governance, customer satisfaction and successful business outcomes.

This role is based in Johannesburg.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end delivery of multiple Insurance technology programmes, ensuring delivery on time, within budget, scope and agreed quality standards.
• Take ownership of project planning, execution, monitoring, financial management, risk mitigation and customer acceptance.
• Manage complex, multi-stream implementations across both business and technology teams.
• Establish and maintain robust project governance including:
  • Detailed project plans
  • RAID management
  • Status reporting
  • Steering Committee reporting
  • Executive dashboards
  • Change control
• Manage project financials including budgets, forecasting, effort tracking, resource utilisation and profitability.
• Select and apply appropriate delivery methodologies including Agile, Scrum, Waterfall, Hybrid and iterative delivery.
• Lead Insurance technology implementations involving areas such as:
  • Policy Administration
  • Underwriting
  • Claims Management
  • Insurance Product Configuration
  • Business rules and workflow automation
  • APIs and system integrations
  • Digital customer journeys
• Work closely with Solution Architects, Business Analysts, Product Owners, Developers, QA Engineers, DevOps Engineers and implementation partners.
• Lead SIT, UAT, production readiness, deployment planning and post-implementation/hyper-care activities.
• Act as the primary delivery contact for senior customer stakeholders and executives.
• Lead Steering Committees, Executive Reviews and Project Status Reviews.
• Proactively manage risks, assumptions, issues, dependencies, escalations and competing priorities.
• Ensure solutions meet business, technical, regulatory and operational requirements.
• Drive continuous improvement and lessons learned across delivery engagements.

Desired Experience & Qualifications

• 8–12+ years' Project or Programme Management experience delivering complex enterprise software and technology solutions.
• Minimum 5 years' experience specifically delivering Insurance Technology projects – essential.
• Strong Life Insurance experience – essential.
• Demonstrable experience delivering technology solutions involving Policy Administration, Underwriting, Claims Management and/or Product Configuration.
• Proven track record managing complex, multi-stream implementation programmes across business and technology teams.
• Strong experience in project planning, governance, financial management, RAID management, executive reporting and Steering Committees.
• Experience managing projects through discovery, implementation, SIT/UAT, deployment and production stabilisation.
• Strong senior stakeholder and customer relationship management capability.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary technology delivery teams.
• Strong knowledge of Agile, Scrum, Waterfall and/or Hybrid delivery methodologies.

Technical Knowledge

Working knowledge of:

• APIs and Microservices
• System Integration
• Cloud Platforms
• Digital Transformation
• Workflow Automation
• Low-Code platforms
• Enterprise Architecture

Advantageous

• PMP®, PRINCE2®, PMI-ACP®, Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and/or SAFe® certification.
• Experience with Low-Code/No-Code platforms.
• Experience with AI-enabled platforms, intelligent automation or workflow orchestration.
• Experience working with Insurance carriers, TPAs or InsurTech organisations.
• Experience managing geographically distributed/onshore and offshore delivery teams.

Essential Requirements – Please Read Before Applying

To be considered, candidates must demonstrate ALL of the following:

• 8+ years' Project/Programme Management experience.
• Minimum 5 years delivering Insurance Technology projects.
• Strong Life Insurance domain experience.
• Proven delivery of complex enterprise technology/software implementations.
• Strong formal Project Management governance, including planning, RAID, budgets, reporting, risk, change control and Steering Committees.
• Experience working across business and technology teams.
• Understanding of core Insurance processes/systems such as Policy Administration, Underwriting, Claims and Product Configuration.
• Johannesburg-based or able to work in Johannesburg as required.

Please do not apply if your experience is predominantly banking, general financial services, insurance sales/operations, or general Project Management without substantial hands-on Insurance Technology delivery experience.