FNB is seeking a visionary Chief Operating Officer (COO) to spearhead operational excellence within its Insurance division in Johannesburg. This high-impact leadership role requires a candidate who can bridge the gap between high-level business strategy and practical, day-to-day execution. As the Insurance sector at FNB navigates a complex digital transformation, the successful appointee will play a pivotal role in ensuring that internal investments translate into measurable growth, efficiency, and superior customer outcomes.

About the role

The incoming COO will be tasked with orchestrating a cohesive operating model that spans the group’s Life and Short-Term Insurance capabilities. This position is not merely administrative; it is a strategic function designed to integrate various business units—including Technology, Finance, and the Project Management Office (PMO)—into a single, unified ecosystem. The core objective is to ensure that the organisation’s resources are allocated effectively, prioritising initiatives that deliver the highest value while maintaining strict adherence to regulatory standards and quality systems.

A major focus of this role is the transition from legacy policy-administration environments to a modern, internally owned insurance platform. You will be expected to guide this migration, ensuring that the shift happens without disrupting current service levels or compromising the customer experience.

You will be expected to drive performance across several critical business dimensions:

• **Capability Stewardship:** Define and maintain the enterprise-wide Insurance operating model, chairing Capability Councils to ensure business leaders take ownership of their respective domains.
• **Strategic Portfolio Management:** Oversee the prioritisation of business investments, evaluating proposals based on their impact on customers, operational capacity, and fiscal affordability.
• **Process Engineering:** Lead efforts to redesign complex operational journeys, removing manual bottlenecks and fragmentation to streamline end-to-end efficiency.
• **Data and AI Integration:** Partner with the CIO to drive the insurance data and AI agenda, ensuring that technological investments result in tangible, data-driven business outcomes.
• **Benefits Realisation:** Partner with the Finance team to establish baselines and hold stakeholders accountable for the genuine value delivered by projects, rather than just the completion of project milestones.
• **Vendor Governance:** Oversee critical operational partnerships, managing risks and ensuring that vendor performance aligns with the broader institutional roadmap.

What they're looking for

The role calls for a seasoned executive with the gravitas to influence board-level decisions and the technical acumen to oversee complex operational transitions.

• **Educational Background:** A Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Finance, Business Management, Engineering, or Actuarial Science is the minimum requirement. An MBA or Master’s degree in a relevant field is highly preferred.
• **Professional Experience:** You must possess at least 15 years of experience within operations or senior management, specifically within the financial services sector. At least 4 to 5 years must be in a senior executive capacity.
• **Strategic Capability:** Demonstrated ability to manage multi-faceted portfolios, navigate large-scale technology transformations, and lead cross-functional teams in a fast-paced environment.
• **Analytical Rigour:** A proven track record of using financial and operational metrics to drive organisational change and improve cost-to-income ratios.

For professionals in the South African banking and insurance space, a COO position of this magnitude at a Tier-1 institution like FNB typically attracts a highly competitive total-cost-to-company (TCTC) package, often supplemented by long-term incentives and performance-based bonuses. Success in this role offers a clear trajectory toward broader executive leadership or CEO-level responsibilities within the financial services sector, given the scale and visibility of the insurance ecosystem within the FirstRand Group.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualification

• Bachelor's Degree in Commerce, Business Management, Operations Management, Finance, Actuarial Science, Engineering or a related field.

Preferred Qualification

• Master's Degree in Commerce (MCom), Business Administration (MBA), Finance, Operations Management, or a related discipline.

Experience

• 15+  years' experience in Operations, Business Management, Financial Services, or a related environment.
• 4 to 5 years' experience in a senior leadership or functional leadership role with accountability for large-scale operational delivery.
• Demonstrated delivery through peers and partners you did not manage directly: influence across executives who own P&Ls and engineering teams.
• Experience leading an operating-model redesign or a major core-system or platform transition in a complex, regulated organisation.
• Experience shaping strategic vendor relationships, including transition or exit.
• Advantageous: insurance or bancassurance experience, and working knowledge of the regulatory frame (SAM, IFRS 17 and Prudential Authority expectations, including on material outsourcing).

What Sets You Apart

• Orchestration and influence. You get results across peers and functions through clarity, credibility and well-designed governance.
• Commercial and benefits rigour. You define value before money is spent and measure it honestly afterwards.
• Architectural literacy. You are fluent in technology and target-state architecture without needing to be the technologist.
• Process engineering. You see how work actually flows and how to redesign it end to end.
• Data and AI judgement. You can tell high-value use cases from interesting ones, and know what it takes to put them into production.
• Discipline to stay lean. You build capability in others rather than headcount around yourself.

Key Competencies

• Strategic Thinking
• Operational Excellence
• Commercial Acumen
• Financial Management
• Change Leadership
• Stakeholder Management
• Governance & Risk Management
• Customer Centricity
• Innovation & Digital Transformation
• People Leadership
• Decision Making
• Results Orientation

You Will Have Access To:

• Opportunities to shape and influence business strategy.
• A collaborative and high-performing leadership environment.
• Meaningful work that impacts customers, employees, and business performance.
• Ongoing opportunities for growth, development, and leadership advancement.

Why This Role Is Different

• Shape the operating model of what we intend to be South Africa's definitive bancassurer.
• Lead a once-in-a-generation move to a modern, AI-native insurance platform.
• Work with data, distribution and customer relationships across the FirstRand ecosystem that no standalone insurer can match.
• Sit on the Insurance Exco with direct influence on strategy, investment and the shape of the business.

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Important Closing Date Note

Take note that applications will not be accepted on the below date and onwards, kindly submit applications ahead of the closing date indicated below.