Head of Tied Distribution | Sandton

Are you a seasoned professional in the financial industry with a proven track record of leading and developing high-performing teams? Our prestigious client, a prominent player in the financial services sector, is seeking a dynamic individual to join them as the Head of Tied Distribution. You will be responsible for the Advisory distribution channel strategy across the Group for Tied distribution. Oversee strategies and ensure the implementation for significant growth in the business through building and implementing a digitally enabled Advisory model and digitally disrupting the market.

Responsibilities:

1. Leadership and Direction: Set and communicate the strategy for achieving the organisation’s mission, vision and values within a function, together with the broad actions needed to implement it; inspire a large or diverse workforce to commit to these and to doing extraordinary things to achieve the organisation’s business goals. Oversee the implementation of the Advisory model operations across the Tied Distribution strategy and business plan; explain the relationship to the broader organisation’s mission, vision and values; motivate people to commit to these and to doing extraordinary things to achieve local business goals.
2. Digital Strategy/Transformational Projects Execution: Oversee the execution of digital road map for the Advisory model, establishing and managing business processes, programs, and projects, resource allocation, KPIs, and governance activities.
3. Functional Strategy Formation & Implementation: Develop the strategy for the Tied Distribution function, anticipating mega-trends and complex challenges and opportunities. Ensure the strategy is successfully implemented and meets long-term business needs.
4. Distribution: Lead development and successful implementation and monitoring of the digitally enabled Advisory processes, procedures and models for intermediated sales operations.
5. Sales (Manager): Oversee the implementation of the Advisory Sales strategy. Sell complex, often customised products and services to significant customers and/or manage a significant sales department.
6. Business Planning: Lead the development and ensure alignment of annual and longer-term business plans for the function, ensuring alignment with strategy; quantify business outcomes (i.e. revenues or other key performance indicators) and resource budgets (financial and headcount); and develop business cases for key strategic objectives, ensuring cross-functional integration.
7. Stakeholder Engagement (Internal and External): Identify and manage stakeholders up to C-suite level, finding out their needs/ issues/concerns and reacting to these by leading and coordinating the development of stakeholder engagement plans to support the communication of business information and decisions.
8. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Data: Ensure that the internal function and/or cross-functional, customer account team maintains high-quality customer information; monitor and review information quality to ensure that it is fit for purpose. Provide user input to the development or improvement of the customer relationship management system to ensure that it meets immediate and longer-term business needs.
9. Sell Customer Propositions: Lead a cross-functional internal team to configure a complex tailored or bespoke product and services solution and associated contractual terms that meet the customer’s mid- to long-term needs at key operating unit level. Negotiate agreement with the customer and internally with commercial colleagues to ensure that customer requirements are met at an acceptable level of profitability and cash flow. OR Review and authorise complex sales proposals from team members that deviate from standard terms.
10. Organisational Capability Building: Identify the capabilities needed to meet the current and emerging business needs of a significant business area. Evaluate current capabilities, identify gaps, and prioritise development activities. Motivate others to develop their capabilities and fulfill their personal potential. Build capabilities elsewhere in the organisation through mentoring and other informal methods.
11. Compliance: Help develop compliance policies for an area of the organisation, while also developing underlying procedures and monitoring their implementation.
12. Performance Management: Manage and report on business performance; hold direct reports accountable for achievement of business plans, and take corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of business objectives, balancing the need to deliver short term business objectives with the longer term delivery of stakeholder value.
13. Personal Capability Building: Act as subject matter expert in an area of technology, policy, regulation, or operational management for the team and beyond in the function. Maintain external accreditations and in-depth understanding of current and emerging technologies, external regulation, and industry best practices through continuing professional development, attending conferences, and reading specialist media.

Behavioral Competencies:

1. Strategic Mindset: Sees ahead to future possibilities and translates them into breakthrough strategies. For example, keeps business strategies up to date to address evolving dynamics in the market and organization. Leverages key differentiators in the market. Aligns the strategies of different business units to address long- term opportunities.
2. Business Insight: Applies knowledge of business and the marketplace to advance the organization’s goals. For example, finds creative, industry-leading responses to changing market dynamics and new business information. Has incisive business insight; foresees emerging policies and external changes.
3. Cultivates Innovation: Creates new and better ways for the organization to be successful. For example, allocates resources to build a solid innovation portfolio and take advantage of new opportunities. Fosters a climate that supports and rewards creativity and innovation; removes obstacles to creativity.
4. Drives Results: Consistently achieves results, even under tough circumstances. For example, urges the organization to focus on the topics that matter to business performance. Eliminates barriers to organizational performance. Provides reinforcement and support to help people overcome obstacles.
5. Plans and Aligns: Plans and prioritizes work to meet commitments aligned with organizational goals. For example, takes steps to coordinate and align plans across workgroups; supports strategic objectives with aggressive yet realistic time frames; shares some critical objectives to help with prioritizing and planning.
6. Manages Complexity: Makes sense of complex, high quantity, and sometimes contradictory information to effectively solve problems. For example, sees the systematic elements of issues’ the major connections, linkages, and interdependencies. Ensures the organization has reliable ways to gather needed information.
7. Collaborates: Builds partnerships and works collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives. For example, promotes a culture of collaboration across boundaries, where people can express themselves honestly; addresses major barriers to collaboration. Seeks out a broad range of perspectives to address issues.
8. Builds Effective Teams: Builds strong-identity teams that apply their diverse skills and perspectives to achieve common goals. For example, builds a leadership team that advances organizational strategies. Enables cross-functional teamwork; builds team spirit across the organization. Models teamwork; partners well with a wide range of leaders.
9. Communicates Effectively: Develops and delivers multi-mode communications that convey a clear understanding of the unique needs of different audiences. For example, ensures a free flow of information throughout the organization. Delivers messages effectively to all levels of the organization; creates forums for people to express themselves openly and regularly.
10. Customer Focus: Builds strong customer relationships and delivers customer-centric solutions. For example, supports efforts to build customer satisfaction, loyalty, and commitment, and secures organizational resources to do so. Creates partnerships with customers; identifies some ways to build and strengthen these relationships.
11. Interpersonal Savvy: Relates openly and comfortably with diverse groups of people. For example, takes steps to ensure healthy interpersonal and group dynamics inside and outside the organization. Builds relationships with key people in the community. Exercises diplomacy in representing the organization externally.
12. Financial Acumen: Interprets and applies key financial indicators to make better business decisions. For example, takes anticipated returns and risks into account when determining investment decisions. Ensures that organizational performance is being measured by sound data, analyses, and insights.
13. Builds Networks: Effectively builds formal and informal relationship networks inside and outside the organization. For example, connects people with one another in ways that help advance the organization’s goals. Has a presence in the wider industry and across various boundaries; is active in the conversations that shape the landscape.
14. Being Resilient: Rebounds from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations. For example, exhibits great composure during crisis situations and helps foster resilience and determination throughout the organization. Is a role model for dealing with hardships, and helps the organization learn and grow from the experiences.

Skills:

1. Commercial Acumen: Apply comprehensive understanding of the business environment and objectives developing solutions while providing guidance and training to others.
2. Action Planning: Use comprehensive knowledge and skills and provide guidance and training to others to develop appropriate plans or perform necessary actions based on recommendations and requirements.
3. Sales Planning and Coordination: Uses comprehensive knowledge and skills to act independently while guiding and training others on achieving the best possible returns by planning and coordinating effective Tied Agency sales campaigns and related initiatives.
4. Account/Client Management: Uses comprehensive knowledge and skills to act independently while guiding and training others on managing client accounts in a way that provides benefits both for the organisation and its clients.
5. Strategic Planning: Applies comprehensive knowledge and/or skills to independently engage in strategic planning.
6. Financial analysis: Apply comprehensive knowledge / skill, and provide guidance and training to others.
7. Presentation skills: Uses comprehensive knowledge and skills to communicate with other people independently while providing guidance and training to others on speaking in a clear, concise and compelling manner.
8. Review and Reporting: Apply comprehensive knowledge and skill and provide guidance and training to others to review and create relevant, lucid and effective reports.
9. Analytical Processes: Works independently and provides technical guidance when required on supporting research schedules using appropriate analytical processes and procedures.
10. Computer skills: Provide insight to digitization trends, providers and technology to understand what can be leveraged for the Advisory Function. Microsoft Office Suite.
11. Policy and Regulation: Provide guidance and training to others while interpreting and applying comprehensive knowledge of laws, regulations and policies in area of expertise. Legislation (FAIS, FICA), Policy terms and conditions, System knowledge, Insurance principles, Business processes, New business development, Channel distribution start up strategies, Compliance & regulatory risk management.
12. Verbal and Written Communication: Apply comprehensive knowledge and provide guidance and training to others to use clear and effective verbal and written communications skills to express ideas, request actions and formulate plans or policies.
13. Understands Customer Needs: Uses comprehensive knowledge and skills to act independently while guiding and training others to articulate the customer needs in the customer’s business language and business context. Adds value to partnerships, Articulates customer objectives, Uncovers customer Key Performance Indicators, Understands customer context.

Education:

1. Relevant Marketing or Commercial Degree / Diploma or Business Administration qualification; RE, KI and COB as required by the Financial Services Regulatory body (Essential).
2. CFP or a postgraduate qualification (Advantageous).

Experience:

1. 10 or more years’ substantial general work experience together with comprehensive job related experience with a specific focus on intermediated sales and distribution to fully competent level (Essential).
2. 5 or more years’ senior management experience in Financial Services / General Management experience in the short-term insurance industry (Essential).
3. Experience managing in a Tied Channel Distribution (Advantageous).