Journey Lead: Retail Claims

About the role

Old Mutual's Mass Foundation Cluster, a large customer-facing segment serving the low and emerging-middle income market, is looking for a Journey Lead for Retail Claims. The role supports the Journey Owner in delivering an exceptional claims experience for policyholders, beneficiaries, advisers and other third parties across digital, branch, email and call centre channels. It covers end-to-end claims process management, compliance, risk mitigation and operational excellence, and contributes to the change enablement team.

Key responsibilities

• Lead the design and implementation of customer journeys, using data and insights to find pain points and opportunities.
• Embed agile practices, champion agile ceremonies and collaborate with product, technology, operations and marketing teams.
• Build relationships with external stakeholders and cross-functional teams, acting as a liaison to resolve conflicts and dependencies.
• Ensure compliance with AML, Income Tax Act and POPI Act, and follow technical policies, SOPs and fund rules.
• Manage service delivery, case management and SLAs, conduct gap and root cause analysis, and oversee business plans and special projects.
• Maintain control libraries, log and mitigate risks, and track and resolve audit issues.
• Handle enquiries, escalations and complaints, and deliver presentations and workshops.
• Monitor MIS, generate statistical and progress reports, and plan and allocate work by skill and competency.
• Define KPIs, manage direct reports, set performance objectives, coach and develop team members.
• Identify journey risks and ensure compliance with organisational policies and regulations.

Required profile

• Matric, degree or related field (NQF Level 7).
• Minimum 5 years' experience in a leadership role focused on customer journey management, customer experience or technical operations.
• Proven track record implementing agile methodologies and leading cross-functional squads.
• Experience in stakeholder management, call centre and back-office line management in financial services, and customer service management.
• Product knowledge of retail segments (PF and MFC).
• Ability to handle escalations, manage cross-functional teams and drive process improvement.

Required skills

• PAS proficiency: Craft, Bancs, Omega.
• Workflow tools: AWD, Bizagi and EMS.
• Customer experience and service design, including journey mapping with Miro, Smaply or Lucidchart.
• Digital transformation experience, systems thinking and design thinking.
• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) or similar, and Agile or Scrum certification.