Pretoria: Principal Executive Officer: Retirement Fund Sector posted by Fempower Personnel

About the Role

A large, highly complex national retirement fund, serving hundreds of thousands of members and managing multi-billion-rand assets, is seeking an exceptional leader to take up the role of Principal Executive Officer (PEO). The organisation requires a leader with unquestionable integrity, resilience, and the capability to steer a maturing institution through transformation, governance strengthening, and strategic repositioning.

Key Responsibilities

• Drive a robust governance framework including policies, delegations, and board processes.
• Ensure full compliance with relevant legislation and regulatory directives.
• Oversee risk management, including the identification, monitoring, and remediation of key risks.
• Support and develop Trustees through targeted training and governance oversight.
• Execute Board resolutions and ensure integrated reporting across committees.
• Oversee and manage performance of all key service providers (administrators, actuaries, auditors, investment and legal advisors, communication partners, etc.).
• Lead, mentor, and build the internal team.
• Guide organisational restructuring and change management.
• Represent the Fund in dealings with regulators, bargaining councils, unions, employers, and industry bodies.
• Maintain strong communication channels with all external and internal stakeholders.
• Ensure adherence to investment mandates, policies, and regulatory frameworks.
• Provide reporting support to the Boards’ investment committees.
• Ensure accurate and transparent reporting to members.

Requirements

• Relevant Bachelor’s degree; postgraduate qualification strongly preferred (LLB/LLM, CA(SA), MBA, Governance/Compliance).
• Minimum 10 years senior-level experience in retirement funds, financial services or employee benefits.
• Proven experience working with large, complex funds and navigating regulatory and governance frameworks.
• Fit-and-proper compliant, with no conflicts of interest.
• Board-facing experience, with proven ability to influence at executive and governance levels.

Qualifications

• Completed Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field (if not mentioned in original, SKIP this entire section)

Person Specifications

• Unquestionable integrity and independence.
• Strong judgement, resilience, and emotional intelligence (mind of steel).
• Exceptional communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Strategic thinker with the ability to make firm decisions in challenging environments.
• Ability to hold teams and service providers accountable.