Pretoria North: Head of Model Development posted by Network Finance

About the Role

Network Finance is seeking a seasoned professional to lead our model development efforts, providing expert input into actuarial methodology and supporting key financial and risk management processes across the business. As Head of Model Development, you will play a critical leadership role in shaping model development standards and influencing strategic decision-making.

Key Responsibilities

• Act as the actuarial modelling subject matter expert, with extensive use of Prophet (conventional, unitlinked, and summary libraries).
• Ensure accurate calculation of key financial metrics, including:
• IFRS 17 (fulfilment cash flows, risk adjustment, contractual service margin)
• Embedded Value (ANW, PVFP, cost of capital)
• SAM (technical provisions and life nonmarket risk SCRs)
• Manage relationships with third-party Prophet software providers, including:
• Attending vendor meetings
• Validating cloud usage and billing
• Optimising Prophet licence allocation and ownership
• Acting as the first point of contact for internal Prophet-related queries
• Provide analytics and financial reporting support, including:
• Analysis of surplus, embedded value, and basic own funds
• Preparation of management information for executive and committee reporting
• Perform first-line quality assurance, ensuring accuracy of model outputs and maintaining a strong control environment.
• Oversee model governance, ensuring comprehensive documentation and appropriate signoff for model changes.
• Support talent development, with potential people-management responsibility for 1–2 direct reports.

Minimum Requirements

• Qualified Actuary (all exams passed) and registered as a Fellow.
• Advanced Prophet expertise is essential.
• Strong analytical capability with the ability to translate complex outputs into meaningful insights.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.

Why Join

This role offers the opportunity to play a critical leadership role within a technically sophisticated actuarial environment, influencing strategic decision-making and shaping model development standards.