Sandton: Underwriting Assessor

About the Role

The Underwriting Assessor plays a critical role in assessing and finalising life insurance applications using Dis-Chem Life’s underwriting rules, risk philosophy, and digital tools. This individual is trusted to apply judgement and precision to every case, interacting directly with intermediaries, reinsurers, and internal teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Underwriting Risk Assessment: Independently assess and finalise life insurance applications in line with Dis-Chem Life’s underwriting policies and delegated authority limits.
• Evaluate all core risk components including medical disclosures, financial standing, occupational and territorial risk, lifestyle indicators, and insurability history.
• Apply appropriate underwriting loadings, exclusions, postponements, or declines in line with underwriting guidelines and reinsurer mandates.
• Maintain high standards of accuracy, clarity, and auditability in all case decisions and notes.

• Operational Excellence: Finalise underwriting decisions within defined service level agreements Accurately update internal systems, load decisions, and apply underwriting codes where applicable. Monitor and manage your own work queue in accordance with turnaround standards, complexity, and escalation procedures.
• Support audit readiness and participate in quality assurance reviews or calibration sessions. Maintain accurate records for internal quality checks and external audits.

• Stakeholder Support & Escalation Handling: Provide support to the Sales, Broker, QA, and Admin teams by responding to underwriting queries. Participate in training initiatives and present underwriting-related content to internal teams when required.
• Act as the first-line point of escalation for complex cases and policy rule interpretations.

Requirements

• Deep understanding of life underwriting principles including medical, financial, and lifestyle risk assessment.
• Proficient in underwriting across income protection, funeral, and business life cover.
• Familiar with reinsurer communication protocols and facultative referral standards.
• Comfortable navigating digital underwriting systems and working in tech-enabled environments.
• Sound knowledge of relevant legislation (FAIS, POPIA, TCF, and insurance-related compliance).

Qualifications

Matric/Grade 12 – Essential Diploma/Degree in Medical, Financial, or Insurance-related field – Advantageous FAIS-compliant or working towards RE5 – Advantageous