WFS Commercial Lead Insurance

The Commercial Lead, Insurance role is responsible for cascading the overarching WFS Insurance Product strategy and operationalizing this to propel new and existing product growth strategies (i.e., business volumes, ECM growth targets and Woolworths Sales targets) pertaining to the Woolworths Financial Services (WFS) Insurance business, with the aim of strengthening revenue yields and sustaining positive cashflows. In addition, the role is required to build and shape Insurance offerings that address both existing customers’ immediate needs and cater to other needs from an emerging customer base, to provide a compelling Customer Value Proposition (CVP). The role has elements of “run” and “grow” factors across the full value chain (Sell, Serve and Claim) of insurance that includes new product Go-To-Market development, commercial and operational optimization for both new and existing product and ensuring the execution of all regulatory and compliance elements are achieved.

Key areas of focus include:

• Strategic Contribution
  
• Revenue and Commercial Optimization
  
• Data-driven Campaign/Project Management
  
• Pricing Management
  
• Partner and Stakeholder Relationships
  
• People Management
  
• Financial Acumen
  
• Product competitive and research
  
  

Strategic Contribution

• Participate in the crafting of the Insurance strategy relevant to the Commercial business, based on an understanding of the Woolworths Financial Services (WFS) context and aligned to WFS practices.
  
• Set frameworks for the presentation of nascent product concepts to customers in a way that will reliably capture customer insights.
  
• Operationalize the product strategy for the Insurance business, positioning it as an accelerator of the established CVP, and a driver of value and revenue creation.
  
• Consider the critical shifts, touchpoints, and interdependencies between the WFS Insurance business and other WFS business areas; identify and build the requisite Insurance capabilities to leverage efficiencies between businesses and associated CVPs.
  

Revenue and Commercial Optimisation

• Identify and understand current Insurance customers’ journeys, paying close attention to key successes and challenges, to enhance the customer experience.
  
• Employ customer experience concepts and systems thinking to identify what the target-state customer journey entails and operationalize plans to progress towards it.
  
• Elevate research insights to focus the Insurance strategy on distinct customer needs, preferences, and Insurance appetite, thereby elevating the product portfolio’s value proposition to WFS’s existing and target customer bases to offer compelling and attractive offerings.
  
• Employ Cost Benefit Analysis techniques to gauge the comparative value and opportunities of pursuing various Insurance offerings.
  
• Build and manage the interactions between customers and the Insurance business to enhanced perceived value of the Insurance CVP.
  
• Create and implement operational plans to achieve the scalability requirements of the Commercial business, driving process efficiencies within Insurance which have a positive impact on the Insurance income statement.
  
• Sustain WFS’s existing customer base and build an expanded customer base through an indispensable value proposition, by enhancing the ability to accurately forecast Insurance revenue.
  
• Recommend adjustments to current and new Insurance offerings as early customer perceptions of both existing and new products shape the CVP.
  
• Quantify metrics and targets for success and leverage associated market intelligence to create tactics and value propositions that resonate with WFS customers.
  
• Assess value propositions and new Insurance offerings against WFS’s risk appetite, identifying commercial opportunities that reside within the risk threshold.
  
• Identify innovation opportunities for Insurance that offer the maximum commercial potential and the highest propensity to increase or change prescribing customer behavior.
  
• Build and implement new offerings that are aligned to the CVP and design go-to-market strategies that will nudge customers towards investing into diversified Insurance products.
  
• Leverage commercial levers, i.e., retention, sales, balance protection) to drive profitability, revenue growth and increases in customer uptake year-on year.
  

Data-driven Campaign/Project Management

• Utilize design thinking methodologies to guide the delivery of a range of Insurance projects and products, clearly articulating customer touchpoints and customer journeys.
  
• Develop and embed business analytics as a capability to deliver meaningful and valuable insights to drive strategic solutions.
  
• Identify and leverage common goals between planned initiatives. Provide guidance to the business on ensuring integration between the objectives and the coordination of timelines and impacts on other sub-functional areas in the WFS business.
  
• Manage foreseeable risks by adequately capacitating the campaign/project teams to identify risk and to drive efficient project and programme delivery.
  
• Integrate campaigns/projects across the Insurance business ("grow the business" and "change the business"), in line with capacity plans and business goals. Drive efficiencies and balance priorities.
  
• Review campaign/project plans and ensure that adequate planning and execution mechanisms are in place for communication, stakeholder engagement and monitoring of impacts.
  
• Participate in the approval of project business cases to determine the accuracy of assumptions used for the financial calculations on cost and benefit.
  
• Manage the go-to-market practices for new products as well as their evolution into revenue generating and commercially viable products.
  

Pricing Management

• Develop pricing models that accurately reflect the worth of Insurance offerings, considering the cost of their development and/or cost of leveraging Insurance products underwritten by other Third Parties, as well as any other peripheral costs (i.e., marketing of products and services).
  
• Evaluate pricing models and estimates; set policies on pricing and clarify base pricing and any discounts that may be offered to front book customers to stimulate Insurance product uptake.
  
• Consider the Insurance CVP, and shape the message being portrayed to customers on a dynamic basis, by setting prices at a particular level - ensure that the pricing models employed are consistent with the targeted customer segment.
  
• Monitor and evaluate the success of pricing frameworks, based on the uptake of Insurance offerings and other pertinent metrics.
  
• Determine the accuracy of assumptions used for the financial calculations on cost versus benefit.
  
  

Partner and Stakeholder Relationships

• Leverage strategic external partnerships to bolster capabilities in the commercialization of Insurance products (i.e., either from the Insurance market and/or with FSI Insurance partners).
  
• Manage existing strategic vendors and associated engagements (i.e., Third Parties involved in the Insurance value chain, technological/digital partners, financial institutions, and providers of Insurance products to the benefit of WFS.
  
• Lead the management and integration of Insurance into external WFS’s partners and internally across the Insurance product landscape to initiate new engagement opportunities and strengthen existing synergies.
  
• Establish relationships with key stakeholders to enable decisions regarding solutions that are practical and viable from a commercial perspective; effectively aligning the product solution to the developed strategy.
  
• Understand the systemic nature of stakeholder engagement, which recognizes the individual components as well as critical key integration points relating to products, customers, associated growth opportunities and complementary WFS sub-functional partnerships, to effectively realize both “grow” and “run” strategic ambitions.
  
  

People Management

• Lead the Team according to WFS's leadership principles and values, including employee lifecycle from recruitment through to exit, performance management, training and development, discipline and grievance management, retention, and reward and people administration, to ensure a high-performance culture.
  
• Define best practices relating to the commercialization of the Insurance business; guide the wider Insurance community as a subject matter expert to develop a common understanding across WFS.
  

Financial Acumen

• Prepare the Commercial budget as a component of the Insurance budget and manage financial performance against the budget to identify cost-saving opportunities.
  
• Maintain and apply a broad understanding of financial management principles to ensure decisions are fiscally sound and responsible.
  
• Monitor the overall performance of the Commercial business and recommend adjustments in the allocation of finances based on progress against goals.
  

Requirements

• Postgraduate Qualification (minimum Honours) in Finance.
  
• FAIS Accreditation across Life and Short-Term product categories for RE1 Rep and RE5 Key Individual are preferred
  

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• 8 - 10 years of experience working in a Financial Services organisation, with specific reference to Insurance, of which at least 3 - 5 years’ experience should be within a Senior Leadership capacity.
  
• Proven experience in scaling offerings (in an Insurance environment) to enhance revenue generation.