Quantitative Risk Analyst at Old Mutual

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Job Description

Job Profile Summary Or Purpose Of The Requested Job

Appointments will be made in line with the applicable Old Mutual Employment Equity Policy (which includes the applicable EE Plan). Preference will be given to candidates with disabilities.

An exciting opportunity exists within the Group Finance Cluster, in the Treasury and Financial Markets Division, for a Market Quant to join the team. The role is positioned within a large life insurance balance sheet and spans financial markets modelling, derivative and structured product analysis, balance sheet strategy, risk system development, and the design of team-wide tools and automation.

This is a hands-on quantitative role covering the end-to-end lifecycle of model development and implementation. Responsibilities include pricing and risk analytics, representation of instruments in production systems, and supporting the governance and operational processes required for execution.

The role offers broad exposure to multiple asset classes and stakeholders, with scope to contribute to the evolution of team processes and delivery.

Main Activities Of The Job (Description)

Instrument modelling and risk

• Model new and existing instruments in the risk system, ensuring correct pricing, cash-flow representation, attribution and sensitivity behaviour across the relevant valuation and capital bases.

• Validate model outputs against independent benchmarks; investigate and resolve discrepancies between front-office, risk and finance views.

• Maintain and extend the quantitative platform the team relies on — curve construction, sensitivities, scenarios and stress testing.

• Monitor and oversee production of risk and attribution reporting from risk system.

Strategy formulation and execution

• Be a part of the team formulating and operationalising investment, hedging and balance-sheet strategies — taking a proposal from analytical concept through to executable trade lists and ongoing monitoring.

• Quantify the impact of proposed strategies across the relevant economic, accounting and regulatory metrics, and articulate the trade-offs clearly to non-quantitative stakeholders.

• Assist with production of governance papers and supporting analysis for the committees that approve strategy.

Automation and tooling

• Identify and automate repetitive analytical and reporting processes across the team, with a bias for reproducibility and auditability.

• Build and maintain pragmatic tooling (Python, SQL, BI tools) that leverages existing platforms rather than duplicating them.

• Improve the efficiency of the team's standing analytical workflows — pricing, monitoring, attribution, scenario production.

Collaboration and delivery

• Work across a broad set of stakeholders — investments, actuarial, finance, risk and IT — to deliver against Group objectives.

• Operate effectively in a dynamic environment: surface problems early, frame them clearly and drive them to resolution.

• Contribute to a culture of technical rigour, constructive challenge and well-documented analysis.

Personal Capability Building

• Act as subject matter expert in an area of technology, policy, regulation, or operational management for the team.

• Maintain relevant external accreditations and a current understanding of evolving regulatory requirements and industry best practice.

• Build and continuously deepen capability in emerging technologies, including AI and advanced analytics, with a focus on practical application within quantitative modelling, automation, and decision support. Proactively identify opportunities to apply these tools to improve the efficiency, reproducibility, and scalability of analytical and reporting processes, and to enhance existing team workflows.

• Maintain this expertise through ongoing professional development, including engagement with specialist publications, industry forums, and leading practice.

Minimum Qualifications/Experience (Required For The Job)

• Postgraduate degree in quantitative finance, financial engineering, mathematics, statistics, actuarial science or a closely related discipline.

• Minimum 5 years' experience in a quantitative role within markets, investments, treasury, risk, ALM or a related function.

• Strong working knowledge of financial markets mathematics: curves, sensitivities and the pricing of vanilla derivatives across at least one major asset class.

• Exposure to industry risk and pricing systems (e.g. Murex, Calypso, Algorithmics, Prophet, RiskAgility, or equivalent).

Additional Qualifications/Experience (Preferred, Not A Requirement)

• Experience in a bank, asset manager, hedge fund, insurer or pension fund — quantitative skills travel; the institutional setting is secondary.

• Familiarity with regulatory or accounting frameworks such as SAM, Basel, IFRS 17 or IFRS 9.

• Knowledge of the South African rates and credit markets, including the JIBAR-to-ZARONIA transition.

• CFA, FRM, CQF, or progress toward Fellowship of an actuarial body.

• Demonstrable programming ability — Python is preferred; experience with VBA, SQL or comparable tools is expected.

Attributes: Ways of Working

• Demonstrates technical rigour and intellectual honesty; comfortable challenging assumptions, acknowledging uncertainty, and adjusting views where required.

• Applies a pragmatic approach, balancing theoretical soundness with the constraints of real-world systems, data, and delivery timelines.

• Communicates clearly in both written and verbal formats, translating technical analysis into structured, decision-ready outputs.

• Operates with a high degree of ownership and independence, taking problems from initial question through to practical, implemented solutions.

Skills

Competencies

Business Insight

Cultivates Innovation

Manages Complexity

Optimizes Work Processes

Situational Adaptability

Strategic Mindset

Education

Honours Degree (Hons): Quantitative Sciences (Required)

Closing Date

29 May 2026 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

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