Job Summary

While directly reporting to the L&H Head of Strategy and Innovation and by closely collaborating the role holder will directly contribute to the support of the L&H Leadership Team to ensure that SCOR L&H’s strategy is thoroughly developed, that SCOR L&H’s competitive and market environment is monitored closely, and that there is a good cooperation with the other key areas of SCOR which are fundamental for the success of all these initiatives. 

The roleholder will also work closely with the L&H Leadership Team to identify areas requiring strengthening across our geographic markets. This will require 1. Developing and maintaining a deep understanding of market trends and our competitive positioning across markets; 2. Performing gap analyses and recommending strategic adjustments; and 3. Supporting the execution of strategic initiatives to deliver these adjustments.

Key duties and responsibilities

The overall missions of the Senior Strategy Officer are to directly contribute in:

• Developing and Controlling our Global Strategy:
  • Supporting our L&H Leadership Team to develop a joined-up deliberate strategy that reflects and reconciles top-down ambitions and guidance with bottom-up perspectives and capabilities.
  • Formalising our strategic ambitions into short- and long-term roadmaps and detailed plans, including significant technical components involving finance colleagues. 
  • Ensuring timely reporting, recognising the need to avoid information overload and diluting colleagues’ attention from their day-to-day responsibilities. 
  • Driving follow-up activities and, where necessary, supporting colleagues to deliver urgent-important actions, including those related to emergent strategic opportunities.
• Scanning our Competitive Environment: 
  • Scanning the macro-environment and the (re)insurance industry (competitors and clients)
  • Critically analysing what this information might mean for SCOR,
  • Presenting views on what strategic adjustments might be required. 
• Communicating to our Internal and External Audiences: 
  • Crafting compelling narratives that will engage senior internal (e.g., Group Executive Committee and the Board of Directors) and external (e.g., rating agencies, investors) stakeholders.  These communications will be informed by our strategic ambitions and progress and anchored in our financial and operational performance across a wide variety of dimensions. 
  • Linking to our finance colleagues to ensure that financial communications meet the requirements of key external audiences, including rating agencies and investors; therefore, you will be comfortable with financial reporting terminology and standards.
• Leading Strategic Initiatives: 
  • Transforming our strategic ambitions into tactical plans of action while using blend of waterfall and agile project management techniques as well as collaborative, cross-functional input and coordination.
  • Crafting and directing a balanced portfolio of strategic initiatives. 

Required experience & competencies

• You have relevant professional experience in implementing and executing a diverse array of strategy and planning services, preferably in a global environment. Aptitude for working with data/statistics. 
• Domain Experience: You have deep knowledge of the insurance industry with a number of years’ experience working in strategy or related functions of financial institutions, consulting firms, and/or (re)insurance firms.  You will be comfortable with finance topics.  You might have experience of contributing to the assessment of potential M&A opportunities for L&H topics.
• Superior Analytical Skills: Your experience includes conducting complex analyses to generate actionable insights that will be used for strategic decision making processes and tactical action plans.  This involves engaging with senior executives from a variety of functions such as finance, actuarial, risk management, underwriting, data analytics, and IT.
• Successful Project Delivery: You have led complex, cross-functional projects using best practice waterfall and agile project management techniques.  This includes the transformation of high-level strategic ambitions into detailed project plans, and possibly operational responsibility for realizing projects’ expected benefits.

Personal competencies

• Communicate Complexity: You can consume and synthesise structured and unstructured information and concisely communicate actionable observations to internal and external audiences.  These communications include powerpoint decks, memos, and verbal presentations. 
• Empathetic Networker: Your experience includes developing networks with staff at all levels of an organisation, including the ability to recognise and navigate cross-cultural dimensions. This is supplemented with a demonstrated ability of building relationships with external stakeholders.  
• “Can do” attitude and ability to fit with SCOR’s culture: You will often work on new challenges, requiring an ability to be practical, resourceful, and alternate your team roles - sometimes leader, sometimes follower - to deliver results.  You are a positive, proactive, constructive, supportive, and curious team player.

Required Education 

A higher education diploma in Management, Finance, Actuarial sciences, Strategy, and/or equivalent discipline/related field.