Pension-Liability Carve-Out Finance Leader

The mandate

A divestment data rehearsal found thousands of differences among HR rosters, payroll histories, trustee records and actuarial member files. Shared plans include active, deferred and retired populations whose economic and legal treatment differs, while buyer assumptions use an incomplete employee perimeter. The employee-liability finance lead resigned after the steering committee delayed the second separation gate.

The interim must join Johannesburg within two weeks and serve for sixteen months through member reconciliation, transaction decision and the first two post-transfer reporting cycles. Recruitment of a permanent employee-liability controller begins after the affected population and actuarial inputs reconcile, expected by month nine. The successor will lead a trustee evidence review and buyer true-up during six weeks of overlap.

Handover requires a person-level population bridge, payroll and contribution reconciliation, documented plan and entity assignment, adviser-owned actuarial conclusions, transaction assumption ledger and repeatable post-transfer control. Two data rehearsals and two financial closes must meet materiality. The successor inherits missing-member cases, benefit disputes, accounting sensitivities, trustee actions and buyer dependencies.

The interim may reject incomplete member data, stop a separation calculation, direct finance reconciliation, require independent reperformance and commit up to ZAR 210 million within the authorised separation budget. Trustees, actuaries, counsel and tax advisers retain their formal conclusions; directors approve transaction and funding choices. The seat cannot amend benefits or settle an individual claim.

Plan design, collective bargaining, legal transfer interpretation, actuarial opinion, investment strategy and non-pension employee matters are outside the mandate. Scope is financial evidence, member and payroll control, transaction modelling, adviser coordination, buyer readiness and succession. It must not replace trustee or fiduciary governance because their data enters the financial case.

Why this seat is open

The failed rehearsal threatened transaction timetable and employee confidence, followed by leadership departure. HR, payroll, trustees and actuaries each hold a valid but incomplete population record. Temporary financial-control authority is needed to reconcile the perimeter and operate it through transfer without appropriating specialist decisions.

What you will own

• Reconcile active, deferred and retired populations across HR, payroll, trustee, administrator and actuarial records.
• Trace salary, service, contribution, benefit and legal-entity attributes to source with documented exception ownership.
• Build transaction bridges for retained, transferred, shared and uncertain liabilities using adviser-confirmed treatments.
• Govern data corrections, cut-off, member movement, duplicate identities and late claims through controlled evidence.
• Connect actuarial assumptions to accounting, funding, purchase-price and buyer scenarios without issuing an opinion.
• Run data rehearsals, post-transfer closes and buyer true-ups with signed materiality and unresolved-item logs.
• Transfer population files, controls, adviser conclusions, disputes and reporting calendars through successor-led reviews.

Candidate qualifications

• Held executive finance authority for pension or employee-liability separation in a complex cross-border divestment.
• Reconciled person-level HR, payroll, trustee and actuarial records across active, deferred and retired populations.
• Converted specialist actuarial and legal conclusions into transaction and accounting models without assuming their roles.
• Managed member-data sensitivity, missing records and disputed benefits under buyer and employee scrutiny.
• Operated post-transfer control through financial close, true-up and unresolved-liability management.
• Handed employee-liability finance to permanent leadership after trustee, buyer and reporting cycles.

Non-negotiables

• Can begin in Johannesburg within two weeks and travel monthly for plan, trustee and buyer reviews.
• Will accept exclusive executive accountability for member-data and financial evidence through the carve-out.
• Brings pension-liability separation through live transfer; general benefits finance or actuarial support is insufficient.
• Must disclose relationships with trustees, administrators, actuaries, unions, seller, buyer and transaction advisers.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe a pension carve-out where person-level reconciliation changed the transaction liability materially.
2. 49 words maximum. Which conclusion must remain with actuaries or trustees rather than separation finance?
3. 49 words maximum. State your Johannesburg availability and the largest member population you directly reconciled.