The Kenya National Examinations Council Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme 2011 (KNEC SRBS) is recruiting a Pension Manager, Grade KNEC SRBS 2011 Grade 1, based at New Mitihani House, South C. The official advertisement gives the reference KNEC/SRBS/GEN/2026/AUG/124 and states that the position is a full-time, five-year contract renewable subject to performance. Applications close on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. 1
This is a senior pension-fund leadership role. The advertisement describes KNEC SRBS as a defined-contribution scheme managed by trustees under its trust deed and rules, the Retirement Benefits Authority Act, and related regulations. The Pension Manager is expected to translate the Board of Trustees’ vision, strategic plan, policies, and resolutions into sound operational practice. 2
The work goes beyond administration
The official PDF groups the responsibilities into several connected areas. First is strategic leadership, governance, and Board support. The manager advises and supports the Trustees in fulfilling fiduciary, governance, and statutory responsibilities; coordinates Board meetings and trustee development; supports evaluations and governance reviews; and follows up implementation of Board decisions.
The second area is fund management and investment oversight. The role is expected to drive growth of scheme assets, income streams, and retirement products in line with strategy; oversee budgets, financial management, resource allocation, and cost control; and monitor the performance of investments, properties, fund managers, custodians, and other service providers. 2
Member service is another central responsibility. The manager oversees quality pension administration and timely processing of member benefits, develops member education and retirement-planning programmes, and maintains relationships with members, sponsors, retirees, beneficiaries, regulators, and other stakeholders. Applicants should be able to explain how they have improved member communication, service delivery, or stakeholder confidence without exposing personal financial information.
The role also includes risk management, compliance, internal controls, digital transformation, process automation, business-process improvement, recruitment, performance management, training, succession planning, and continuing professional development. A candidate who has managed only one narrow pension process should not imply experience across all these areas. The CV should distinguish direct responsibility from committee, advisory, or support exposure.
Official qualifications and experience
| Requirement | Detail in the official advertisement |
|---|---|
| Education | Bachelor’s degree in Business Management, Actuarial Science or relevant field |
| Advantage | Master’s degree |
| Experience | Ten years’ post-qualification experience, including five at senior-management level in the pension sector |
| Professional standing | Professional qualification and membership of the relevant professional body |
| Leadership | Leadership training of at least four weeks |
| Technical knowledge | Accounting, investment management, fund management, and Kenyan pension laws and regulations |
| Registration | Registered with the Retirement Benefits Authority as a Scheme Administrator |
| Term | Five-year full-time contract, renewable subject to performance |
The experience threshold should be read literally. Ten years of general finance work does not automatically equal ten years in pension-sector management. Applicants should identify the schemes, funds, investments, administrators, trustees, service providers, teams, and regulatory responsibilities handled. The official PDF also refers to experience managing a financial portfolio similar in scale and complexity to the Maseno University Retirement Benefits Scheme, so candidates should describe portfolio governance and stakeholder complexity where relevant without making unsupported comparisons.
A senior-level CV structure
A Pension Manager application should make governance and fund-management evidence easy to audit. Begin with a short profile that states the years of post-qualification experience, senior-management period, pension-sector scope, and RBA status. Follow with selected achievements in investment oversight, member service, benefit administration, trustee support, compliance, risk, and digital or process improvement. Then provide a clear employment chronology and professional memberships.
Avoid treating the job as a standard accounts position. The official responsibilities extend to trustees, members, retirees, regulators, fund managers, custodians, properties, service providers, staff development, and strategic planning. Use accurate examples of decisions made, controls strengthened, service improved, or risks escalated. Do not publish member names, account information, benefit values, or confidential investment data in a CV or portfolio.
A pension-sector professional can make the application more useful by separating three kinds of evidence: technical competence, governance judgment, and service quality. Technical competence may involve investments, accounting, administration, or compliance. Governance judgment may involve advising trustees, managing conflicts, escalating risk, or evaluating service providers. Service quality may involve benefit processing, member education, complaints handling, or clearer reporting. Showing all three gives the panel a more complete picture than a list of fund-management keywords.
Applicants should also be ready to explain how they measure performance. Appropriate examples might include timeliness, control completion, service-level monitoring, quality of member communication, audit follow-up, or the reliability of management information. Do not invent percentages or savings merely to make an achievement sound impressive. A verifiable process improvement is stronger than an unsupported numerical claim.
A concise opening profile can connect those examples to the scheme’s members, trustees, and service providers. It should show the applicant’s level of responsibility without revealing protected data.
Application instructions
Applicants must submit two hard copies of the application and a single continuous PDF by email to knecsrbs@knec.ac.ke on or before 8 September 2026. The official notice requires an updated CV showing the applicant’s current position and salary, the names, addresses, and contacts of three referees, academic and professional certificates, testimonials, and other supporting documents. The email subject should read “Pension Manager Application.” 2
Hard-copy applications should be addressed to the Chairman, Board of Trustees, KNEC Staff Retirement Benefits Scheme 2011, Pension Office, Ground Floor, New Mitihani House, Off Mombasa Road, South C, P.O. Box 73598–00200, Nairobi.
Scam warning: Do not pay for an application, interview, pension registration, training, or appointment. Send documents only through the instructions on the official KNEC notice and do not share unnecessary personal or financial information with unofficial contacts.
Publisher disclosure: JobScholarship.com is an informational publisher, not KNEC SRBS and not a recruitment agent. The official KNEC page and PDF are the final authority if any detail changes.