Executive: Business Operations - JHB at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Description

Accountability:  Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Identify strategic role players and stakeholders and engage all stakeholders, role players and industry forums to understand changes to strategy, regulations, and markets.
• Set and communicate a long-term strategy that clearly articulates strategic targets and metrics to align the delivery of the agreed strategy against the AIC strategic objectives and targets and shareholder expectations.
• Translate the broad STI strategy to drive the alignment of and integration of strategy across the value chain.
• Set and oversee the execution of the business strategy, with enablement , strategic change and risk and governance capabilities across the business unit.
• Work closely with the CFO to manage and optimize financial performance, including budgeting, forecasting and cost control.
• Identify opportunities for improved financial outcomes.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and financial best practices.

Accountability:  Customer Primacy

• Provide business insights based on market trends, competitor offerings and global best practices as it relates to Short Term Insurance .
• Display, portray, and translate a deep understanding of market shifts and competitive positioning from a capability insights perspective and devise plans that will support prioritisation efforts.
• Build and sustain a culture that aligns with the AIC experience to deliver the target customer experience and financial performance.
• Contribute as a key ExCo member to the overall agenda internally and with external stakeholders, ensuring that the AIC agenda is appropriately managed and reported to all requisite stakeholders, in particular the STI ExCo.

Accountability: Sustainable Growth

• Influence, integrate and guide the AIC growth ambitions within the operations space.
• Through delivery and execution, perform an active role with the mandate to increase the overall contribution to AIC’s performance.
• Partner with executive bodies (Product owners and strategy functions) internally to align on strategic objectives. Translate objectives into delivery pipeline requirements to ensure appropriate insights and that adequate business ownership and buy-in are created to realise the overall strategy.

Accountability: Client-Driven Innovation and Growth

• Stay abreast of industry trends and role players and ensure that AIC is well-positioned to provide competitive and industry-leading products and services.
• Provide input into the overall AIC experience.
• Strategically influence the development of products and services that meet or exceed customer needs and expectations, creating stakeholder value.
• Build and maintain trusting relationships with key customers, clients, partners, and stakeholders.

Accountability: Operational Effectiveness

• Drive the development and tracking of tactical plans and scorecards and take corrective actions where required.
• Orchestrate the necessary process to facilitate regular strategic alignment between the various divisions .
• Drive strategic reporting requirements.
• Define AIC projects, track and manage the process, and understand trends and dynamics.
• Provide leadership in engagements with regulatory bodies and represent AIC in key industry associations and forums where applicable.
• Use insights and knowledge gained from high-level reports and analyse complex comparative information to create scenarios to direct strategic intent.
• Plan, direct and control AIC’s operations, strategic change initiatives and control environment  ensuring accountability and accurate information flow within AIC.
• Translate strategy into actionable steps for growth, implementing AIC’s goal setting and annual operations planning.
• Oversee company operations and employee productivity, building a highly inclusive culture that ensures team members can thrive and that organisational goals are met.
• Analyse internal operations and identify areas for process enhancement.
• Assist the executive team members in creating, growing, and building a world-class, industry-leading organisation.

  Accountability:  Good Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Drive the development and implementation of integrated corporate governance and compliance frameworks throughout the department.
• Influence the implementation of effective internal controls system and corporate governance in the functional area of accountability.

Accountability:  Data Monetisation

• Consider the explicit use of data and its inherent value to explore opportunities, plan and guide all decisions for execution.
• Use data to obtain a quantifiable economic benefit for the area of accountability, leveraging internal or indirect capacity to make measurable business performance improvements and inform decisions accordingly.

Accountability:  Digital Adoption

• Deliberately seek opportunities to digitise, automate and implement solutions for customer primacy, innovation, and operational effectiveness.
• Utilise resources and encourage the use of new technology (software products, apps, websites, etc.) to their fullest potential, and derive maximum value from a digital process or solution.

Accountability:  People Management

• Partner with the People & Culture team to ensure the practical and effective implementation of group standards for formal Performance Development.
• Together with line leaders, develop a learning and development strategy that will address the current and future business needs. Ensure that adequate resources are set aside to execute the identified interventions.
• Ensure the establishment and regular update of succession plans for key and high-risk roles.
• Ensure that divisional transformation objectives are incorporated and met.
• With the support from the People partner, interview and recruit direct reports.  
• Review workforce plans and reallocate resources where required.
• Approve outcomes of consistency check meetings for performance rating allocations, annual salary increases and any discretionary short-term incentives.
• Review the themes captured by any employee opinion surveys and improve the employee value proposition where possible.

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)