Executive: Strategy & Commercialisation at Absa South Africa

Job Summary

• Lead the development and execution of digital business strategies and commercialisation initiatives that drive revenue growth, market positioning, and ecosystem development.
• Champion innovation in business models, monetization approaches, and strategic partnerships to create sustainable competitive advantage through digital platforms

Job Description

KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Develop and execute digital business strategies and commercial models.
• Drive monetization strategies across digital platforms and services.
• Lead market analysis, competitive positioning, and business model innovation.
• Identify and activate new revenue streams and partnership opportunities.
• Collaborate with Digital Product teams to define commercial requirements for product development.
• Establish pricing strategies and commercial frameworks for digital offerings.
• Monitor commercial performance and optimize digital investments for ROI.
• Lead business case development for digital initiatives and platform investments.
• Embed governance and compliance in commercial digital activities.
• Foster ecosystem partnerships and strategic alliance development

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Lead the development of digital business strategies and commercial roadmaps.
• Define monetization models and revenue optimization frameworks for digital platforms.
• Establish commercial requirements and success metrics for product development initiatives.
• Align digital strategy with Business Banking's transformation goals and market opportunities.
• Translate long-term strategic objectives into aligned business plans and execution roadmaps addressing customer, product and segment needs.
• Cascade strategic goals and ensure alignment between business areas vision and functional implementation priorities, setting clear short, medium and long-term milestones.
• Develop effective partnerships to enable business performance and contribute to sector-wide influence aligned with strategic initiatives.
• Respond to emerging policy and regulatory trends by adapting operational strategy and ensuring compliance alignment.
• Coordinate business enablement efforts for Business Banking, ensuring delivery capability across systems, processes, and teams.
• Incorporate emerging policy and regulatory trends by adapting digital strategy and ensuring compliance alignment.
• Track execution progress against key strategic initiatives and intervene to correct course where needed.
• Support transformation initiatives through structured programme delivery and change management practices.
• Provide expert advice and support in operating model, strategy, and value chain formulation and delivery alignment.
• Identify practices and technologies that provide competitive advantage and enable knowledge sharing and integration of practice areas.
• Undertake analysis of management and specialist information and guide reporting tool implementation to improve decision-making quality.

Customer Primacy

• Use customer insights to shape digital offerings and commercial models.
• Ensure digital solutions enhance customer experience and value delivery.
• Interpret market and customer insights to inform operational plans and prioritise capability investments.
• Utilise customer data to improve processes and propositions, ensuring measurable customer value delivery.
• Instill customer-centric decision-making in teams, balancing experience and efficiency targets.
• Implement initiatives that improve customer engagement and retention through operational enhancements.
• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives to deliver consistent customer journeys and service quality.
• Represent the voice of the customer within leadership forums to influence service delivery priorities.
• Plan and deliver services that create a culture which aims to exceed customer expectations in all aspects of the business.
• Provide expertise in designing integrated frameworks to embed service excellence.

Sustainable Growth

• Drive adoption, usage and share of wallet matrix to ensure strong return on digital investments
• Drive revenue growth through digital monetisation and platform scalability.
• Identify and activate new digital business models and partnerships with close collaboration with relevant Business Banking stakeholders.
• Develop business area growth plans aligned to segment and enterprise priorities.
• Work with business partners to define and execute on growth strategies and operational initiatives.
• Mobilise functional teams to deliver growth targets and embed performance accountability.
• Monitor growth delivery, resolving barriers and reinforcing strategic objectives at operational levels.
• Evaluate financial and customer returns on initiatives to ensure alignment with business viability.
• Formulate and develop multi-function operating frameworks that contribute to sustainable growth through the digital roadmap.
• Formulate and develop multi-function operating frameworks that contribute to sustainable growth.

Client-Driven Innovation and Change

• Champion innovation in digital strategy and commercialisation.
• Lead agile experimentation and rapid scaling of successful initiatives.
• Monitor competitive landscape and identify opportunities to improve products, services, or operations.
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the team to enhance customer outcomes.
• Shape client experience initiatives through project ownership and delivery responsibility.
• Lead operational change, ensuring readiness, engagement, and measured impact across delivery teams.
• Influence and communicate across all levels of the business to minimise resistance to change and ensure onboarding of target audiences.
• Scan the external environment to investigate alternative delivery models and offer innovative advice for competitive advantage.
• Drive change management activities across a single value chain for optimal adoption of change.

Leading Talent

• Build and lead a team focused on digital strategy and commercial enablement.
• Promote continuous learning and innovation in digital commercial practices.
• Embed people processes and values into business routines, reinforcing a strong leadership culture.
• Develop workforce capabilities to meet business plan execution requirements and future readiness.
• Create inclusive team environments that support performance, wellbeing, and growth.
• Address escalated people issues and ensure application of performance and development processes.
• Develop future leaders through mentorship, stretch assignments, and tailored development experiences.
• Provide expertise and advice in the development and implementation of human capability and accountability frameworks across functions.
• Direct the development and implementation of human capability strategies to support people management priorities.

Operational Effectiveness

• Translate strategy into operational plans and performance metrics.
• Ensure digital initiatives are executed efficiently and deliver measurable value.
• Operationalise strategic goals into functional plans with clear deliverables, timelines, scorecards with team and individual KPIs to enable effective tracking of business and individual performance.
• Set appropriate financial and other resourcing plans to enable business performance, tracking against budgets and investments for both current and long-term strategic goals.
• Ensure integration across business units by resolving operational friction and dependencies.
• Represent the business area in operational forums and with delivery partners.
• Leverage data insights to improve operational effectiveness and customer outcomes.
• Continuously improve processes for agility, quality, and alignment with customer needs and digital tools.
• Identify problems and formulate alternate solutions to resolve value chain conflicts.
• Provide expert advice on operating model, strategy, value chain formulation, and business controls/governance frameworks.

Digital Adoption

• Promote adoption of digital platforms and tools across the business.
• Drive automation and digitisation to enhance commercial outcomes.
• Execute digital initiatives and promote adoption of technologies that improve efficiency and user experience.
• Monitor digital platform performance and ensure integration with business processes and outcomes.
• Deliberately identify opportunities to digitise, automate, and implement solutions for customer primacy, innovation, and operational effectiveness.

Data Monetisation

• Use data to identify commercial opportunities and optimise digital performance.
• Collaborate with analytics teams to drive insight-led decision-making.
• Apply data insights to support business planning and decision-making in the business area.
• Develop mechanisms to ensure data is collected, validated, and used to drive performance improvement.
• Oversee the explicit use of data and its inherent value to explore opportunities and guide decisions.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Ensure compliance with digital governance, risk, and regulatory frameworks.
• Monitor and mitigate risks associated with digital commercialisation.
• Implement governance, risk, and compliance frameworks in business processes and team routines.
• Promote risk awareness and lead the response to regulatory changes and emerging issues.
• Support audit readiness and ensure operational teams adhere to compliance requirements.
• Define and consolidate the risk profile for the business unit, manage critical risks, and ensure resolution feedback to stakeholders.
• Enable the development and implementation of integrated corporate governance frameworks in areas of specialisation.
• Influence the implementation of effective internal controls systems and corporate governance practices.

Stakeholder Management

• Strategic Partnership and Ecosystem: Collaborate with product houses to identify, evaluate and negotiate strategic partnership to expand digital capabilities, distribution and customer reach
• Manage relationships with key stakeholders to support aligned delivery and issue resolution.
• Ensure stakeholder expectations are managed and engagement is consistent with transformation priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Education/ Qualification:

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]

Field of Study:

• Digital Strategy, Business Innovation, Commercial Management, or related fields

Work Experience:

• 12 - 15 years' experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank, including a track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.
• 12-15 years experience in digital strategy, business development, or commercial management, including 5 years in senior management within large enterprise environments
• Experience must include developing integrated customer-centric product or service solutions or corporate practice development while working with and managing stakeholders across business and/or functional areas and budget management.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.
• Demonstrated success in leading digital commercialisation initiatives that drive innovation, revenue growth, and market positioning in complex financial services environments.
• Experience in engaging executive stakeholders including developing digital business strategies, commercial models, or monetization frameworks while managing stakeholders across business and functional areas.

COMPETENCIES

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic Thinking
• Business Acumen
• Communication
• Influence Leadership
• Creativity and Innovation
• Delivering Results
• Adaptability
• Collaboration

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strategic Thinking and Commercial Acumen : proven ability  to define and execute strategies to measurable commercial value.
• Analytical and data driven: ability to use data and insights to inform decisions, optimise performance and create grounded business cases
• Customer Obsession: deep understanding of customer behaviour, needs and how to design digital solutions that are fit for purpose.
• Innovation and Growth Mindset : passion for exploring emerging technologies, new business models and disruptive opportunities
• Influence and Collaboration: String stakeholder management and ability to influence and executive level
• Execution Excellence: Track record of taking ideas from concept to commercial success.
• Digital strategy and commercialisation
• Innovation and agile delivery
• Platform and product monetisation
• Customer experience and value design
• Market and competitor analysis
• Data-driven decision-making
• Stakeholder engagement and influence
• Governance and compliance in digital
• Business model development
• Performance tracking and optimisation

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Business, Commerce and Management Studies

End Date: October 17, 2025