General Manager - Brand and Marketing.Commercial Operations SA at MTN

Responsibilities

Marketing Strategy and Commercial Leadership

• Collaborates to develop and drive overall Brand and Enterprise-wide Marketing strategy by identifying competitive advantage, and formulating the position that the brand wants to take in the market, integrating inputs from team across BU (including Regions) and business. Lead the implementation of yearly plans across functions, multiple processes, discipline technologies, products, teams  and customers in line with the overarching business goals and Strategy. This includes setting and communicating collective goals and objectives, integrating the Group and MTNSA strategy and direction
• Develop strategy using customer opportunities highlighted through marketing insights and communicating these strategies to the product houses
• Using key data, play a key role in defining end-to-end segment strategy for MTN SA
• Drives growth marketing through continuous experimentation and optimisation of marketing strategies and channel innovation while predicting the future needs of the market
• Ensure effective implementation of strategy within own team and portfolio by means of providing direction, and best-in-class methodologies, frameworks, models and roadmaps
• Collaborate regularly with Group COE leaders to align solutions with best practice and to the overall MTN strategy and guidance

Brand and Marketing Growth and Performance 

• Broadens marketing scope beyond traditional campaigns to uncover untapped target segments
• Leverages the latest digital and data platforms to find new ways of acquiring and retaining customers and creating different marketing models that fuel growth
• Ability to leverage AI to find opportunities and optimize processes and ways of work
• Play a critical role in creating thought leadership (Area-specific trends , industry best practice) across each BU space
• Research and keep abreast of new innovations , identify and share leading practices, concepts and benchmarks on a continual basis with own teams
• Participate in communities of practices and conferences to facilitate knowledge sharing and positioning of MTN’s intellectual property and employer of choice brand towards the external marketplace
• Proven ability to design, commission and interpret customer focus groups and qualitative research to test campaign concepts, messaging and creative prior to launch

Marketing Spend Governance, ROI & Budget Control

• Establish a robust marketing investment governance framework
• Measures and controls the marketing function’s growth performance by the assessment of key performance benchmarks such as return on marketing investments, sales leads generated and revenue from marketing-generated sources
• Analyses revenue sources and develops advertising predictions to generate the highest possible return of  investment
• Implement Return on Marketing Spend (ROMS/ROMI) models
• Partner with Finance on ROI-led budgeting and forecasting
• Introduce attribution models, dashboards and reporting rhythms
• Eliminate inefficient or non-performing spend

Brand Governance, Policies and Procedures

• Oversee end-to-end marketing governance across products, processes, technologies, functions and customer segments. This includes BU campaign teams adhere to governance as set out by the Brand & Marketing team and to manage performance and quality
• Lead a central team that drives, monitors ensures compliance of the business-wide marketing strategy. This includes leading frequent strategy and operational alignment sessions with BUs
• Promote a ‘MTN centric’ and ‘partnership approach’ to develop strong relationships with other working groups and ensure adherence to Group governance. Ensure effective implementation of (and compliance towards) company policies, processes, and procedures. Put effective methods and standards in place in alignment with aforementioned
• Manage and provide solutions to escalations that have multiple processes / functions impact on critical path of service delivery
• Continuously review key risks, issues and dependencies and set mitigation actions

Brand and Marketing Execution Leadership 

• Acts as custodian of the MTN SA brand and drives a brand-centric organisation across multiple BUs and locations, and continually monitors brand eminence and perception through Brand Health tracking
• Lead and ignite digital marketing capability and teams based on the latest customer trends to achieve the greatest customer reach and demand generation. This includes collaboratively designing and testing solutions through agile ways of work
• Manage performance and marketing success across BUs and segments and ensures synergies in operations
• Sets the marketing metrics and KPIs that the entire marketing function will be measured against and provides monthly dashboards on marketing performance. This includes tracking performance of marketing execution for the BUs and continuously managing and reviewing the performance and deliverables of direct and indirect reports to ensure that the goals and objectives are achieved. Ensure service delivery excellence at all times within area of responsibility
• Use AI and data analytics to optimize marketing operations, campaign targeting, and reporting
• Report on a monthly basis to CCOO relating to progress made within the division and in accordance with the measurement metrics set by the organisation
• Identifies opportunities for performance marketing and manages marketing partners to achieve marketing goals
• Oversee implementation, measurement, and evolution of brand and marketing solutions and activities for the business across area of responsibility. Establish feedback loops to measure ROI on successful solutions and report back on progress to leader and/or business leadership
• Oversee collaboration with BU teams to define problems (based on data insights), provide business relevant solutions and lead desirable initiatives that bring about meaningful change through synergies across all teams
• Lead, prioritise, align and enable implementation of related projects for MTN SA (impacting Brand and Marketing functions)
• Partner with vendors to provide design support for key services. Collaborate on the design of solutions and provide key inputs for execution
• Outline, develop and deploy change management practices and activities where required and as guided, and in collaboration with HR colleagues

Financial Management

• Develops and manages the brand and marketing budget for MTN-SA for maximum return of marketing investment and economies of scale. Collaborate closely with finance team in budgeting exercises
• Forecast, plan, develop and review the budget  and secure the necessary approvals
• Manage and optimise the budget, ensuring all expenditure is in line with the agreed budgets
• Optimize spend, identify efficiencies, and drive innovative approaches to achieve more with less - maximise cost/benefit ratios     
• Ensure that all MTN company financial targets are met
• Ensure Vendor & IT costs are effectively managed

People Leadership /Management

• Reset team culture and address silos and conflict when they arise
• Build a collaborative, high-performing leadership team
• Establish clear operating models and decision rights
• Set integrated goals and objectives for the Brand and Marketing team within MTN in order to achieve a future-focused, future-fit high-performing organisation
• Provide technical, procedural and policy guidance to staff, colleagues , partners and vendors
• Attract, develop and retain appropriate talent. Build talent by identifying and developing new leaders for the respective environment
• Create and implement personal development plans
• Define the KPAs and KPIs that will be cascaded down to each area
• Manage Performance and identify training needs. Coach and guide subordinates
• Enable and model healthy employee relations and collaborative teamwork
• Manage diversity, develop, and embed an Employment Equity plan for the business area
• Contribute to building a culture  of continuous evaluation and improvement. Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management
• Act as an ambassador for the team by living the Brand values and vital behaviours and changing and influencing employees’  behaviour.

Qualifications

Education:

• Minimum of 4 year Commercial/Marketing/Business Degree
• MBA or Masters in relevant field of study (Preferred)

Experience:

• Minimum 15 years’ experience including:
• Work experience in a strategic Global Brand Management/Commercial/ Chief Marketing Officer role
• Experience working in a global/multinational enterprise /FMCG
• Understanding of emerging markets
• Senior management track record of 5 years or more, with at least 3 years in relevant sector/industry
• Experience in Digital Communication and Media
• Experience in continuous improvement through the implementation of best practices (Global Brand Management)
• Experience in Global Brand leading practices and trends
• Pan Africa multi-cultural experience
• Telecommunications industry experience
• Proven marketing ROI and budget turnaround experience
• Experience leading large, complex teams
• Regulatory knowledge (ICASA, POPIA Compliance, BCCSA)

Apply Before 01/19/2026, 11:00 PM