Job Description
- The Head of Innovation role is pivotal in driving innovation across the DBSA by identifying new opportunities, fostering a culture of creativity, and leading the development and implementation of innovative ideas. The role will drive DBSA’s innovation agenda by collaborating with internal and external stakeholders to design, prototype, and deliver strategic digital solutions. This role focuses on experimentation, rapid delivery, and scaling of innovative products and services that enhance DBSA’s client experience, operational efficiency, and strategic impact.
Key Responsibilities
KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS
Strategic Focus
- Develop the long-term and short-term digital product innovation strategy and plan, aligned to budgets to ensure there is a clear, actionable roadmap that balances ambition with financial discipline.
- Identify strategic priorities and deliverables based on the strategy and plan to focus efforts on high-impact areas that drive measurable outcomes.
Digital Product Lifecycle Management
- Oversee the lifecycle of digital products from ideation to scaling.
- Ensure seamless integration of Mode 2 innovations with Mode 1 systems (ERP, CRM, treasury, procurement).
- Monitor product performance and continuously refine solutions.
Digital Product Innovation
- Create an innovation portfolio and roadmap to drive growth and spur investment, to align initiatives with strategic priorities and unlock new value streams.
- Lead the identification, evaluation, and prioritisation of innovation projects across the organisation to ensure resource optimisation, strategic alignment, and measurable impact.
- Coordinate financial products and services innovation for the Bank to enhance competitiveness, meet evolving market needs, and expand customer reach.
- Facilitate ideation workshops with business units, clients, and external partners.
- Establish frameworks for rapid prototyping, testing, and iteration of digital products.
- Translate business needs into innovative product concepts, prototypes, and minimum viable products (MVPs).
- Develop solutions that are client-centric, scalable, and aligned with DBSA’s digital transformation roadmap.
- Establish and manage an innovation pipeline, from ideation to implementation, to accelerate delivery, reduce time-to-market, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
- Monitor project progress, manage risks, and ensure delivery of measurable outcomes to drive accountability, ensure return on investment, and support strategic decision-making.
- Lead research and development and explore new markets and customer segments to identify growth opportunities, diversify offerings, and future-proof the organisation.
- Facilitate support from business stakeholders, such as fellow C-level executives, employees, customers, and other stakeholders, to build momentum, secure buy-in, and ensure the successful execution of innovation initiatives.
Innovation Governance and Frameworks
- Foster a mindset of innovation, identifying opportunities to adopt emerging technologies and best practices to modernise processes and deliver impactful solutions.
- Establish comprehensive governance structures, policies, and processes that provide strategic direction, operational clarity, and accountability. This includes forming dedicated innovation committees or leadership forums to oversee innovation initiatives, setting clear roles and responsibilities across departments, and embedding innovation into the DBSA strategic planning cycle.
- Develop policies to define how ideas are sourced, evaluated, funded, and scaled and ensure processes enable agility, transparency, and accountability throughout the innovation lifecycle.
- Ensure alignment with regulatory requirements, ethical standards, and risk management frameworks. This involves proactively integrating compliance considerations into the innovation lifecycle, from ideation to deployment.
- Embed risk management practices to help identify potential threats early, assess impact, and implement mitigation strategies.
Benefits Realisation and Measurement
- Establish clear success criteria and impact indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of innovation initiatives.
- Implement systems to track innovation metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) consistently.
- Define and track KPIs and metrics to enable the DBSA to monitor progress, identify trends, and assess the contribution of innovation to overall business performance.
- Analyse data collected from innovation metrics to generate actionable insights that inform strategic decisions.
- By leveraging analytics and feedback loops, the DBSA can refine its innovation strategies, optimise resource allocation, and enhance the effectiveness of future initiatives.
People Management
- Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning to maximise individual and collective potential.
- Drive talent development initiatives, including coaching, performance management, and career pathing, to build and retain a skilled and motivated team.
- Drive a culture of innovation and continuous improvement across the agency to support strategic agility.
- Contribute to building synergies & cooperation across functions in the DBSA.
- Live the DBSA values.
Stakeholder Management and Reporting
- Build and manage relationships with internal and external stakeholders, including leadership, government, partners, and service providers.
- Develop and implement a structured stakeholder engagement framework for digital and transformation initiatives.
- Influence stakeholder alignment and provide strategic advisory support to enable effective decision-making.
- Establish partnerships with technology vendors, consultants, and academia, and represent the organisation in industry forums.
- Leverage data to inform decisions and drive value creation.
- Deliver clear, timely reporting and high-quality dashboards, presentations, and insights to executives, the Board, and stakeholders.
Culture and Capability Building
- Foster a culture of creativity, experimentation, and continuous improvement across all levels of the organisation.
- Create a thriving innovation culture which requires intentional efforts to embed creativity, experimentation, and continuous learning into the DBSA.
- Design and implement programs to build innovation capabilities, such as training, workshops, and innovation labs.
- Promote cross-functional collaboration and knowledge sharing to break down silos and enable teams to leverage varied expertise, experiences, and insights.
- Facilitate training on design thinking, agile practices, and digital product development.
Key Measurements of Outputs
- Management of team performance, talent development, and succession planning using the performance management system.
- Number and quality of innovative digital products delivered annually.
- % of innovation initiatives aligned to DBSA’s strategic objectives.
- Time to market for prototypes, MVPs, and scaled solutions.
- Adoption rate of new digital products by clients and business units.
- Measurable business impact (efficiency gains, revenue growth, client satisfaction).
- Stakeholder satisfaction with innovation services and outcomes.
- Strength of external partnerships and ecosystem collaborations.
- Continuous improvement in innovation maturity and capability.
INTERNAL LIAISON RELATIONSHIP (*The list is not exhaustive)
- Digital & Business Transformation Division
- Functional Heads
- Business Executives
- Architects
- All internal stakeholders
- External Service Providers
EXTERNAL LIAISON RELATIONSHIP (*The list is not exhaustive)
- External Service Providers
Expertise & Technical Competencies
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
Minimum Qualification
- Postgraduate degree in Information Technology, Business Administration, Innovation Management, or related field.
Minimum Experience
- A minimum of 12 years of experience in digital product innovation, product management, or transformation, with a minimum of 5 years in a management role.
- Proven track record in designing, prototyping, and delivering innovative digital products at speed.
- Experience in Mode 2 innovation environments (Agile, Lean Startup, rapid experimentation).
- Strong background in ecosystem collaboration with fintechs, startups, and technology vendors.
- Hands-on experience with digital platforms, cloud-native solutions, and emerging technologies (AI, data analytics, mobile apps).
- Demonstrated ability to engage and influence executives, boards, and external stakeholders.
- Experience in Lean and Agile methodologies to manage large-scale projects.
Desirable Experience
- Postgraduate qualification (MBA, Master’s in Digital Innovation, Design Thinking, or Entrepreneurship).
- Professional certifications in Agile, Scrum, Design Thinking, or Lean Startup.
- Exposure to financial services, development finance, or public sector environments.
Deadline:28th July,2026
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