Head: Finance Solutions at Santam Insurance

What will you do?

• The BITS (Business Information & Technology Services) team has a permanent position available for a Head Finance Solutions. This senior manager position will report directly to the Chief Information Officer. 
• To formulate, implement and support the group wide Finance Business IT (Information Technology) Strategy. This includes finance systems used in Finance Operations, Data Governance, C&P business unit, Specialist, and Niche Business units, Investments and Corporate Finance, Group Internal Audit, Santam RE, Santam Namibia, Miway, Centriq and SSI (Santam Structured Insurance) SSI. 
• The role will require you to deliver innovative financial systems and finance project capabilities across the Santam Group. 

What will make you successful in this role?

Portfolio Management:

• Manage Governance bodies various Steerco’s, Audit (Internal and External (PWC) across the portfolio.
• Shape and manage the IT Finance & Business Change services capability in support of the demand and supply to implement and support Finance strategies across the group. 
• Budget forecasts, tracking and management of the overall Finance project portfolios. 
• Ensure portfolio alignment and prioritisation with strategy / business objectives across the BITS portfolio of demands
• Facilitate development of future initiative roadmap in support of the business strategy/objectives
• Facilitate and review concept brief & designs (Business and Systems) 

Business and System Solutions Delivery:

• Ensure appropriateness, quality & completeness of business & system solutions 
• Ensure project/scope alignment with business case / business objectives
• Support appropriate project governance e.g., appropriate Steerco (governed by PMC (Portfolio Management Centre))
• Support change management and give input to approach and strategy
• Build strong partnerships with Business Owner, Project Manager, BCM’s & IT Development Manager across the group
• Support benefits realisation & monitoring

Dev Ops Leadership and Management:

• Lead the engagement with business and IT stakeholders to ensure visibility and joint prioritisation of open Finance solution issues and defects
• Work with IT & Business to ensure relevant stable production environment(s) for the business

Leadership and People Management:

• The overall leadership and management of management teams. 
• Administer performance evaluations for all direct reports
• Assist with the growth on performance, capacity, and capability within the team through effective knowledge transfer
• Review work of team members and ensure the adherence to governance through setting standards and methodologies. 
• Provide training, mentorship, and leadership to direct reports and inspire a high-performance team

Budget Management:

• Manage an annual BAU budgets for BITS Finance Solutions, BT budget for SRS (Service Request System) changes (Enhancements)
• Manage Strategic Programmes Budget 
• Manage recoveries of all billable staff for the above budgets
• Tech Refresh budget (Upgrades Infrastructure and hardware)

Stakeholder Management:

• Manages the business stakeholder’s relationships, expectations, and alignment at a senior and executive level across the Group for both SA and Namibia through various governance bodies i.e., Steerco, SIIC (Strategic Initiatives Investment Committee, PIC (Portfolio Investment Committee).

Commercial Negotiations:

• Partner with Group Procurement and Corporate Legal to define the commercial agreement, negotiate pricing and draft the commercial agreement for executive signoff.

Qualification and Experience

• Relevant Tertiary education preferably a BCom degree, with accounts and information management 
• Minimum of 8 years’ experience in a similar role within a large corporate
• Proven track record of operating at a senior level and leading and managing a team
• Good and proven business acumen
• Functional experience in IT Consulting and regulatory compliance
• 10+ years business experience managing technical teams, financial services experience would be advantageous
• Comfort with complex process/practices
• Capability to connect business demands and strategic growth 
• A result-driven individual, who is highly creative and analytical with an ability to work comfortably in a collaborative setting
• Powerful sense of accountability, attention to detail, ownership of results and customer focus

Knowledge and Skills

• Insurance knowledge would be a strong recommendation
• A broad understanding of IT infrastructure, systems, and products
• Strong project management skills
• Strong analytical-thinking and problem-solving abilities
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• A solid understanding of Finance
• Stakeholder management and influencing skills
• Great interpersonal, organisational, and planning skills
• Ability to work in a complex and dynamic environment
• Accuracy and attention to detail
• Experienced at engaging at a senior and executive level
• Results orientated, pro-active and deadline-driven
• Capacity to operate under extreme pressure
• Strong quality and client service orientation 
• Ability to drive decisions and work independently
• Strong research and learning orientation
• Conceptual flexibility and ability to understand the context and bigger picture
• Communicate complex concepts in easy-to-understand manner
• Produce creative solutions to business problems
• Building networks and good relationships
• Advanced negotiation skills

Core Competencies

• Being resilient - Contributing through others
• Collaborates - Contributing through others
• Cultivates innovation - Contributing through others
• Customer focus - Contributing through others
• Drives results - Contributing through others