Head: Glacier Partners IT Platform at Sanlam Group

Key Outcomes

• Define strategy and drive the delivery of the roadmap associated with Glacier Partners IT systems and platform and the relevant Glacier Partners system tenants within Glacier Financial Holdings
• Provide leadership and guidance to IT delivery and business teams to ensure agreed availability, supportability, and operational capability for all digital and front office applications.
• Maintain an understanding of existing and potential digital platform capabilities.
• Proactively identify platform enhancements (including non-functional), lead the business case approval process, facilitate communication of roadmaps, and ensure stakeholder engagement.
• Work collaboratively with business stakeholders and operational teams to lead the prioritisation of changes and defect backlog prioritisation.
• Build and maintain a relationship network with key stakeholders.
• Ensure system designs support the goal of “right first time,” reduce time to market, and minimise cost to deliver and support while meeting agreed business requirements.
• Define, drive, and adhere to the adoption of platform principles, standards, and governance.
• Maintain an understanding of the current and emerging company strategy, business plans, customer experience (CX), designs, and brand as they affect digital applications.
• Contribute to business case and return on investment (ROI) proposals in relation to platform enhancements.
• Review and approve estimation and impact assessment activities to support capacity and capability planning as well as key system documentation.
• Act as a point of escalation for platform major defects and major incidents.
• Define target platform structure, drive transformation to reach the target, and govern adherence.

Management and Leadership

• Set direction and coach direct reports according to agreed goals and objectives.
• Motivate and inspire teams to enable a healthy working culture and maintain high levels of employee engagement.
• Empower others through fostering innovation.
• Build relationships with key stakeholders.
• Act as point of escalation for systems and platform major Defects and Major Incidents.

Qualifications and Experience

• B. Com/BSC in Computer Science degree or equivalent: A strong educational background in computer science or a related field is essential to understand the technical aspects of the role.
• A Master of Business Administration or related senior business leadership qualification will be advantageous.
• At least 12 years’ experience working in the financial services IT sector will be advantageous: Extensive experience in the financial services IT sector is required to understand the industry's unique challenges and opportunities.
• Minimum of 8 years management experience and minimum 3 years in senior management role (manager of managers): Proven management experience is necessary to lead and inspire the IT team effectively
• Ability to understand and comprehend what it takes to deliver a solution in terms of development, architecture, testing/quality assurance capability, and best practices:

Additional Preferred Experience

• Familiarity with cloud technologies and the latest technology stack used for front office digital platforms is highly desirable.
• Familiarity in terms of what it takes and what is needed to build and maintain resilient IT infrastructure: The ability to collaborate with IT Infrastructure to implement high availability and eliminate single points of failure in IT infrastructure is a valuable asset.
• Knowledge of data management and governance frameworks, including data quality, privacy, and data standards, is beneficial.
• Understanding IT governance reporting, risk management, and internal audit responses is advantageous.