Head Group Third-Party Management: Relationship and Contract Management at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategic Vendor Oversight

• Own and manage a portfolio of strategic, high-risk, high-value, or business-critical third parties.
• Support Account Executives to execute third-party management strategies aligned to corporate objectives.
• Act as executive escalation point for material vendor issues.
• Lead strategic business reviews (SBRs) with key suppliers.
• Drive continuous improvement, innovation, and cost optimisation initiatives
• Identify opportunities for building and extracting Value Added Services from third parties during the tenure of the relationship.
• Identify opportunities for building and extracting Value Added Services from third parties during the tenure of the relationship.

Risk & Regulatory Governance

• Ensure compliance with internal policies and applicable.
• Oversee due diligence, onboarding, ongoing monitoring, and exit planning.
• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Legal, Procurement, and Information Security teams.
• Monitor vendor risk indicators, SLAs, KPIs, and risk events.
• Ensure appropriate contingency, exit, and business continuity plans are maintained and tested.

Commercial & Contract Management

• Support contract negotiations and renewals.
• Monitor commercial performance and value realisation.
• Oversee financial health assessments of critical suppliers.
• Manage dispute resolution and commercial escalations.

Stakeholder & Executive Engagement

• Build strong relationships with Accountable Executive sponsors and senior leaders.
• Act as senior liaison between business units and third parties.
• Provide executive-level reporting on vendor performance and risk exposure.
• Support internal audit, regulatory reviews, and external inspections.
• Influence senior stakeholders to drive accountability in vendor governance.
• Influence cross-functional stakeholders to adopt new TPM processes and controls.

Operational Resilience & Incident Management

• Oversee incident response involving third parties.
• Ensure timely root cause analysis and remediation.
• Contribute to operational resilience mapping and impact tolerance assessments.
• Lead lessons-learned reviews following material disruptions.
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Leading Talent

• Coach, inspire, engage, mentor and develop financially and business savvy leaders.
• Ensure consistent application of TPRM framework and governance standards.
• Build team capability in risk management, contract oversight, and stakeholder management.
• Drive succession planning and knowledge sharing.
• Be an enabler of capabilities, talent and service level to fulfil business and functional responsibilities in an innovative efficient manner.
• Embed people processes and values into business routines, reinforcing a strong leadership culture.
• 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.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Education/ Qualification:

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]
• Field of Study: Legal qualification proffered.
• Risk Management, Business Management, Financial Management, and related fields.

Work Experience:

• 12+ experience in vendor management, supplier governance, outsourcing, operational risk or legal risk.
• Proven experience in managing critical or regulated third-party arrangements.
• Demonstrated ability of working within regulated industries (e.g., financial services, insurance, utilities) preferred.
• Experience in working with Global and Multinational suppliers.
• Proven track record for leading in complex and matrix reporting structures.
• Experience implementing governance, risk, and compliance frameworks.
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional transformation initiatives undefined

End Date: April 13, 2026