Head of Finance_Financial Services at Shoprite Group of Companies

About the role    

• The purpose of the Head of Finance – Financial Services role is to provide integrated strategic and operational financial leadership across the Financial Services (FS) division within the Shoprite Group.
• This includes oversight of finance, accounting, legal governance, insurance, claims, and commercial financial management. The role ensures accurate financial reporting, strong financial controls, regulatory compliance, and commercial insight across FS products and banking/payment activities delivered through Shoprite’s retail stores. It drives financial sustainability and enables growth across all FS value streams.

What you'll do    

Strategic & Financial Leadership

• Develop and execute the Financial Services financial strategy aligned to group objectives.
• Drive capital allocation, growth investment cases, and long-term monetisation across financial services products.
• Provide strategic guidance on new business models, partnerships, and platform expansion.

Financial Planning, Budgeting & Forecasting

• Lead annual budgeting and rolling forecasts across all FS departments.
• Build and review financial models evaluating product profitability, customer lifetime value, transaction economics, and cost-to-serve.
• Ensure full compliance with IFRS, Group reporting standards, and FS-specific reporting requirements (e.g., insurance financial reporting, claims reserves, premium flows).
• Monitor revenue streams and cost drivers across FS products, including commissions, fees, insurance premiums, payout ratios, transactional income, and settlement cycle impacts.
• Deliver monthly/quarterly close and board reporting; drive audit readiness and external audit.
• Oversee and manage AFS preparation in line with IFRS.
• Sign off of AFS in line with IFRS.

Operational Financial Management Across the Omni footprint

• Contribute to the financial evaluation and implementation of new payment technologies, store-based banking solutions, and FS touchpoints, ensuring these initiatives align with operational capability and customer needs.
• Partner with Operations, Money Market, IT, and Payments teams to ensure streamlined financial processes, minimised financial risk, and uplifted transactional accuracy across all stores.
• Embed continuous improvement initiatives to enhance financial processing speed, accuracy, and risk oversight in store-based FS operations.
• Ensure FS financial controls are embedded at stores to mitigate risks associated with high-volume transactional environments.

Capital, Liquidity & Treasury Oversight

• Ensure optimal capital structure and compliance with regulatory capital adequacy.
• Oversee liquidity risk management, funding strategies, and asset-liability management (ALM).
• Govern Treasury activities to ensure prudent investment and funding practices.

Governance Oversight Support (Regulatory, Audit and Compliance)

• Oversee internal and external audit processes and ensure adherence to King IV governance recommendations.
• Improve data integrity across ERP, billing, PSPs, data warehouse; reconcile processors and bank settlement data.

Commercial Finance & Partner Engagement

• Serve as the strategic commercial finance partner to FS leadership, providing insights into pricing, margins, revenue optimisation, and cost efficiency.
• Evaluate the financial impact of partnerships with banks, insurers, payment networks, vendors, and third-party service providers.
• Lead financial modelling and due diligence for new FS business opportunities, ecosystem integrations, and retail-led financial products.
• Support negotiations and contracting by providing financial insights into partner terms, revenue share agreements, risk allocation, and commercial viability.
• Drive profitability analysis for FS products distributed through retail stores, using data-driven insights to optimise product strategies.
• Consult with Credex business partner to provide guidance in line with good governance principles.

Leadership, Team Develoment & Functional Capability

• Build a high-performing finance and governance function with strong analytical, commercial, legal, and FS technical capability.
• Provide mentorship, clear accountability, and performance direction.
• Foster a culture of integrity, commercial acumen, compliance, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure effective workforce planning and role clarity to support business objectives and FS operating model requirements.

What you bring    

• Chartered Accountant (SA) - (essential).
• +8 years’ experience in senior finance leadership role within financial services, fintech and banking, or related environments - (essential).
• Exposure to credit operations, credit risk, or credit product environments – (beneficial).
• Demonstrable experience in developing and executing FS strategies and managing large portfolios - (essential).
• Strong commercial and financial acumen with a track record of driving profitability - (essential).
• Deep knowledge of financial services products, banking systems, payments infrastructure, and compliant FS operations - (beneficial).
• Strong experience in financial services governance, ensuring robust oversight, regulatory compliance, and effective risk management across all finance processes – (essential).

Closing Date    

• 2026/09/12