Lead Technology Partner-2 - Sandton at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Lead the agile solution design, deployment & ongoing optimization & evolution of enterprise wide technology products and services (full stack engineering & ownership / control) in high complexity environments.

Job Description

• Grade: VP
• Business Area: Absa Business Banking: Technology
• Reporting To: Executive Information Technology BB Risk
• Team Leadership: Capable of leading multi skilled technology teams including Developers, Solution Analysts, Scrum Masters to achieve both Operational and strategic goals for Absa Business Banking.

Role Purpose

• The Lead Technology Partner for Collections & Recoveries is accountable for executing the technology strategy, architecture, delivery roadmap, operational stability, and modernization agenda for Business Banking Risk technology platforms.
• The role acts as the primary technology partner for Business Banking Risk Debt Management on behalf of the Executive Information Technology BB Risk, supporting Senior Stakeholder management and reporting for the Debt Management area.
• The LTP ensures that technology complies with Change, Technology and Regulatory Compliance and meets set objectives of Operational Stability, Tech and Cyber Security Risks and enables and supports business strategic objectives through Transformation and Change programs. The role supports the enrichment of data sources and the enablement of AI both in workforce augmentation and the development of AI Models.
• "Own the modernization and replacement strategies for the business unit including platform consolidation, API enablement, customer journey digitization, leveraging AI in both AI Model development and workforce augmentation on the back of the data-driven strategies."

Key Responsibilities

Business & Technology Strategy

• Provide technology insights and opportunities to partner with and enrich business strategies through technology both from a strategic (3 year) roadmap and immediate gains perspective.
• Ensure that Technology investments aligns with business strategy for the Business Banking unit.
• Develop modernization strategies for legacy platforms.
• Drive platform rationalization and simplification initiatives.
• Adhere to Architecture principles in all solutions such as principles of reuse and target-state architecture aligned with Absa Group standards.

Architecture & Platform Ownership

• Collaborate with Architecture teams to ensure optimal technology solutions in line with Absa Group Strategy.
• Ensure that we support a data driven strategy
• Ensure teams support the leveraging of AI where appropriate and align with AI Responsible Use Standards

Delivery Leadership

• Lead multi-disciplinary technology squads, with a strong record of Technology delivery at every level and with a broad base of knowledge.
• Experience in execution of development on JAVA, #C etc., Solution Design, Architecture experience and Technology Team Leadership evidenced through success project delivery.
• Provide Impact Assessments and Quotes for projects and initiatives through team engagements providing as accurate as possible Govern business cases, BRDs, architecture, testing, and production deployments.
• Ensure delivery through SAFe and agile practices.
• Manage multiple external and internal dependencies across integration, business analysts, suppliers, stakeholders to support the resolution of blockers and risks to successful delivery
• Technology Ownership of applicable Services from inception to decommissioning
• Manage team/service budgets, suppliers and delivery partners.
• Provide executive-level reporting.
• Accountability to deliver technology solutions on time and in budget.

Operational Leadership

Accountable for:

• Service stability
• Platform resilience
• Disaster recovery compliance
• Technical debt remediation
• Incident management
• Risk remediation
• Cyber and security compliance
• The LTP remains accountable as application owner for business-critical services. The role is identified in technology standards as responsible for risk management, uptime, and maintenance of applications.

Data & Analytics Leadership

• Drive data and analytics capability enablement.
• Support optimization of business process through analytics
• Enable MI and operational reporting.
• Champion AI and predictive opportunities
• Improve visibility of customer journeys and key performance metrics.

Stakeholder Management

Manage senior relationships with:

• Heads of Business Units such as Collections and Recoveries
• Product Owners
• Business Operations
• Risk including Tech, Operations and Cyber Security Risk
• Compliance
• Architecture
• Enterprise Integration
• Vendors / Suppliers
• Technology leadership forums

People Leadership

Lead:

• Product Engineers
• Salesforce Engineers
• Solution Analysts
• QA Teams
• Data Engineers
• Scrum Masters
• Operations Support Teams
• Business Analysts (Indirectly)

Critical Success Measures (KPIs)

Delivery

• Alignment with Architecture principles and Strategy
• Budget adherence
• Successful program delivery within time and budget tolerance %

Service

• Availability >99.9%
• Reduction in incidents and impact to business stakeholders
• DR and resilience compliance

Modernization

• Legacy platform decommission milestones achieved
• API adoption targets met
• Reduction in technical debt

Business Outcomes

• Achieved business objectives per initiatives
• Optimized system processes
• Faster customer turnaround times
• Reduced operational, Tech and Cyber risk

People

• Employee Engagement Targets
• Succession Planning
• Talent Retention
• Mandatory Learning Compliance

Preferred Experience

Essential

• 10+ years technology leadership experience
• Financial services experience
• Technology delivery leadership experience
• Large-scale transformation experience

Highly Desirable

• Collections systems
• Recoveries platforms
• Salesforce Financial Services Cloud
• CustomerOne
• API-led architecture
• SAFe leadership
• Data and analytics platforms
• Cloud transformation programs

Competencies

• Strategic Leadership
• Business Partnership
• Commercial Acumen
• Technology Architecture
• Technical skills appropriate to team (Salesforce,  Java etc.)
• Agile / SAFe Leadership
• Financial Acumen
• Proactive Risk Management
• Change Leadership
• Vendor Management, including Supplier contracting and negotiations
• Executive Communication

Recommended Addition for the Current Role

• Based on the current Collections transformation focus, I would add a specific accountability:

Education

• Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

End Date: August 30, 2026