Manager: Value Realization at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Drive portfolio-wide value realisation to maximise ROI across Business Banking transformation initiatives.
• Align strategic priorities and ensure initiatives support Business Banking’s long‑term objectives.
• Lead benefits realisation processes, from value identification to tracking and reporting.
• Optimise delivery outcomes by applying structured portfolio, programme and value management frameworks and enhance decision-making through data-driven insights, analytics and executive-ready reporting.
• Collaborate with cross-functional stakeholders to ensure cohesive, integrated execution and strengthen governance by embedding value frameworks, performance scorecards and accountability mechanisms.
• Champion continuous improvement, operational excellence and best-practice delivery methodologies by supporting digital and data transformation by integrating analytics, dashboards and automation into value tracking.
• Influence senior leaders and drive alignment on strategic trade-offs, priorities and value outcome

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Translate strategic objectives into operational plans with clear deliverables, timelines, and performance measures.
• Align team or practice area priorities with business goals, ensuring tactical execution supports broader strategic outcomes.
• Monitor progress, identify risks, and implement corrective actions to ensure delivery.
• Translate Business Banking strategy into measurable value outcomes, KPIs and portfolio targets and evaluate emerging opportunities and make recommendations on portfolio prioritisation.
• Support executive decision-making through scenario modelling, impact assessments and forecasting and develop and maintain multi-year value realisation roadmaps
• Ensure strategic delivery frameworks (Agile, Lean, Waterfall) are leveraged to maximise value.

Customer Primacy

• Use customer insights to inform service design and delivery improvements.
• Champion initiatives that enhance customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty.
• Collaborate across teams to ensure consistent and differentiated customer journeys.
• Ensure all value metrics and prioritisation frameworks incorporate customer impact and that they translate customer pain points into value-focused business cases.
• Partner with customer experience teams to quantify customer-led benefits (e.g., reduced effort, faster turnaround, improved satisfaction).
• Ensure customer outcomes remain at the centre of initiative design and benefits measurement.

Sustainable Growth

• Contribute to the development and execution of growth plans aligned with business unit priorities.
• Drive performance accountability within the team or practice area.
• Support investment decisions through analysis of operational impact and value creation.
• Identify and quantify value levers that drive revenue growth, cost efficiencies and productivity uplift.
• Monitor performance against strategic growth targets and recommend corrective actions.
• Ensure benefits are sustainable, embedded and tracked post-implementation.
• Enable long-term capability building to support continuous value optimisation.

Client-Driven Innovation and Change

• Identify opportunities for innovation and continuous improvement.
• Lead change initiatives, ensuring readiness, engagement, and adoption.
• Support the implementation of new technologies, processes, and practices.
• Promote innovation by identifying opportunities for digital, data and process transformation.
• Drive adoption of best practice change methodologies.
• Facilitate experimentation and test‑and‑learn approaches to accelerate value.
• Champion cross-functional collaboration to deliver integrated innovations.

Leading Talent

• Develop team or practice capabilities to meet current and future business needs.
• Foster a culture of performance, inclusion, and continuous learning.
• Manage performance, development, and succession planning.
• Build, mentor and develop a value realisation capability across the portfolio.
• Foster a high-performance culture focused on accountability, results and continuous improvement.
• Upskill teams on value measurement, financial modelling and benefits tracking.

Operational Effectiveness

• Translate business priorities into operational plans with defined KPIs and scorecards.
• Optimise processes for efficiency, quality, and alignment with customer needs.
• Resolve operational issues and ensure continuity of delivery.
• Standardise value frameworks, tools and reporting processes across the business.
• Improve operational performance by identifying inefficiencies and recommending optimised solutions.
• Drive process excellence and operational transparency through rigorous measurement.
• Monitor initiative performance against agreed milestones, KPIs / OKRs and SLAs.

Digital Adoption

• Promote the use of digital tools and platforms to enhance service delivery and operational efficiency.
• Identify opportunities for automation and digitisation.
• Support digital transformation initiatives and ensure effective adoption.
• Leverage digital tools (Power BI, data analytics platforms) to enhance portfolio visibility.
• Ensure digital enablement is integrated into value tracking and governance processes and partner with technology teams to measure and optimise digital transformation outcomes.
• Promote data-driven decision-making through automation of reporting and insights.

Good Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Implement governance, risk, and compliance frameworks within operational routines.
• Promote risk-aware decision-making and ensure adherence to regulatory requirements.
• Monitor and manage operational risks, ensuring timely resolution and reporting.
• Oversee governance of transformation investments and ensure adherence to approval frameworks.
• Monitor value realisation risks and escalate issues proactively.
• Ensure compliance with audit, regulatory and financial oversight requirements and establish transparent reporting structures to support executive governance forums.

Data Monetisation

• Use data and analytics to inform decisions, improve performance, and identify opportunities.
• Ensure data quality and relevance for reporting, insights, and operational planning.
• Apply performance insights to drive continuous improvement and value creation.
• Identify opportunities where data can unlock direct or indirect commercial value.
• Work closely with analytics, digital and product teams to quantify and monitor data-related benefits and incorporate data monetisation metrics into business cases and value frameworks.
• Enable responsible and ethical use of data aligned to governance standards.

Stakeholder Management

• Build and maintain collaborative relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Align delivery with stakeholder expectations and business priorities.
• Communicate progress, risks, and outcomes effectively.
• Influence and align senior leaders across Business Banking, Digital, Operations, Finance and Risk teams.
• Facilitate executive-level discussions on prioritisation and value decisions.
• Maintain strong communication channels to ensure shared understanding of value drivers.
• Act as trusted advisor to leadership on strategic value and portfolio performance.

COO DNA

As a member of the management team, it is expected to embody and promote the COO DNA, which includes:

• Customer Obsession: Start with the customer and work backwards. Focus on solving client problems and creating measurable value for clients.
• Commercialisation: Drive business value through operational excellence, always seeking opportunities to maximize value realization and return on investment.
• Digital Dexterity: Leverage technology, automation, and data to deliver value faster and more efficiently. Encourage digital empowerment and adoption of new tools.
• Cost Optimisation: Instil habits and practices that reduce waste and optimize resources, while maintaining or improving client value.

Education

• Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Financial Sciences (Required)