Ops Manager: Compliance Risk at The South African Revenue Service (SARS)

Job Purpose 

• To plan, manage and monitor the implementation of area specific activities and end-to-end processes, by managing internal operations and resources within the compliance risk business unit to ensure alignment between other Compliance Risk stakeholders enabling cross team coordination, in order to deliver on approved operational plans and to continuously enhance service delivery.

Education and Experience

Minimum Qualification & Experience Required 

• Bachelor's Degree / Advanced Diploma (NQF 7) in Taxation, Risk Management/Accounting/Auditing and, or a related qualification AND 5 - 7 years’ experience in Tax and Risk Management environment, of which 1 year at a supervisory level.

Alternative #

• Senior Certificate (NQF 4) AND 10 years related experience in Tax and Risk Management environment, of which 1 year at a supervisory level.

Minimum Functional Requirements

• Ability to enable team members to perform optimally in line with audit requirements.
• Strong skills in resource planning and allocation to ensure effective and efficient performance
• Competence in managing team activities to achieve production targets within quality and turnaround standards
• Ability to implement governance, risk management, and compliance procedures effectively
• Solid tax knowledge and understanding of tax compliance principles.
• Working knowledge of risk management systems and processes to identify and mitigate risks effectively.

Job Outputs:

Process

• Enable team members to perform optimally in line with Audit requirements.
• Interact with Business Area Manager within Compliance Risk on a regular basis to ensure optimal coordination of efforts.
• Interact with Audit Ops Managers to ensure effective transfer of knowledge between teams on a case by case basis and deliver a high-quality product.
• Utilise allocated resources to ensure effective and efficient performance and achievement of results.
• Manage team activities to ensure achievement of production targets within the identified quality and turnaround time and standards.
• Accumulate information to report on work progress and use for decision making purposes and the identification of improvement opportunities.
• Apply discretion and judgement to diagnose symptoms, causes and effects and to make decisions to overcome problems and to provide solutions.
• Apply the necessary discretion and judgment in making decisions and overcoming obstacles in order to attain set goals and objectives for area of accountability.
• Deploy resources appropriately and anticipate and resolve problems to ensure that tactical targets are achieved within agreed deadlines and standards.
• Ensure procedures, policies and mandates are clearly understood and complied with.
• Ensure the development, alignment and implementation of end-to-end processes within area of accountability for continued process improvement.
• Frequently report on progress of unit and or team against pre-defined objectives and standards, ensuring accurate representation of facts.
• Implement change and provide guidelines to direct reports defining the impact of change, the change itself and new requirements as a result of the change.
• Implement resource plans in line with delivery and performance objectives, on budget and in partnership with specialised areas.
• Link and communicate unit's objectives back to mandate, schedule and prioritise activities and allocate work to meet identified work outputs.
• Manage a work function or unit by focusing on the delivery and achievement of set objectives within specified time frames, costs and standards.
• Plan and organise multiple work outputs by assigning priorities and continuously reviewing objectives and goals.
• Provide input into the development of the tactical strategy as well as develop and implement a supporting operational strategy.

Governance

• Implement and use governance and compliance procedures and processes effectively to identify and manage risks and expose previously unknown liabilities.
• Implement risk management, governance and compliance policies and processes to identify and manage risks and expose liabilities.
• Understand and implement governance control processes and role segregation requirements in area of accountability.

People

• Build strong relationships through providing direction and leadership to others and expressing positive expectations.
• Encourage and enable teamwork, by enabling collaboration with others and commitment to pursuing set goals.
• Implement appropriate people capacity plans in line with delivery and efficiency targets, on budget and in partnership with specialised areas.
• Monitor and actively manage team performance to meet specified objectives against required targets, deadlines and quality standards.

Finance

• Draw up a budget aligned to operational delivery plans, monitor and report on variances.
• Ensure team's adherence to specified policies, standards and procedures to prevent and reduce wastage on financial resources and escalate associated risk.
• Implement, manage and report on cost improvement objectives and communicate or escalate any shortfalls.

Client

• Build and maintain relationships with clients and internal and external stakeholders that promote cross functional process delivery solutions.
• Develop and implement processes which build client service delivery excellence and encourage others to provide exceptional service.

Behavioural Competencies

• Accountability
• Adaptability
• Fairness and Transparency
• Honesty and Integrity
• Organisational Awareness
• Problem Solving and Analysis 
• Respect
• Trust

Leadership Competencies

• Ability to translate strategy into execution
• Concern for Impact of own behaviour on others
• Develops teams and nurtures interdependency
• Inspires others to Positive Action
• Nurtures Future Talent
• Stewardship and Service Orientation
• Strong Results Orientation
• Values and Manages Diversity

Technical Competencies

• Business Acumen
• Change Management
• Decisiveness
• Effective Business Communication
• Functional Policies and Procedures
• Managerial Budgeting
• Planning and Organising
• Planning, Management and Measurement
• Problem Analysis and Judgement
• Risk Awareness
• Risk Knowledge
• SARS Systems Products
• Tax Knowledge