Principal Compliance Officer at Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)

Job Description    

• The purpose of the Principal Compliance Officer is to provide advanced compliance support across the institution, with a focus on embedding a robust compliance culture, monitoring regulatory adherence, and supporting ethical conduct. The role identifies, analyses, and responds to regulatory risks and compliance gaps across business processes, products, and transactions. The role contributes to policy interpretation, compliance advisory, and the design of controls to manage regulatory obligations. This role further contributes to protecting DBSA’s integrity, maintaining regulatory compliance, and promoting responsible conduct across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities    
KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS

Strategic Compliance Focus

• Contribute to the development and implementation of a compliance strategy to manage and mitigate compliance risks and breaches.
• Integrate compliance risk into broader compliance monitoring plans and governance framework.
• Foster a culture of compliance and ethical conduct within the organisation by promoting awareness and understanding of compliance among employees.
• Oversee the implementation of compliance policies across the organisation, ensuring that all employees understand and adhere to these policies.
• Continuously review and enhance the compliance framework, technologies and methodologies to reflect changes in regulatory expectations and emerging risks.
• Guide the team on developments in legislation, regulatory guidance, and industry practices, and proactively recommend operational changes to address the potential impact of regulatory changes on the organisation and its business units.

Assessment and Management of Compliance Risk

• Interpret applicable laws, regulations, and codes of practice to advise internal stakeholders on compliance obligations.
• Guide business units in the implementation of compliance requirements across operational, investment, and support functions.
• Support the development of a culture of compliance through practical, solution-oriented advice.
• Identify and assess the regulatory universe and draft compliance risk management plans for high-risk legislation.
• Monitor compliance and contribute to reducing the compliance risk exposure of the Bank.

Monitor Regulatory and Internal Compliance

• Conduct reviews of business processes, documentation, and records to assess levels of regulatory compliance.
• Identify potential breaches, emerging risks, and control weaknesses, and recommend corrective actions.
• Track and monitor implementation of regulatory changes and internal policies.
• Interact with internal and external bodies such as Risk Management, Internal Audit, Legal Services, Regulators and Industry Bodies to identify and manage compliance risk
• Monitor compliance functions are undertaken for all areas and projects of the Bank.
• Provide input into high-level compliance and audit reports in respect of audit issues/matters for the Audit & Risk Committee and other governance structures.

Develop and Implement Compliance Policies & Frameworks

• Contribute to the design and updating of compliance policies, procedures, and guidelines.
• Participate in compliance risk assessments and control testing to enhance risk mitigation.
• Guide business units in maintaining compliance registers and reporting systems.
• Advise business units of compliance best practices and new developments.

Communication and Awareness Initiatives

• Design and deliver compliance training programmes tailored to the needs of the Bank.
• Promote a culture of compliance and ethical behaviour across the Bank.
• Manage the review of training content and regularly update to reflect regulatory changes and emerging threats.
• Approve and facilitate training and awareness initiatives to strengthen staff understanding of compliance and promote a strong culture of compliance across the institution.

Governance and Reporting

• Prepare for and respond to internal and external audits and regulatory inspections.
• Implement corrective actions and drive continuous improvement in compliance controls.
• Maintain audit readiness through regular self-assessments and control testing.
• Analyse trends and patterns and integrate findings into the broader compliance monitoring framework and governance processes.
• Develop reports and dashboards tailored to the specific needs of stakeholders, presenting data in a clear, concise, and actionable manner using visualisations and other aids as necessary.
• Prepare and present compliance submissions, reports, and insights to relevant compliance, risk, and governance committees to support informed decision-making.
• Manage and verify responses to regulatory queries, internal audits, ethics investigations, and assurance reviews relating to compliance.
• Collaborates with legal, ethics, financial crime, and business units to promote integrated compliance outcomes.
• Provide reports to ensure that compliance risks are considered and dealt with effectively and promptly.

Stakeholder Management

• Partner with internal stakeholders across the Bank to identify, assess, and manage compliance risks in line with regulatory and governance requirements.
• Liaise with external regulators, law enforcement, and industry bodies as required.
• Represent the bank in compliance forums and working groups to align expectations, gather insights, and ensure successful outcomes.

People Management

• Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing team, fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning to maximise individual and collective potential.
• Drive talent development initiatives, including coaching, performance management, and career pathing, to build and retain a skilled and motivated team.
• Provide direction and management to the Division, to enable strategy execution.
• Attract, retain, develop talent and ensure succession planning and sufficient capacity and capability in all critical functions, supporting diversity strategies and initiatives as well.
• Promote DBSA values and a culture of high performance through implementing performance management in line with the planned strategic objectives, goals, quality standards and agreed key performance measures using sound performance management principles.
• Contribute to building synergies & cooperation across functions in the DBSA.

Key Measurements of Outputs

• Effectiveness and coverage of compliance risk assessments, including timely identification and mitigation of key risks
• Reduction in the incidence and severity of regulatory breaches, and effectiveness and timeliness of remediation actions implemented.
• Quality, relevance, and risk impact of compliance reviews, assessments, and advisory interventions conducted across the organisation.
• Quality of regulatory guidance provided, and impact of compliance training and awareness initiatives on improving compliance culture and understanding.
• Quality and timeliness of reports to senior management, governance committees, and regulators.
• Audit readiness and outcomes, including the number of audit findings and the effectiveness of corrective actions implemented.
• Training coverage and effectiveness, measured by completion rates and post-training assessment scores across business units.
• Level of digital enablement in compliance controls, including automation of monitoring systems and adoption of analytics tools.
• Management of team performance, talent development, and succession planning using the performance management system.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Minimum Qualification

• A Postgraduate Degree in Law, LLB, Compliance, Business Administration, Risk Management
• Accredited / Certified Member of the Compliance Institute of Southern Africa (CISA)
• A certification in compliance management

Minimum Experience

• A minimum of 10 years in a compliance or regulatory risk function.
• Proven experience in the end-to-end compliance management
• Experience in interpreting legislation and applying compliance frameworks across business units.
• Experience in monitoring, advisory, or control development functions.
• Familiarity with regulatory bodies such as the Prudential Authority, Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC), etc.
• Proven experience in end-to-end compliance management.
• Deep knowledge of regulatory requirements, industry practice & risk management.

Desirable Requirements

• Familiarity with public sector and developmental finance regulatory frameworks and infrastructure-specific risks
• Experience within a financial institution, development finance institution, or a state-owned entity.

Deadline:17th July,2026