Senior Manager - Managed Networks Wholesale and Carrier Services at MTN

Job Description

•  To define and lead the National Roaming and MVNO strategies for Managed Network Services, maximising MTN’s growth, profitability and market share in   
•  alignment with the overall Wholesale business strategy.
•  To set, manage and deliver the acquisition, sales and service strategy elements for National Roaming and MVNO ensuring seamless and fully integrated service          delivery.
• To provide technical design input on all Managed Network Solutions. To lead the projects of technical solutions for the Managed Network Services business unit,        including complex network infrastructure solutions, Carrier Services solutions and products - in support of Managed Network Service strategy

Responsibilities

Strategy Development and Strategic input

• Design, challenge and implement the long-term commercial strategy for the National Roaming and MVNO portfolios, ensuring alignment of all activities undertaken in the unit to the overall Wholesale strategy, whilst achieving alignment with the strategic objectives and requirements of MTN SA. 
• Provide input into the business plan to ensure delivery to key customers and markets, ensuring competitiveness on all elements and coordinated efforts between MTN and its Wholesale business partners. 
• Provide input into reviewing organisational activities and assist in recommending corrective actions if necessary. 
• Contribute towards long-term forecasts and predictions (2-5 years), analysing trends and highlighting areas of the business that may be developed further. 
• Oversight of the project management framework and strategy to enable product/service delivery on revenue and cost targets, aligned to industry best practice, MTN SA and MTN Group.
• Oversee the project management function for all MNS initiatives related to National Roaming and MVNO.
• Interpret strategic plan and formulate strategic deliverables to be executed via the set commercial framework for Wholesale.
• Design complex project plans in conjunction with EPMO to deliver solutions for the Managed Network Services business.
• Design framework of account budget support in line with business objectives and individual customer needs.

Operational Planning

• Set acquisition, retention and profitability objectives and targets for National Roaming and MVNO business partners and ensure the translation of strategy into action plans. 
• Drive execution of National Roaming and MVNO implementation plans in alignment with operational targets and business strategy and initiate corrective actions where applicable. 
• Ensure execution of initiatives and activities at national and regional level. 
• Liaise with the relevant areas of the business to ensure cross-functional integration, and to ensure delivery of customer experience according to predetermined SLA’s. 
• Consider the long term (1-2 years) implications of actions on the viability of the business from a broader perspective, whilst also considering the impact of solutions on other areas of the business and the interdependency of units. 
• Continuous monitoring of the marketplace and proactively liaise with Strategic Product Development, Network Group and other Sales and Service teams, to adapt plans where relevant. 
• Drive best practice, continuous improvement and innovation at process and procedure level within National Roaming and MVNO.

Market Share Growth

• Keep abreast of, alert BU heads to, and pursue opportunities to increase sales network and sales within the National Roaming and MVNO scope. 
• Ensure best trade partner selection within the scope of the National Roaming and MVNO segments and manage and monitor performance and relationships. 
• Participate in negotiations with key business partners within the National Roaming and MVNO scope, following Sales & Service Assurance and strategic BU guidelines. 
• Conduct research and acquire relevant information to prepare / guide the preparation of all necessary documentation for negotiations with prospective business partners in line with Wholesale BU guidelines, policies and procedures. 
• Conduct and assist in the relevant analysis of market knowledge, trends and competitive information. 
• Ensure a high performance and competitors benchmarking, performing gap analyses as appropriate. 
• Keep the business abreast of competitor offerings and propositions to mitigate loss in sales revenue. 
• Influence national and strategic accounts to increase in specific geographic target areas as per MTN market share strategy. 

Account Management

• Develop, manage and maintain an account management framework for the National Roaming and MVNO portfolios. 
• Own and deliver key relationships at business partners’ senior levels, negotiating, closing and managing the account requirements as appropriate. 
• Plan an efficient and effective sales process that ensures on time delivery and maximising opportunities. 
• Ensure sell through and up-selling of the end-to-end Wholesale product portfolio to maximise share of distribution. 
• Liaise with Marketing to ensure that business partner specific POS materials that are MTN co-branded are reviewed and approved in line with MTN Brand CI guidelines. 
• Liaise with Marketing and Training to ensure training programmes are developed to meet the needs of internal and external stakeholders. 
• Monitor, manage and resolve or escalate channel conflicts. 
• Establish / grow value of contracts with National Roaming and MVNO business partners through cross and up-selling of the end-to-end suite of Wholesale products. 
• Drive operational excellence and performance improvement for the area, including development and implementation of appropriate sales tools and liaise with the relevant business support areas for implementation. 
• Co-planning with National Roaming and MVNO business partners to develop and implement innovative promotional plans including marketing and sales promotions.
• Forecast devices / P&S (Products and Services) needs for the National Roaming and MVNO portfolios and liaise with relevant areas to ensure availability. 
• Monitor and control the financial planning aspects of account economics for the National Roaming and MVNO portfolios. 
• Track and optimise accounts performance in terms of cost and revenue contribution, monitoring results and revising accounts to identify corrective actions and action plan revision where applicable. 
• Manage cost of sales to ensure compliance with budget. 
• Maintain and improve PPP’s and systems to deliver the strategy and meet organisational goals. 

Planning and Delivery 

• Lead and direct virtual project teams to develop and operate complex MNS projects, including infrastructure sharing, interconnect, roaming and other wholesale solutions. 
• Define and form the project teams for complex MNS projects dependent on delivery requirements.
• Oversee testing, monitoring and reporting of user acceptance tests of all new and enhanced project management services thereby ensuring quality control with the aim of improving the quality parameters.
• Ensure compliance with business and technology strategies.
• Define the standards and set targets for performance across the sub-division and identify the parameters for measurement of performance.
• Monitor performance against business plans (i.e. business plan tracking) as well as alignment with MTN global strategy and industry best practices.
• Review performance of MNS products and services against forecasts and agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and review service level agreements.
• Estimates cost effectiveness, points of risk, opportunities, strengths and weaknesses of solutions.
• Oversee the measurement and management of products and services in light of their performance within market.
• Report to the Wholesale BU heads on progress made within the National Roaming and MVNO portfolios with respect to progress on solutions.

Profitable Growth 

• Sign off approval on new initiatives.
• Provide costing of complex solutions.
• Prepare proposal on change initiatives, SLA policies and procedures.
• Manage and resolve issues that will result in severe time, scope, productivity and cost or resource impact; and resolve and provide guidance to issues escalated.
• Drive major client engagement to identify and deliver complex solutions.
• Drive adequate risk mitigation and controls and elicit inputs from relevant parties.

People and Culture 

• Lead and direct physical and virtual teams.
• Act as an ambassador and role model for MNS team by living the brand values and vital behaviours.
• Make environment the best place to work.
• Improve the employee engagement index through the GCA by implementing interventions to enhance employee experience of the Wholesale BU.
• Ensure the attraction, development and retention of talent.
• Build a professional and differentiated relationship with external customers.
• Ensure a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement.
• Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management.

Governance and Control

• Strictly follow and ensure team compliance of relevant policies and procedures.
• Ensure effective SLA strategies are in place to support the business.
• Implement proper controls and processes to minimise revenue leakage.
• Ensure proper project controls are in place to manage financial and operational risks across the business. 
• Appropriate implementation of DoA.

Financial Management

• Develop and manage the operational budget in line with business objectives.
• Develop and manage project initiative budgets in line with business objectives.
• Ensure that the “cost of operations” is reduced, in line with a least cost operating strategy stemming from the business drivers.

Stakeholder Management

• Hold strategic meetings, ensure relevant participation and provide guidance and support in the various discussions.
• Manage Executive stakeholder relationships with MNS customers and Technology Providers.
• Ensure relationships with business partners and customers are maintained and contracts are adhered to.
• Identify clear win-win situations with external partners.

Project Delivery

• Develop and drive the execution of agreed projects. 
• Drive the implementation, tracking, monitoring and compliance of projects.
• Contract management in line with procurement policies.
• Co-ordinate project reporting.
• Ensure effective implementation of the integrated project management model. 
  Risk management.

Business Analysis

• Determine, document, and review requirements for projects within the scope of the value stream or impacting processes and systems. 
• Design, analyse and document workflow and make appropriate recommendations that will positively impact operational effectiveness.
• Identify business improvement and optimisation opportunities that will result in improvement of process performance. 

Qualifications

Education:

• Minimum of 4-year Commercial and/or Engineering Technology degree 
• MBA or Masters in relevant field of study advantageous
• Fluent in English

Experience: 

• Management level track record of 2 years or more; with at least 5 years’ experience in commercial management and technical project delivery.
• Experience working in the design, build and operation of mobile network operator infrastructure.
• Experience in designing solutions of network technologies.
• Worked across diverse cultures and geographies

Training:

• Customer Services.
• Leadership Training.