Strategic Initiatives Lead (110341) at Sasol

Short Description / Purpose of Job

• Lead the overall strategic initiatives execution and Strategic Initiatives Office to successfully deliver on the Commercial Business transformation plan and ensure all strategic and financial targets are met in both the short and long term.  
• Be accountable for the strategic identification and planning of initiative, including defining initiatives, identifying milestones, and laying out clear road maps for implementation. 
• Provide content input and support to guide the thinking and development of mission critical strategic initiatives. 
• Drive the tracking and reporting processes of the implementation of strategic initiatives against established milestones and KPIs.
• Facilitate the identification and resolution of roadblocks and interdependencies across the strategic initiatives and business units and processes. 
• Manage the outlining and fulfilment of financial requirements of the strategic initiatives, while ensuring the requirements are in line with policies and procedures.
• Apply a structured methodology across the transformation to ensure transparent and timely communication of the progress of the strategic initiatives to the Steering Committee and broader Sasol stakeholders.
• Enforce necessary consequence management on the responsible parties, particularly initiative owners, for the successful execution of the strategic initiatives.

Recruitment Description / Key Accountabilities

• Lead ideation sessions for the identification of any additional strategic initiatives required to meet the set transformation targets.
• Facilitate the effective definition, road-mapping, and delivery of all strategic initiatives.
• Develop an integrated transformation roadmap across all the strategic initiatives noting the interrelations and interdependencies.
• Define a prioritisation framework and manage the prioritisation of strategic initiatives as part of the integrated transformation roadmap.
• Ensure ongoing review and alignment of strategic initiatives with the overall transformation objectives and targets.
• Provide targeted and sufficient support to mission critical strategic initiatives for their definition, progression, and completion.
• Oversee and validate the detailing of financial uplift and required investments across all strategic initiatives and support in the allocation of budget/capital. 
• Ensure the human resource requirements across the strategic initiatives are identified and timely fulfilled by the Human Resources department. 
• Regularly engage strategic initiative leads as a ‘thought partner’ on the development and progression of their initiatives (i.e., provide guidance and advice on task prioritisation, issue identification and escalation etc.).
• Monitor and report on strategic initiative progress, value creation and overall financial health/budgets of the transformation to the Steering Committee and broader Sasol stakeholders as required.
• Manage the issue identification and resolution process; escalate when necessary.
• Identify and manage anticipated resistance across the initiative owners and broader Sasol stakeholder. 
• Recommend external advisors for support on initiatives and manage relationships with them.
• Establish/enforce company-wide adherence to the delivery of initiatives against defined milestones and KPIs by implementing consequence management for sub-par performance. 
• Across all Strategic Initiatives Office activities, ensure all Sasol compliance, policies and other internal and external standards are adhered to. 

Formal Education

• University Bachelor’s Honours Degree  
• Post-graduate Degree or MBA will be an advantage.

Min Experience

• 12+ years of strong transformation management experience, with 5+ years in a Management Consulting role or comparable Business Management role, preferably with specific experience in Energy Solutions.
• A strategic thinker with a proven track record in driving change and commercial delivery with deep experience in effectively leading and motivating teams. 

Closing Date: 8th, July 2022