Strategy Development Consultant at Old Mutual South Africa

As part of the Group Strategy team, the successful candidate will be reporting to the Group Strategy Manager, and will be expected to;

• Support the strategy development process by shaping and driving analysis in order to produce insights that give direction to the business.
• Support the Strategy Managers by ensuring quality delivery of specific strands of work for complex projects.
• Be accountable for small to medium sized projects as appropriate.
• Assist with business case development, facilitation, encourage acceptance and commitment to strategic goals and drive communication of the strategic direction to the business.
• Provide a supporting role to the analysts in the team, sharing their knowledge of strategy development and approach to analysis.

KRA's

Strategy Development

• Supporting Strategy Managers in delivering strategy development projects and regular reporting for the Old Mutual Limited Exco and Board, including environmental scans, competitor reports and market share analysis
• Responsible for delivering on problem based work streams, at times through others, as input to initiatives to understand and address strategic issues
• Understanding and implementing approaches, methodologies and frameworks to generate strategic insights, to communicate complex issues easily and to build alignment
• Taking responsibility for end-to-end delivery of smaller strategy projects and areas of environmental analysis
• Providing credible input and challenge to business strategies
• Building knowledge of the broader business and the financial services industry and seeks to develop areas of thought leadership
• Facilitating efforts of the Strategy Managers, leadership and business units to link strategies and tactics of individual units to those of the broader organization

Problem Solving

• Ability to analyse and recognize client needs and propose ways to solve them
• Takes ownership of focused problems or complex work streams from hypothesis to conclusion
• Develops project approach with Strategy Manager, demonstrates ability to plan, manage and organize complex/large volumes of work
• Demonstrates an organized, structured, methodical approach to all tasks
• Coaches others on methodologies/problem-solving techniques

Delivery and Quality Analysis

• Numerical Analysis: Makes appropriate use of technical tools, uses appropriate structuring, clear formatting, transparent formulae and sourcing; embedded quality checks
• Financial Modelling & Analysis: Structures and builds complex financial models (integrated statements, activity based costing etc.); capable of scenario modelling/forecasting; capable of interrogating financial statements
• Research: Run a research-based assignment, managing analysts with minimal supervision; research is thorough (applicability and limitations are clearly articulated, output is consistent in the face of incomplete data), data is drawn to a clear appropriate picture; can do complex interviews, summarize interview programme and feed insight into slide structure; identifies trends and highlights insights

Industry & Company Analysis:

• Develops compelling analysis of competitive environment and market situation, highlighting key conclusions; presents compelling and appropriate picture of competitive/target environment, identifies trends, highlighting interesting companies, strategies etc.; identifies and explains anomalies.
• Develops the storyline to explain findings of work. Draws clear conclusions from research and analysis. Conclusions based on an understanding of industry trends, client positioning, business model etc.
• Delivers work of a quality equal to international consultancies. Maintains intensity through project.
• Meets deadlines and manages analyst deliverables to plan, maintaining an understanding of dependencies across multiple related work items. Resourceful and suggests ways to overcome task-related obstacles.

Team Focus

• Contributes to the development of and helps lead a focused team of ambitious, intelligent and analytical people.
• Provides quality checks and coach for work completed on initiatives
   

Job Requirements

• Top academics; preference for relevant Post Graduate degree such as Engineering, Business administration, Charted Accountant, Finance, etc.
• Extensive experience in specific discipline/profession/related industry - prior strategy development experience advantageous such as business consulting, working in strategy roles in financial services business, etc.
• Prior project and people management experience
• Structured, logical thinker with exceptional analytical skills
• Excellent communication, planning, organising and relationship building skills
• Sound business acumen
• Initiative to work independently
• Ability to recognize client needs and propose ways to solve them
   

Additional Details
COMPETENCIES

• Leading with Influence
• Collaboration
• Customer First
• Analysis
• Lateral thinking
• Strategic
• Innovation
• Personal Mastery
• Execution