Technical Specialist: Model Development - Johannesburg at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Description

Stakeholder management

• Engage with key stakeholders across the business, ensuring their objectives, concerns and priorities are reflected in the agreed solutions.
• Facilitate delivery of the stakeholders’ requests through emails, group meetings and one-on-one discussions in a timely fashion. Tailor the interpretation of results to the audience and utilise appropriate presentation technology and templates.
• Explain methodologies and analyses that will assist internal and external audit as well as the SARB PA and representatives with requests.
• Generate appropriate challenge by discussing model build detail and ideas.

Expert Consultancy

• Stay abreast of industry trends and role players and ensure that the function is well positioned to provide competitive and industry leading services.
• Provide general consultancy within the cluster, including validation and challenge models, assisting in business forecasting and extrapolation analyses, compiling trend analyses by statistically comparing different scenarios. Use these analyses to make recommendations around next steps or decisions to be taken by business.
• Present analysis results to Technical Committees and Forums, as required. Take on relevant challenge and guidance from peers within the bank and improve models if needed.
• Scan the external market to understand future challenges and ensure that the function is positioned to deal with multiple and often contradicting scenarios across Absa.
• Provide appropriate challenge on model build and methodologies used in Absa by discussing model build detail and ideas in the relevant forums and meetings, ensuring that best practice modelling techniques are in place.
• Participate in the proof of concepts of new software within the bank, as required.
• Provide directional expertise to enhance model building skills within the team, ensuring increased capacity to build models, by transferring knowledge and experience gained.

Model Development 

• Obtain a theoretical understanding and gain experience in the practical application of model methodologies through model building experience and analysis of model outputs.
• Ensuring that model developments and documentation adhere to the Model Development and Documentation Standard.
• Present development checkpoints and analytical results to Model Owners and product Credit Risk Officers (CROs) with guidance from senior managers. Tailor the interpretation of results to the audience and utilise appropriate presentation technology and templates.  Ensure that feedback from business is incorporated into the model building process, ensuring that strategic and policy changes are reflected in the model.
• Communicate results and recommendations from analysis and modelling undertaken to other areas of Absa, for example the weekly Technical Discussion meetings. Tailor the interpretation of results to the audience and utilise appropriate presentation technology and templates.
• Ensure that analysis, development code and workings are stored on the appropriate servers, and that version control is adhered to.
• Ensure that submissions to the Internal Validation Unit (IVU) are made in accordance to agreed timelines and adheres to the Model Validation Requirements.
• Provide support to IVU, Internal and External Audit during reviews of developed models.  This includes responding to questions, and reworking the model build to include issues raised, if necessary.
• Ensure successful and seamless implementation of vendor and in-house models by assisting the model implementation team. This can be done by answering technical questions around the model workings and assisting with comparing implementation results with prototype results, as well as to impacts submitted to IVU. Review the Post-Implementation Review of the model.
• Ensure full governance processes are followed as documented in the Group Model Risk Policy (GMRP), from the inception of the model development through to the validation and sign-off.
• Ensure that the first round of monitoring packs is prepared and handed over to the Central Monitoring team in accordance with agreed timelines and the proposed monitoring plan.

Governance and Adherence

• Ensure that governance relating to SAS Model Risk Manager (MRM) is followed during the model life cycle.
• Ensure model compliance with Absa Group Policies and Standards by staying updated with changes and ensuring that new model developments always adhere to the Policies and Standards.
• Notify senior management and stakeholders in case of any non-adherence to Policies and Standards are identified. Participate in discussions aimed to resolve these gaps.

Leadership

• Contribute to the development of a high-performance culture within the team, while maintaining integrity.
• Lead by example, driving excellence.
• Participate in planning, resource allocation, training, and team-building functions.

Continuous self-development and growth

• Stay abreast of knowledge and skills, soft and technical, relevant to the level and area of work, aligned with the internal skills framework provided.
• Identify training that will assist with the development and enhancement of the identified skills.
• Engage with line manager to develop a plan on how to grow and develop the skills required to take the next step.

Education

• Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)