Executive: Digital Product at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Summary

• Lead the end-to-end product lifecycle management of digital solutions that deliver exceptional user experiences and drive customer engagement within established commercial frameworks.
• Champion agile delivery methodologies, user-centered design, and data-driven product optimization to ensure solution relevance and business impact

Job Description

KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Lead product lifecycle management from conception to retirement across digital platforms.
• Drive agile product development and delivery methodologies within defined commercial frameworks.
• Ensure digital products meet user experience standards and performance requirements.
• Collaborate with Strategy & Commercialisation to align product features with monetization goals.
• Use customer feedback and analytics to optimize product functionality and adoption.
• Manage product backlogs, sprint planning, and cross-functional delivery teams.
• Ensure products meet regulatory, security, and quality standards.
• Drive continuous improvement in product development velocity and quality.
• Represent product management in strategic planning forums.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Execute product development strategies within commercial frameworks defined by Strategy & Commercialisation.
• Translate commercial requirements into product roadmaps and delivery plans.
• Define and implement agile product delivery methodologies that support business objectives.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure product strategies are executable and measurable.
• Translate long-term strategic objectives into aligned business plans, execution roadmaps and key milestone measurements for the business area.
• Cascade strategic goals and ensure alignment between business unit vision and functional implementation priorities, setting clear short, medium and long-term milestones.
• Develop effective partnerships to enable business performance and contribute to sector-wide influence aligned with strategic initiatives.
• Respond to emerging policy and regulatory trends by adapting operational strategy and ensuring compliance alignment.
• Coordinate business enablement efforts for Business Banking, ensuring delivery capability across systems, processes, and teams.
• Track execution progress against key strategic initiatives and intervene to correct course where needed.
• Support transformation initiatives through structured programme delivery and change management practices.
• Provide expert advice and support in operating model, strategy, and value chain formulation and delivery alignment.
• Identify practices and technologies that provide competitive advantage and enable knowledge sharing and integration of practice areas.
• Undertake analysis of management and specialist information and guide reporting tool implementation to improve decision-making quality.

Customer Primacy

• Champion customer-centric digital product development by embedding user feedback into design and delivery along with product business owners.
• Use data and insights to refine digital product features and enhance customer satisfaction.
• Ensure digital products deliver consistent, high-quality experiences across all touchpoints.
• Interpret market and customer insights to inform operational plans and prioritise capability investments.
• Utilise customer and product data to improve processes and propositions, ensuring measurable customer value delivery.
• Instill customer-centric decision-making in teams, balancing experience and efficiency targets.
• Implement initiatives that improve customer and product retention through operational enhancements.
• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives to deliver consistent customer journeys and service quality.

Client-Driven Innovation and Change

• Lead innovation in digital product design and delivery, leveraging emerging technologies and methodologies.
• Foster a culture of experimentation and continuous improvement within product teams.
• Translate client needs into actionable product enhancements that drive engagement and loyalty.
• Monitor competitive landscape and identify opportunities to improve products, services, or operations.
• Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the team to enhance customer outcomes.
• Shape client experience initiatives through project ownership and delivery responsibility.
• Lead operational change, ensuring readiness, engagement, and measured impact across delivery teams.
• Represent the voice of the customer within leadership forums to influence service delivery priorities.
• Plan and deliver services that create a culture which aims to exceed customer expectations in all aspects of the business whilst achieving product goals.
• Provide expertise in designing integrated frameworks to embed service excellence.

Sustainable Growth

• Establish a clear roadmap that prioritises products and features based on customer needs, business value and ROI.
• Ensure Governance of product performance including adoption, revenue, cost to serve, NPS scores and retention.
• Drive growth through the development and scaling of digital products that meet market demands.
• Identify opportunities for product expansion and diversification aligned with strategic priorities.
• Monitor product performance and adjust strategies to ensure long-term viability and impact.
• Develop business area growth plans aligned to segment and enterprise priorities.
• Work with business partners to define and execute on growth strategies and operational initiatives.
• Mobilise functional teams to deliver growth targets and embed performance accountability.
• Monitor growth delivery, resolving barriers and reinforcing strategic objectives at operational levels.
• Evaluate financial and customer returns on initiatives to ensure alignment with business viability.
• Formulate and develop multi-function operating frameworks that contribute to sustainable growth.
• Influence and communicate across all levels of the business to minimise resistance to change and ensure onboarding of target audiences.
• Scan the external environment to investigate alternative delivery models and offer innovative advice for competitive advantage.
• Drive change management activities across a single value chain for optimal adoption of change.

Leading Talent

• Build and mentor high-performing product teams with expertise in agile, UX, and digital delivery.
• Promote a collaborative and inclusive environment that supports innovation and growth.
• Develop future product leaders through targeted development and coaching.
• Embed people processes and values into business routines, reinforcing a strong leadership culture.
• Develop workforce capabilities to meet business plan execution requirements and future readiness.
• Create inclusive team environments that support performance, wellbeing, and growth.
• Address escalated people issues and ensure application of performance and development processes.
• Develop future leaders through mentorship, stretch assignments, and tailored development experiences.
• Provide expertise and advice in the development and implementation of human capability and accountability frameworks across functions.
• Direct the development and implementation of human capability strategies to support people management priorities.

Operational Effectiveness

• Establish and or contribute to product governance frameworks to ensure delivery efficiency and quality.
• Use performance metrics to guide product decisions and operational improvements.
• Resolve delivery bottlenecks and ensure alignment between product teams and business units.
• Operationalise strategic goals into functional plans with clear deliverables, timelines, scorecards with team and individual KPIs to enable effective tracking of business and individual performance.
• Set appropriate financial and other resourcing plans to enable business performance, tracking against budgets and investments for both current and long-term strategic goals
• Ensure integration across business units by resolving operational friction and dependencies.
• Represent the business area in operational forums and with delivery partners.
• Leverage data insights to improve operational effectiveness and customer outcomes.
• Continuously improve processes for agility, quality, and alignment with customer needs and digital tools.
• Identify problems and formulate alternate solutions to resolve value chain conflicts.
• Provide expert advice on operating model, strategy, value chain formulation, and business controls/governance frameworks.

Digital Adoption

• Accelerate the adoption of digital products across customer segments and internal teams.
• Promote self-service and automation features that enhance user experience and operational efficiency.
• Ensure digital products are integrated with enterprise platforms and aligned with business outcomes.
• Execute digital initiatives and promote adoption of technologies that improve efficiency and user experience.
• Monitor digital platform performance and ensure integration with business processes and outcomes.
• Deliberately identify opportunities to digitise, automate, and implement solutions for customer primacy, innovation, and operational effectiveness.

Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Embed compliance and governance into product development and lifecycle management.
• Monitor product-related risks and ensure mitigation strategies are in place.
• Support audit readiness and regulatory alignment across product portfolios.
• Implement governance, risk, and compliance frameworks in business processes and team routines.
• Promote risk awareness and lead the response to regulatory changes and emerging issues.
• Support audit readiness and ensure operational teams adhere to compliance requirements.
• Define and consolidate the risk profile for the business unit, manage critical risks, and ensure resolution feedback to stakeholders.
• Enable the development and implementation of integrated corporate governance frameworks in areas of specialisation.
• Influence the implementation of effective internal controls systems and corporate governance practices.

Data Monetisation

• Leverage product usage data to uncover insights and inform strategic decisions.
• Develop mechanisms to capture and analyse customer interactions for continuous improvement.
• Use data to identify new product opportunities and enhance existing offerings.
• Apply data insights to support business planning and decision-making in the business area.
• Develop mechanisms to ensure data is collected, validated, and used to drive performance improvement.
• Oversee the explicit use of data and its inherent value to explore opportunities and guide decisions.

Stakeholder Management

• Manage relationships with key stakeholders to support aligned delivery and issue resolution.
• Ensure stakeholder expectations are managed and engagement is consistent with transformation priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Education/ Qualification:

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]

Field of Study:

• Business Information Systems, Computer Science, Digital Product Design, or related fields.

Work Experience:

• 12 – 15 years experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank, including a track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.
• Experience must include developing integrated customer-centric product or service solutions or corporate practice development while working with and managing stakeholders across business and/or functional areas and budget management.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.
• Demonstrated success in leading digital product innovation, managing product lifecycles, and delivering customer-centric solutions that drive measurable business outcomes.
• Experience in engaging executive stakeholders in strategic product planning, prioritization of digital initiatives, and alignment of product delivery with enterprise transformation goals.

COMPETENCIES

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic Thinking
• Business Acumen
• Communication
• Influence
• Leadership
• Creativity and Innovation
• Delivering Results
• Adaptability
• Collaboration

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strategic Thinking and Commercial Acumen: proven ability to define and execute strategies to measurable commercial value.
• Analytical and data driven ability to use data and insights to inform decisions, optimise performance and create grounded business cases
• Customer Obsession: deep understanding of customer behaviour, needs and how to design digital solutions that are fit for purpose.
• Innovation and Growth Mindset: passion for exploring emerging technologies, new business models and disruptive opportunities
• Influence and Collaboration: String stakeholder management and ability to influence and executive level
• Execution Excellence: Track record of taking ideas from concept to commercial success
• Digital product lifecycle management
• Agile and lean product development
• Customer experience and UX design
• Data-driven decision-making
• Product performance analytics
• Strategic planning and execution
• Stakeholder engagement and communication
• Regulatory and compliance awareness
• Innovation and change leadership
• Digital platform integration

Education

• Bachelor’s Degree: Information Technology

End Date: October 17, 2025