Manager, E-Commerce at Absa Bank Limited

Job Summary

• Reporting to Merchant Acquiring Product Manager, the role holder will formulate and execute the new merchant acquiring business initiatives such as Ecommerce, QR payments, mPOS, BNPL and marketplace to hold and grow the bank’s market share in the acquiring business in line with the bank’s payment’s strategy. The role holder shall also be responsible for managing the performance of the products through the entire lifecycle ensuring that customer value and ROI are optimized. The role shall interact with partners who are co-creators in the product development and management process.

Job Description

Key accountabilities ​and approximate time split

Business Development – time split 40%

• Develop and implement merchant-acquiring product strategies to hold and grow the bank’s market share, revenue, and profitability in line with the Bank’s transformation strategy.
• Define compelling merchant acquiring value propositions by understanding customers’ needs, pains, and gains.
• Provide technical sales support to the relationship managers and business bankers in prospecting and closing on eCommerce opportunities and following through to implementation
• Help in identifying the unique needs of merchants, payment aggregators, fintech, and the developer community and support in curating compelling proposals that meet customer needs
• Own the E-commerce Strategy, product roadmap and, go to market efforts in line with the bank’s overall payments strategy
• Champion capacity-building initiatives to the customer-facing teams
• Identify, develop, and support the execution of acquisition marketing campaigns

Product Development – time split 30%

• Effectively champion and gain buy-in for the eCommerce strategy, product vision, and roadmap from partner teams through collaboration, documentation, and negotiation
• Support the development of superior user experience and processes on the merchant-acquiring channels
• Support product launches to ensure go-to-market plans are effective and will deliver the planned performance indicators – financial and customer targets.
• Develop detailed, crisp business requirements and user stories that can be used to create product specifications and architecture for each product and application and model price and value propositions for merchants acquiring products and services.
• Work closely with the Business Units, Technology, Marketing, Project Management, and Operations teams to deliver products from ideation to market.
• Proactively identify and resolve strategic issues that may impair the team’s ability to meet strategic, financial, and technical goals
• Develop innovative solutions that will be delivered through digital and/or electronic channels that respond to market needs or identified gaps in the market.
• Identify and develop product performance metrics to ensure the attainment of business case objectives.
• Continuous propagation of process innovation to maximize competitive advantage.

Stakeholder Engagement – time split 20% 

• Identify and manage internal stakeholders and external partnerships including technology and service vendors, commercial partners, and internal support teams to deliver on project deliverables.
• Assemble and manage the project teams.
• Secure and maintain business commitment/involvement from stakeholders and obtain feedback at all stages of the project.
• Analyze feedback from stakeholders and determine the way forward.
• Monitor and manage Project progress, project scope, and control change.
• Identify strategic and cross-functional issues.
• Establish and manage appropriate project Risk, Opportunities, Change, and Issue management procedures.
• Forecast and ensure delivery of likely business benefits.
• Manage compliance with Absa project practices and methodologies.
• Ensure the business is prepared for the change, including agreement of acceptance criteria and sign-off.
• Determine the readiness of service and obtain sanction to proceed to roll-out
• Review the pilot and assess the quality of deliverables and controls.
• Ensure the impact of the project on the operational and IT infrastructure is accessed and communicated.
• Ensure the project deliverables are presented to the business within timescales contained in the Project plan and within budgets agreed on inception.
• Prepare project reports within specified standards and timescales.
• Manage Project Interdependencies.

People Management – time split 10% 

• Foster a positive, prideful work environment with open communications and timely resolution of conflicts.
• Cascade information to the project team and give briefs on assignments and technical explanations.
• Review and assess the performance of project team members against plans.
• Discuss and finalize performance development plans and ratings for your direct reports.

Role/person specification

Preferred Education

• A Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Business Management, Information Technology, or related fields

Preferred Experience

• 5 years of experience in product development in a financial services environment
• At least 2-3 years of specific experience in:
  • Merchant acquiring product development
  • E-commerce and QR Payments
  • Digital Product Development.
  • Project Management
• A postgraduate qualification is an added advantage
• In-depth knowledge of competitors and local market activity
• In-depth knowledge of payment gateway flows and integrations

Knowledge and Skills

• Certification Digital Product Development/ Project Management/ AGILE Methodologies and Practice

Technical Competencies

• Knowledge and experience in developing and implementing innovative product offerings.
• Knowledge and experience in the implementation of digital platforms and solutions end to end
• Strong commercial/ entrepreneurial acumen
• Strong networking skills at a high level
• Highly developed analytical and perceptive skills
• Ability to develop, plan, execute, and implement according to corporate and project plan strategies
• Change management
• Team working – building and developing high performance
• Proven people, leadership, and negotiation skills.
•  A result-driven ‘team player’, personality with a willingness and ability to work in a dynamic working environment.
• Innovative, with prior experience in product development.
• Strong communication skills both in person and in writing with excellent presentation skills.
• Strong organizational skills
• Enthusiastic attitude and focus on results.
• A high aptitude and comfort level with technical environments and the ability to work in a highly demanding environment and able to meet aggressive deadlines.