Financial Operational Readiness Manager

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

Incumbent should come from the financial industry, 5 years of experience. ITIL experience is essential. Work across tribes & embedded within squads to support the development & implementation of technology operational readiness plans & enable successful deployment of technology updates & changes in our production environments with minimal to no disruption & or impact to service provision to customers. Ensure the banks policy and standards for incident, problem and change management is adhered to.

Job Description

• Build knowledge & expertise in bank wide architecture & technology stacks (products & services) to enable effective operational readiness planning & execution
• Provide operational readiness support & advisory to Service Delivery & Technology Product & service tribes & squads
• Co-ordinate & consolidate operational readiness inputs (e.g. technology roadmaps) from a broad range of stakeholders including e.g. service delivery & technology teams at BU level for change & release planning
• Co-ordinate & facilitate BU level operational readiness & change & release planning processes
• Develop BU specific detailed change & release documentation & communication across the change & release lifecycle (reflecting the scope of the changes, risks & risk implications of proposed changes, prioritisation, schedules, resource requirements, roles & responsibilities, integration points, quality assurance processes, monitoring parameters and processes etc. Do this across the change & release lifecycle (pre-during-post change & release)
• Participate in integration processes at a portfolio level – to align operational readiness, change & release plans
• As a result of the above, identify operational readiness risks & opportunities and translate these to BU wide Service Delivery & Technology teams leading to operational readiness plan finalisation
• Prepare all BU specific change controls & change approval process documentation & participate (as required) in change governance forums
• Coordinate operational readiness reviews & document assessment outcomes & insights
• Leverage insights from operational readiness reviews & past events (DR, MIM etc.) to identify risks & suggest solutions in mitigation (integrate this at Portfolio level)
• Review operational readiness plan alignment to Group Architecture, Infrastructure, Security, DR & regulatory standards – identify risks and opportunities and suggest solutions in mitigation
• Document & administrate detailed project / program / orchestration plans for changes & releases at BU level. These plans must include: milestones, Go / No Go activities, detailed schedules, prioritization, interdependencies, testing & QA requirements, acceptance criteria, approvals etc. for all pre-prod & prod activity
• Develop & distribute change & release communications & align to portfolio communication plans
• Coordinate & oversee the successful implementation of all BU changes & releases (that form part of the broader portfolio plan)
• Monitor BU specific change & release performance & metrics post-prod, identify risk & implement mitigating actions
• Participate in incident & event management processes during the change / release process (where incidents occur) and ensure appropriate coordination across the value chain for their resolution
• Prepare BU change & release reporting (pre, during & post change & release)
• Stay ahead of the curve on operational readiness, change, release & incident management best practices
• Contribute to the continuous improvement of operational readiness frameworks & tools
• Support Digitization, Automation and Orchestration of the operational Readiness services and its catalogue of services and functions.

Accountability: Finance, Risk & Governance
• Participate in & prepare requirements for risk & governance processes e.g audit
• Support remediation on all non-compliant operational readiness activity– on time & quality & in alignment with Group & Regulatory standards
• Ensure alignment of all BU operational readiness plans to Group & Regulatory requirements
• Prepare effective MI, knowledge management & document management processes & practices aligned to Group & Regulatory standards and practices

Accountability: People
• Coach & mentor Service Delivery & Technical teams on operational readiness framework, tools & processes
• Positively contribute as a member of self-directed agile teams (including daily, weekly, etc. sprint routines, regular & honest feedback etc.)
• Conduct peer reviews, testing, problem solving within and across the broader team

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised