Job Description

Empowering Africas tomorrow, togetherone 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 The Head of Data Products is responsible for leading the design, development, and delivery of curated data products on GM's strategic data platform, which comprises a producer and consumer model. This role enables data consumers, such as analytics teams, to access high-quality, reliable data that drives business insights and innovation. The Head of Data Products will collaborate closely with data producers, engineers, analysts, and stakeholders to ensure data products meet business needs and align with strategic goals. Additionally, the role involves managing the data analytics team to ensure the timely delivery of analytics projects and actionable insights. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in data management, product management, data analytics, and cloud-based data architectures, with a particular emphasis on AWS technologies.Strategic Planning and Management

• Develop and implement a strategic roadmap for data products that aligns with business goals and objectives.
• Oversee the entire lifecycle of data products, from inception and development to deployment and continuous improvement.
• Support the execution of the roadmap by meeting requirements and collaborating with internal teams, including Development, Operations, and Sales.

Collaboration and Communication

• Collaborate with desk heads, sales, data analysts, architects, engineers, data scientists, product owners, and business stakeholders to gather requirements, develop use cases, and organize features for data design and access strategy.
• Foster a collaborative environment across data teams to ensure seamless communication and effective teamwork.
• Act as the primary point of contact for all matters related to GMs data products and their usage.

Business Case Development

• Develop comprehensive business cases that clearly outline the rationale, objectives, scope, deliverables, timelines, resource requirements, and expected outcomes of data products.
• Engage with key stakeholders to gather insights, validate assumptions, and build consensus around the business case for data products.
• Conduct rigorous strategic analysis to assess the potential risks, benefits, costs, and returns associated with data products.

Data Product Development and Integration

• Conduct a thorough assessment of data assets and products, including both internal and external sources.
• Develop a comprehensive roadmap for managing and optimizing data assets and data products to ensure they are leveraged effectively to drive business outcomes.
• Work collaboratively with Markets Asset Classes, Desks and Functions to identify opportunities for leveraging existing data assets and developing new data products to address business needs and opportunities.
• Provide guidance and support to develop high-quality, reliable curated data products that meet business objectives, organizational standards, comply with regulatory requirements, and adhere to industry standards and best practices.
• Work closely with data engineering teams to implement scalable, efficient data pipelines using AWS technologies.
• Oversee the integration of data products within an AWS mesh architecture to ensure seamless data flow and interoperability.

Compliance and Quality Assurance

• Ensure data products comply with data governance and security standards.
• Establish and enforce data quality standards and best practices for data product development and maintenance.
• Implement robust monitoring and auditing processes to maintain data integrity and security.
• Ensure compliance with data privacy regulations and organizational policies.

Analytics and Business Intelligence

• Enable data analytics and business intelligence initiatives by ensuring relevant data products are available and optimized for analysis.
• Collaborate with analytics teams to understand their data needs and provide tailored data solutions.
• Establish and enhance GM trading analytics and machine learning ecosystem, by developing innovative data products to enable decision-making and insights.
• Design and maintain polished and functional dashboards to support pathing analytics and product/feature usage.
• Gather insights from usage data and user research activities to assess market demand and improve data product offerings.
• Assist in conducting regular and ad-hoc analyses, data mining, and predictive analytics to provide leadership with actionable insights at tactical and strategic levels.

Innovation and Revenue Generation

• Design and develop new data products and solutions, including communication data, market event data, prospect marketing data, and sales personalization data.
• Enhance GM trading analytics and machine learning ecosystem by developing innovative data products to enable decision-making and insights.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to discover and package revenue-generating data product solutions.
• Drive the integration of data capabilities across platforms and consumers to create a unified customer experience between digital channels, desks, and the broader group.

Agile Product Development

• Provide support on product ownership in product reviews, prioritize backlogs, and manage agile product development.
• Plan, test, launch, roll out, and iterate new data product developments to deliver solutions at speed and scale.
• Gain understanding of how to provide pricing approaches and subscription models related to data products.

Stakeholder Management:

• Build and maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders within Global Markets and the broader group.
• Build trusting relationships with internal clients to facilitate proactive engagement on data product strategy and industry best practice.
• Provide strong leadership, direction and display behaviors, inspiring others to work together to achieve defined objectives.
• Contribute to desk initiatives with data, inclusive of activities that drive and inform a cohesive and collaborative culture.

The ideal candidate will have:

• Bachelors or Masters degree in computer science, Information Technology, Data Science, Business Analytics, Information Management, or a related field.
• 10-15 years working experience on projects related to data strategy / change.
• Involved in building the Data Analytics Strategy / Practice capability in an organisation, preferably within the Financial Services industry.
• Track record in managing teams for data analytics & insights.
• Desirable to have worked in a similar role in an Investment or Commercial Bank.

• Minimum of 8-10 years of experience in data product management, data analytics, or a related field.
• Minimum of 3 years working experience in a global or capital markets bank with a strong understanding of Global Market Sales & Trading business.
• Minimum of 3 years of experience managing data and analytics teams
• Extensive experience collaborating with various stakeholders, including desk heads, data analysts, architects, engineers, product owners, and business leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and manage cross-functional teams, including data engineers, data scientists, and product managers.
• Proven track record in developing and managing data products within a large organization.
• Extensive experience in agile product development, including product ownership, backlog prioritization, and managing product development cycles.
• Proven ability to plan, test, launch, roll out, and iterate new data product developments at speed and scale.
• Strong leadership and team management skills.
• Current working knowledge of data and analytics industry best practices
• Excellent communication and collaboration abilities.
• Deep understanding of data engineering, data solutions, data analytics, data governance, and data quality best practices.
• Relationship building and networking skills.
• Problem solving and analytical skills.
• Show commitment, collaboration, and creativity in your work.
• Written and verbal communication and presentation skills
• Proficiency in data modeling, ETL processes, and data pipeline development.
• Familiarity with data and analytics tools and data platforms, such as AWS S3, Redshift, Athena, Glue, and QuickSight.

EducationPostgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management StudiesAbsa 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

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