Product Owner (operations - Automation)

The overall purpose of the role

• The Operations Shared Services: Product Owner provides operational, governance, planning, reporting and portfolio management support to the Head of Shared Services.
• The incumbent is responsible for coordinating strategic initiatives, maintaining governance frameworks, tracking delivery against objectives, managing reporting cycles, facilitating stakeholder engagement, and supporting continuous improvement activities across Shared Services.
• The role acts as a central coordination point, ensuring visibility, consistency, accountability and effective execution of business priorities while enabling leadership to focus on strategic decision-making.

Key responsibilities

Business Planning and Performance Management (25%)

• Coordinate annual business planning activities.
• Maintain departmental scorecards and KPI tracking.
• Consolidate monthly, quarterly and annual performance reports.
• Monitor delivery against strategic objectives.
• Identify risks to delivery and escalate where appropriate.
• Support preparation of Executive, MANCO and SteerCo submissions.

Governance and Risk Coordination (20%)

• Coordinate governance deliverables across Shared Services.
• Maintain annual governance calendar.
• Track policy reviews and governance actions.
• Coordinate BCM, TCF, DPR and other compliance activities.
• Track audit findings and management actions.
• Prepare governance reporting packs.

Portfolio, Project and Initiative Tracking (20%)

• IT product ownership
• Maintain the Shared Services project and initiative portfolio.
• Track progress of strategic initiatives.
• Coordinate updates from initiative owners.
• Monitor benefits realization.
• Prepare status reporting.

Financial and Operational Administration (10%)

• Support budget tracking and expenditure monitoring.
• Assist with business case preparation.
• Monitor vendor and contract administration.
• Track resource allocation and capacity information.

Stakeholder and Executive Support (15%)

• Coordinate management meetings and workshops.
• Track actions and decisions.
• Prepare presentations and briefing packs.
• Facilitate communication across business units.
• Support stakeholder engagement activities.

Continuous Improvement and Automation Support (10%)

• Identify opportunities for process simplification.
• Maintain the improvement opportunity register.
• Support automation and AI initiatives.
• Track realization of operational benefits.

Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications

Degree or Diploma in:

• Business Management
• Commerce
• Operations Management
• Project Management
• Industrial Psychology
• Similar field

Experience

• 3-5 years business support or business management experience.
• Experience in financial services advantageous.

Experience in:

• Reporting
• Governance
• Project administration
• Business planning
• Stakeholder coordination

Knowledge and Skills

Technical

• Advanced Excel
• PowerPoint
• Power BI (basic to intermediate)
• SharePoint
• MS Teams
• Power Automate (advantageous)
• Reporting and dashboard creation

Behavioral competencies

• Cultivates Innovation - Creating new and better ways for the organisation to be successful.
• Client Focus - Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Drives Results - Consistently achieving results and meets deadlines, even under tough circumstances.
• Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
• Resilience - Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.