Executive Head: CVM Retentions

Vodacom; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 2,000,000 - 2,800,000; Full time

Job summary

Vodacom South Africa is seeking an Executive Head of Retentions to define and execute prepaid and postpaid retention across the Consumer Business Unit. You will lead a team of retention, analytics, and commercial specialists to drive churn reduction, save and win-back performance across multiple channels.

The role partners with segments, digital, finance and product teams to ensure insight-led, compliant, and commercially sustainable retention activities.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or honours degree in commercial management, finance, engineering, statistics, informatics, data science, marketing or a related field.
• People management experience is essential.
• Direct marketing, CVM, lifecycle management or commercial analytics experience is essential.
• Telecommunications industry experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience in digital campaign management, marketing automation, data-driven decisioning or agile delivery is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Define and approve annual and quarterly retention strategy across prepaid and postpaid.
• Own end-to-end retention operating rhythm: churn prevention, save desk, upgrades, recontracting, renewals.
• Lead design, execution, monitoring and optimisation of retention initiatives across channels.
• Define priorities, segments, eligibility rules, contact strategies and offer frameworks.
• Partner with multiple teams to execute integrated retention plans across the customer lifecycle.
• Drive postpaid retention outcomes including upgrades and recontracting.
• Drive prepaid retention outcomes including churn reduction and migration opportunities.
• Use analytics, segmentation and test-and-learn to improve retention effectiveness.
• Govern retention offers, discounts and customer lifetime value.
• Manage third-party providers to deliver campaigns and journeys to standards.
• Ensure compliance with POPIA, consent, ICASA rules and governance.
• Build and lead a high-performance team with clear priorities and development.
• Drive value growth strategies across retained customers and lifecycle monetisation.
• Lead transformation of retention processes and channel strategies for efficiency.

Skills

People management

Commercial analytics

Direct marketing/CVM

Digital retention/marketing automation

Education

Bachelor’s or honours degree in business/engineering/data science

Job description

When it comes to putting people first, we're number 1.

The number 1 Top Employer in South Africa.

Certified by the Top Employer Institute 2026.

Role Purpose/Business Unit

• Executive Head: Retentions is responsible for defining and executing Vodacom South Africa’s prepaid and postpaid retention strategy across the Consumer Business Unit. The role is accountable for reducing churn, protecting customer lifetime value, improving save and win-back performance, and driving commercially sustainable customer lifecycle interventions across assisted, digital and self-service channels.
• This includes leading a team of retention, campaign, analytics and commercial specialists to design, execute and optimise proactive and reactive retention initiatives across retail, call centre, VodaPay, USSD, WhatsApp, SMS, digital and social media channels. The role works closely with Segment, Sales and Distribution, Digital, Customer Operations, Finance, Pricing, Product, Technology, Big Data, Legal, Regulatory and Compliance teams to ensure retention activity is insight-led, customer-centric, compliant and commercially accretive.
• The Executive Head: Retentions is also responsible for high-quality executive reporting and storytelling on retention performance across segments, including churn trends, save performance, upgrade and recontracting outcomes, prepaid inactivity and dormancy, win-back, campaign ROI, customer experience and commercial impact.

Your Responsibilities Will Include

• Define, consolidate and obtain approval for the annual and quarterly retention strategy across prepaid and postpaid, aligned to the Consumer Business Unit, Segment and CVM commercial roadmaps.
• Own the end-to-end retention operating rhythm across proactive and reactive retention, including churn prevention, save desk support, upgrades, recontracting, renewals, prepaid inactivity management, win-back and high-risk customer treatments.
• Lead the design, execution, monitoring and optimisation of retention initiatives across retail, call centre, VodaPay, USSD, WhatsApp, SMS, digital and social media channels.
• Define retention priorities, target segments, eligibility rules, contact strategies, offer frameworks and channel allocation recommendations, ensuring decisions are supported by analytics, commercial impact and customer experience considerations.
• Partner with Segment, Sales and Distribution, Digital, Customer Operations, Finance, Pricing, Product, Technology, Big Data, Legal, Regulatory and Compliance teams to execute integrated retention plans across the customer lifecycle.
• Drive postpaid retention outcomes including upgrades, renewals, recontracting, SIM-only retention, device-led retention, in-life migrations, add-on lines, high-value customer protection and contract churn reduction.
• Drive prepaid retention outcomes including recharge stimulation, active days improvement, dormancy and inactivity prevention, prepaid churn and port-out risk reduction, bundle engagement, loyalty-led retention and prepaid-to-postpaid migration opportunities.
• Use advanced analytics, segmentation, churn propensity, next-best-action, next-best-offer, test-and-learn experimentation and incremental impact measurement to improve retention effectiveness and commercial return.
• Govern retention offers, incentives and discounts to balance churn reduction, customer value, revenue, margin, customer experience and long-term lifetime value.
• Manage third-party providers and internal delivery partners to ensure retention campaigns, call centre support, digital journeys and customer treatments are delivered to agreed commercial, operational and customer experience standards.
• Ensure all retention activity complies with POPIA, consent management, marketing communication rules, ICASA requirements, Treating Customers Fairly principles, campaign governance and internal auditability requirements.
• Build, coach and lead a high-performance team, establishing clear priorities, performance cadence, capability development, succession planning and cross-functional ways of working.
• Drive customer value growth strategies across retained customers through lifecycle monetisation, engagement expansion, value management and loyalty optimisation.
• Drive continuous improvement and transformation of retention processes, channel strategies, customer journeys, processes and technologies to improve efficiency, effectiveness and customer outcomes

The Ideal Candidate For This Role Will Have

• Bachelor’s or honours degree in commercial management, finance, engineering, statistics, mathematics, informatics, data science, marketing or a related field.
• People management experience is essential.
• Direct marketing, CVM, lifecycle management or commercial analytics experience is essential.
• Telecommunications industry experience is strongly preferred.
• Experience in digital campaign management, marketing automation, data-driven decisioning or agile delivery is advantageous.

Core Competencies, Knowledge And Experience

• 8–10+ years’ relevant experience in telecommunications, commercial management, CVM, base management, retention, lifecycle management, direct marketing, digital marketing or analytics-led commercial execution.
• 4+ years’ experience leading teams, including performance management, coaching, prioritisation, capability building and stakeholder management.
• Deep understanding of prepaid and postpaid retention levers, including churn prevention, save desk operations, upgrades, recontracting, renewals, win-back, dormancy prevention, recharge stimulation and customer lifecycle management.
• Strong commercial acumen with experience balancing revenue, ARPU, margin, customer lifetime value, customer experience and retention investment.
• Strong understanding of assisted and digital channels including call centre, retail, VodaPay, USSD, WhatsApp, SMS, digital marketing and social media.
• Excellent knowledge of analytics, segmentation, propensity modelling, churn modelling, campaign measurement, control groups, A/B testing and incremental impact measurement in a marketing or CVM environment.
• Experience working with cross-functional teams across Segment, Sales, Digital, Customer Operations, Finance, Pricing, Product, Technology, Big Data, Legal, Regulatory and Compliance.
• Strong executive communication, storytelling and presentation skills, including the ability to translate complex commercial and analytical insights into clear actions and decisions.
• Experience managing third-party providers, commercial agreements, service levels and delivery performance.
• Experience leading the evolution of retention decisioning capabilities through AI, predictive analytics, machine learning, real-time customer decision management, marketing automation, personalisation, next-best-action and next-best-offer to improve customer outcomes and commercial performance.

Closing date for Applications: 15 September 2026

The base location for this role is Midrand, Vodacom Campus.

The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.

Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.