Head Of Commercial, South Africa

Fnz (Uk) Ltd; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1 200 000 - 1 800 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading investment firm is seeking a Head of Commercial in South Africa. This pivotal role involves driving sales strategy, managing financial performance, and leading a dynamic team. The ideal candidate will possess strong leadership and financial acumen, alongside excellent stakeholder engagement skills. This is an opportunity to expand FNZ's presence in the market and promote innovative wealth management solutions to both existing and new clients. The position is integral to strategic growth in the region, aiming to deliver superior client value.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership qualities and ability to build constructive relationships.
• Ability to manage financial plans and P&L effectively.
• Strong understanding of investment products and regulatory principles.
• Confident with excellent communication and influencing skills.
• Fluent in English; Afrikaans is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Drive sales strategy and business development in South Africa market.
• Lead contract negotiations and on-board new customers.
• Oversee financial performance and adjust to drive profitability.
• Manage customer engagement and ensure timely project delivery.
• Expand FNZ's footprint in South Africa and promote solutions.

Skills

Leadership skills

Financial acumen

Stakeholder engagement

Sales strategy development

Project management

Emotional intelligence

Education

Degree in relevant discipline

Job description

Role Description The Head of Commercial, South Africa is responsible for all elements of the FNZ South Africa business with a clear focus on delivering greater value to the established customer base and the future growth of the business. Primary responsibilities include:

• Representing FNZ in the South Africa market with existing customers, prospects, market participants, service providers and regulators.
• Delivering the South Africa P&L in line with or ahead of the budget, and as part of the FNZ Group budget.
• Leading an effective, robust and cohesive matrixed senior leadership team who champion employee engagement by growing high performance teams, instilling trust and driving results through our people.
• Delivering long term value generation in the South Africa business in line with the 3 year plan.
• Continuous development, maintenance and execution of new sales in the South Africa market.
• Matrixed ownership and accountability for FNZ's client facing project delivery teams working on existing and new platform implementations.
• Harnessing the power of the global FNZ engine, building credible relationships at all levels and leveraging key stakeholders to deliver results in South Africa.
• Assume responsible person accountability for our local regulatory licences within a matrixed reporting with the Risk & Compliance function.
• Oversee transparent relationship management of our Regulators ensuring sound governance and risk management practises are in place for FNZ to remain compliant with all regulatory requirements.
• Reporting clearly and effectively to the Board and the FNZ Group Executive Committee.

Specific Role Responsibilities

Strategy Drive sales strategy, business development and sales activity for expanding existing customers and new customers in the South Africa market.

• Lead commercial and contracting discussions and sponsor the ‘on-boarding’ of new customers.

Financial Performance Drive a detailed understanding of the South Africa P&L and customer profitability and work with the South Africa Senior Leadership Team to make necessary adjustments to drive increased profitability.

Customer Implementation and Enhancement Projects Matrixed ownership of customer engagement resources including project management, project governance, business analysts, customer QA, technical and proposition consultants.

• Accountability for delivery on time and in line with project budget.
• Interface with the Technology, Operations and Delivery function to ensure delivery of projects.

Account Management Expand our footprint within South Africa, promote FNZ’s solutions and position the firm as the partner of choice for wealth management platform services.

• Delivery of world class account management function to ensure successful operating and strategic multi-layered relationships with customers.
• Manage growth of South Africa business via existing FNZ customers.

Sales Primary responsibility for sales to new and existing South Africa customers that meets or exceeds South Africa budget.

• Continue to develop the South Africa sales strategy that considers sectors, segments and specific opportunities.
• Interface with the Group Chief Commercial Officer & Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa and the Asia Pacific Middle East and Africa Senior Leadership Team, Group Head of Growth and other FNZ Global staff, on key strategic sales.
• Determine and appraise prospects, establish a pipeline of business with financial institutions and convert this into sales.
• Work with the Finance and Commercial teams to develop win / win commercial proposals and present contracts that ensure risks are identified and mitigated.

Proposition Design Provision of South Africa specific input into the FNZ product roadmap and overall proposition design.

• Build a detailed map of FNZ’s existing product suite and how it compares to our direct competitors and the wider financial services software and technology sectors.
• Use available information and insight to drive proposition development, sales and growth in conjunction with our existing customer Strategic Account Plans.

Regulatory Engagement Oversee relationship management of our Regulators with the upmost importance and professionalism.

• Assume responsible person accountability for our local regulatory licences.
• Trusted engagement with the FNZ South Africa Board, fulfilling all responsible person requirements and effective reporting to all relevant stakeholders.

People Leadership and Employee Engagement Provide leadership, direction setting and effective management to Direct Reports, both matrixed and direct.

• Champion the people engagement strategy for all staff across South Africa, actively demonstrate and embed a continuous improvement culture and values, drive teamwork and collaboration across departments, engender trust, loyalty and commitment throughout the team.
• Be an active member of the South Africa Leadership team and contribute to setting and executing the strategic plan.

Performance Assessment

Performance will be assessed in line with:

• Achievement of monthly, quarterly and annual financial targets set via the budget.
• Achievement of revenue and growth targets.

Achievement of the 3 year plan objectives.

Quantitative customer KPIs.

Qualitative feedback from direct reports via review process and group-wide staff surveys.

Formal feedback will be provided through:

• Monthly business review process.
• Annual performance review.

Experience Required

• Proven leadership qualities and ability to build constructive relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Able to operate at multiple layers within customer organisations from detail driven at lower levels to strategic at upper levels.
• Confident and able to take initiative, given Customer and delivery-focused environment.
• Evidence of successfully managing financial plans and a P&L.
• A strong understanding of the industry, investment products including tax, infrastructure, software development and support functions.
• A strong network across the C suite / Exec level of our target audience of financial institutions who are mid to large sized banks, wealth managers, life insurers, asset managers, workplace pension providers etc.
• Have a high level of understanding of country and regulatory principles and rules.
• Degree / qualification in a relevant discipline.
• High level of self‑awareness and emotional intelligence, possessing strong leadership, communication and influencing skills.
• Sound commercial skills, strong organisational and prioritisation skills, ability to work under pressure, multitask and meet set deadlines.
• Fluent in English; fluency in Afrikaans an advantage.

About FNZ

FNZ is committed to opening up wealth so that everyone, everywhere can invest in their future on their terms.

We know the foundation to do that already exists in the wealth management industry, but complexity holds firms back.

We created wealth’s growth platform to help.

We provide a global, end-to-end wealth management platform that integrates modern technology with business and investment operations.

All in a regulated financial institution.

We partner with the world's leading financial institutions, with over US$2.2 trillion in assets on platform (AoP).

Together with our clients, we empower nearly 30 million people across all wealth segments to invest in their future.