Key Account Manager

Absa Group; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 60 000 - 100 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading South African bank is seeking a Corporate Key Account Manager to manage corporate payment acceptance and drive client growth. The role involves engaging with corporate clients, overseeing the sales pipeline, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. The ideal candidate will have over 5 years of experience in payments or corporate banking, a strong educational background, and the ability to build long-lasting relationships. This position offers an exciting opportunity to contribute to the bank’s growth and success while supporting corporate clients effectively.

Qualifications

• 5+ years’ experience in payments, merchant acquiring, corporate banking, or related financial services.
• Proven experience managing large or complex corporate clients.
• Experience working in a matrixed environment with product, operations, and risk teams.

Responsibilities

• Drive growth, profitability, and retention of merchant acquiring solutions.
• Act as the primary contact for assigned corporate merchants.
• Monitor operational performance metrics across assigned accounts.

Skills

Client Engagement

Sales Pipeline Management

Operational Excellence

Relationship Management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Commerce, or related field

Job description

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

The Corporate Key Account Manager (KAM) – Payment Acceptance is responsible for driving growth, profitability, and retention of merchant acquiring solutions across the bank’s strategic corporate clients. The role acts as the primary commercial and operational point of contact for assigned corporate merchants, managing the end-to-end sales pipeline, supporting onboarding and operational performance, and ensuring adherence to card scheme and regulatory requirements. The Corporate KAM works closely with Corporate Bankers, product, operations, and risk teams to embed payment acceptance as a core component of the broader corporate client relationship, while positioning the bank as a trusted long‑term payments partner.

Job Description

• Corporate Account Management & Client Engagement
• Serve as the primary relationship owner for payment acceptance across allocated corporate accounts.
• Develop and execute detailed account plans aligned to client needs, growth opportunities, and revenue targets.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with senior client stakeholders (finance, operations, IT).
• Sales & Pipeline Management
• Own and manage the end-to-end sales pipeline for corporate merchant acquiring opportunities.
• Identify new acquisition, expansion, and optimisation opportunities within existing client portfolios.
• Ensure accurate pipeline forecasting, reporting, and deal progression.
• Collaboration with Corporate Bankers
• Partner closely with Corporate Bankers to embed payment acceptance into broader client strategies.
• Support bankers in client pitches, deal structuring, and relationship reviews as the payment acceptance SME.
• Proactively identify joint opportunities across lending, cash management, and digital solutions.
• Operational Excellence & Client Support
• Act as the primary escalation point for operational issues affecting corporate merchants, including settlement, disputes, chargebacks, integration challenges, and terminal or platform performance.
• Coordinate with operations, technology, and support teams to ensure timely issue resolution.
• Monitor operational performance metrics (SLAs, uptime, turnaround times) across assigned accounts.
• Scheme Compliance & Penalty Management
• Drive adherence to card scheme rules and regulatory requirements across allocated corporate merchants.
• Educate clients on scheme obligations, best practices, and risk mitigation to reduce penalties.
• Monitor chargeback ratios, fraud indicators, and scheme performance metrics.
• Product Adoption & Innovation
• Promote and drive adoption of innovative and digital payment solutions across corporate clients.
• Position value‑added services and optimisation opportunities to improve client outcomes and margin.
• Capture client feedback and market insights to inform product enhancements and roadmap priorities.
• Risk, Governance & Reporting
• Ensure all sales and account activities comply with internal governance, pricing frameworks, and approval processes.
• Maintain accurate documentation for onboarding, pricing changes, and contractual amendments.
• Contribute to audits, reviews, and risk assessments as required.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Business, Finance, Commerce, or related field (preferred)
• 5+ years’ experience in payments, merchant acquiring, corporate banking, or related financial services
• Proven experience managing large or complex corporate clients
• Experience working in a matrixed environment with product, operations, and risk teams

Education

Bachelors Degree and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)

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