Senior Product Owner

Vodafone Group Plc; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 810,000 - 990,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Incentives

Retirement fund

Medical aid

Phone & data benefits

Fibre connection discounts

Staff discounts

Job summary

Vodacom is seeking a Product Owner to drive strategy, roadmap, and development for our payment wallet. You will work across IT, Finance, Legal, and Marketing to define features, prioritize goals, and ensure timely releases.

Ideal candidates have a 3-year business degree and at least 5 years in product/fintech roles, with strong leadership and regulatory awareness. This on-site role is based at Vodacom Campus in Midrand and offers competitive benefits.

Qualifications

• 3-year business degree required; MBA or postgraduate management qualification desirable.
• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in product/fintech roles.
• Leadership or supervisory experience is essential.

Responsibilities

• Define and communicate a clear product strategy aligned with company goals.
• Develop and maintain the payment wallet roadmap with stakeholder input.
• Lead agile development and oversee feature releases.
• Conduct market and customer research to inform improvements.
• Collaborate with IT, legal, finance, sales, and marketing.
• Monitor performance metrics and ensure regulatory compliance.

Skills

Product Strategy

Roadmap Planning

Feature Definition

Agile Leadership

Release Management

Customer Research

UX Design

Customer Support

Revenue Growth

Competitive Analysis

Financial Management

Stakeholder Management

Team Leadership

Engagement

Communication

Regulatory Compliance

Risk Management

Innovation

Analytics

Performance Monitoring

Education

Business Degree

MBA (Desirable)

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:

Vodacom Financial and Digital Services is on a journey to become the South Africa’s leading fintech company with VodaPay as the first and largest super-app in South Africa.

This Product Owner role is responsible for driving innovation, customer satisfaction, and business growth. The role will work closely with a lot of important internal stakeholder departments like IT, Finance, Legal & Regulatory, Finance, Operations, Project Office, Growth, Sales, and Marketing as well as external stakeholders like Regulators, Banks, Switches, Payment Hubs and Aggregators to achieve business objectives.

This role requires strong expertise in Strategy and Vision, Product Development and Management, Customer Focus, Business Alignment, Compliance and Risk Management, Innovation and Continuous Improvement as well as Reporting and Analytics.

Your responsibilities will include:

Strategy and Vision

• Product Strategy: Develop and communicate a clear product strategy aligned with company goals and market demands.
• Vision: Define the long‑term vision for the payment wallet product, incorporating emerging technologies and market trends.

Product Development and Management

• Roadmap Planning: Create and maintain the product roadmap, prioritizing features based on customer feedback, market research, and business objectives.
• Feature Definition: Work closely with stakeholders to define product features and specifications, ensuring alignment with user needs and business goals.
• Agile Leadership: Implement agile methodologies for product development, ensuring efficient and timely delivery of features and improvements.
• Release Management: Oversee the release process, coordinating with development, marketing, and customer support teams to ensure smooth product launches.

Customer Focus

• Customer Research: Conduct market research and gather customer feedback to identify opportunities for product enhancement and new feature development.
• User Experience (UX): Collaborate with UX/UI designers to create intuitive and user-friendly interfaces that enhance the overall customer experience.
• Customer Support: Work with customer support teams to address product-related issues promptly and effectively, maintaining high customer satisfaction levels.

Business Alignment

• Revenue Growth: Drive initiatives to increase product adoption and revenue generation, collaborating with sales and marketing teams on go‑to‑market strategies.
• Competitive Analysis: Monitor competitors and industry trends to identify competitive threats and opportunities for differentiation.
• Financial Management: Manage business cases and the product budget effectively, ensuring resources are allocated appropriately to meet business objectives.

Cross-functional Collaboration

• Stakeholder Management: Build strong relationships with internal stakeholders (IT, marketing, sales) to ensure alignment and support for product initiatives. With external stakeholders like the Telco teams, the Partner Bank and Switches/Aggregators and Partners
• Team Leadership: Provide leadership and mentorship to the product team, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and accountability.
• Engagement: Create a high level of employee engagement to deliver best in class digital payments solutions
• Communication: Clearly communicate product plans, status updates, and performance metrics to senior management and across the organization.

Compliance and Risk Management

• Regulatory Compliance: Stay informed about regulatory requirements related to fintech and payment processing, ensuring the product meets all necessary compliance standards.
• Risk Assessment: Identify potential risks associated with product development and operations, implementing mitigation strategies as needed.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement

• Innovation: Drive innovation within the product team, exploring new technologies and features that can differentiate the payment wallet in the market.
• Iterative Improvement: Continuously iterate on the product based on performance data, user feedback, and competitive analysis to enhance functionality and user satisfaction.

Reporting and Analytics

• Performance Monitoring: Define key metrics to track product performance and success, analysing data to make data‑driven decisions and adjustments.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• 3-year Business related Degree. Post graduate management qualification (i.e., MBA) is desirable.
• Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience.
• Leadership/Management/Supervisory experience (essential).

Core competencies, knowledge, and experience:

• Track record of product development in the mobile payments industry
• Goal focused and energetic in delivery with tracked record in strong, timely execution.
• Resource planning and management skills
• Capable of working across complex organisations and ability to build strong relationships and credibility with multiple levels both internally and externally.
• Attention to detail and outstanding organisational skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and relationship management, both within and outside the organisation.
• Commercial focused with a clear understanding of technical ramifications of execution.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies

Closing date for Applications: 14 October 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.