Senior Specialist: Product Development

Absa Group; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 200 000 - 300 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading bank in Africa is seeking a skilled professional to define and lead product development in Johannesburg. The role requires experience in product strategy, stakeholder management, and ensuring compliance with regulations. Ideal candidates hold relevant degrees and possess strong expertise in data analysis and product performance management. Join a dynamic team focused on delivering innovative and commercially impactful financial solutions.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead best-practice product development across services.
• Build and maintain a prioritised product innovation pipeline.
• Lead the product development lifecycle from discovery to delivery.
• Build strong internal and external stakeholder relationships.
• Ensure all products comply with regulatory requirements.

Skills

Product development

Stakeholder management

Risk management

Data analysis

Education

Bachelor's Degrees and Advanced Diplomas in Business, Commerce and Management Studies

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

To define, lead, and embed best‑practice product development across Value‑Added Services and Domestic Payments by providing strategic guidance, specialist expertise, and continuous improvement tactics that enable the delivery of innovative, compliant, and commercially impactful products.

Job Description

Product Strategy & Innovation

• Build and maintain a prioritised product innovation pipeline aligned to customer needs, commercial potential, and regulatory trends.
• Translate insights into clear problem statements, hypotheses, and product opportunities, ensuring alignment to strategic objectives.

2. Product Development & Change Delivery

• Lead the end‑to‑end product development lifecycle, from discovery and business case development to design, build, testing, and go‑to‑market.
• Plan and manage ongoing product enhancements, investments, and feature changes, ensuring timely delivery and cross‑functional readiness.
• Partner closely with the Change team, Technology Design, Operations, Legal, Compliance, and Finance to deliver high‑quality, scalable solutions.

3. Stakeholder & Partner Management

• Build and maintain strong internal and external stakeholder relationships across the bank, industry bodies, regulators, and ecosystem partners.
• Ensure proactive communication of product direction, risks, timelines, and changes to all relevant forums.
• Represent the product domain in internal governance structures and external working groups within the payments and VAS ecosystem.

4. Product Performance Management

• Use data and insights to drive continuous optimisation of product performance, pricing, and operational efficiency.
• Identify underperforming areas and initiate corrective action or product lifecycle decisions (enhance, retire, consolidate).

5. Risk, Compliance & Control Management

• Ensure all products comply with regulatory, legal, compliance, and risk management requirements relevant to VAS and domestic payments.
• Provide clear guidance to teams on compliance implications and ensure that control design, MCA/RCSA evidence, and audit outcomes are embedded in product processes.
• Proactively identify and manage product risks, ensuring timely remediation and issue closure.

Education

Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: 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