Operations Shared Services: Product Owner
Sanlam Group · Pretoria, Gauteng
Stop applying one at a time.
JobAlertsZA auto-applies to South African jobs like this one for you, overnight. Upload your CV once — we do the applying.
Start free — we apply for you →The overall purpose of the role
- The Operations Shared Services: Product Owner provides operational, governance, planning, reporting and portfolio management support to the Head of Shared Services.
- The incumbent is responsible for coordinating strategic initiatives, maintaining governance frameworks, tracking delivery against objectives, managing reporting cycles, facilitating stakeholder engagement, and supporting continuous improvement activities across Shared Services.
- The role acts as a central coordination point, ensuring visibility, consistency, accountability and effective execution of business priorities while enabling leadership to focus on strategic decision-making.
Key responsibilities
Business Planning and Performance Management 25%
- Coordinate annual business planning activities.
- Maintain departmental scorecards and KPI tracking.
- Consolidate monthly, quarterly and annual performance reports.
- Monitor delivery against strategic objectives.
- Identify risks to delivery and escalate where appropriate.
- Support preparation of Executive, MANCO and SteerCo submissions.
Governance and Risk Coordination 20%
- Coordinate governance deliverables across Shared Services.
- Maintain annual governance calendar.
- Track policy reviews and governance actions.
- Coordinate BCM, TCF, DPR and other compliance activities.
- Track audit findings and management actions.
- Prepare governance reporting packs.
Portfolio, Project and Initiative Tracking 20%
- IT product ownership
- Maintain the Shared Services project and initiative portfolio.
- Track progress of strategic initiatives.
- Coordinate updates from initiative owners.
- Monitor benefits realization.
- Prepare status reporting.
Financial and Operational Administration 10%
- Support budget tracking and expenditure monitoring.
- Assist with business case preparation.
- Monitor vendor and contract administration.
- Track resource allocation and capacity information.
Stakeholder and Executive Support 15%
- Coordinate management meetings and workshops.
- Track actions and decisions.
- Prepare presentations and briefing packs.
- Facilitate communication across business units.
- Support stakeholder engagement activities.
Continuous Improvement and Automation Support 10%
- Identify opportunities for process simplification.
- Maintain the improvement opportunity register.
- Support automation and AI initiatives.
- Track realization of operational benefits.
Qualifications and Experience
Qualifications
Degree or Diploma in
- Business Management
- Commerce
- Operations Management
- Project Management
- Industrial Psychology
- Similar field
Experience
- 3-5 years business support or business management experience.
- Experience in financial services advantageous.
Experience in
- Reporting
- Governance
- Project administration
- Business planning
- Stakeholder coordination
Knowledge and Skills
Technical
- Advanced Excel
- PowerPoint
- Power BI basic to intermediate
- SharePoint
- MS Teams
- Power Automate advantageous
- Reporting and dashboard creation
Behavioral competencies
- Cultivates Innovation - Creating new and better ways for the organisation to be successful.
- Client Focus - Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
- Drives Results - Consistently achieving results and meets deadlines, even under tough circumstances.
- Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
- Resilience - Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.
The closing date for the job advert is 14th September 2026