Operations Shared Services: Product Owner

Sanlam Group · Pretoria, Gauteng

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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

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