Product Manager

About the position

An international freight forwarding and supply chain logistics company is seeking a  Product Manager  who will act as the internal "mini-CEO" for an IT product, holding single-point accountability across its entire lifecycle—from inception through operation to retirement.

Responsibilities

• Own the full financial picture and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) across run and change costs.

• Maintain a tiered cost model (Direct $\rightarrow$ Allocated $\rightarrow$ Unknown) targeting $\ge 80\%$ Cost Confidence.

• Track unit economics (cost per user, transaction, or capability) and explain monthly budget variances.

• Act as the financial gatekeeper: review/approve all invoices prior to payment and present annual data-backed lifecycle investment recommendations.

• Define and sign off on formal Product Definitions (Canvas & Charter) before work commences.

• Own a 12+ month rolling roadmap across 5 swim lanes: Business Capability, User/Stakeholder, Data & Integration, Platform/Technology, and Risk & Compliance.

• Establish and defend strategic lifecycle positions ( Retain, Grow, Consolidate, Migrate, or Retire ) backed by annual evidence.

• Drive outcome-based decisions, ensuring every initiative links to a named sponsor, KPI, and measurable ROI.

• Serve as a strategic advisor—shaping demand and evaluating requests against value, cost, and risk.

• Map stakeholders, track sentiment, and adapt engagement strategies accordingly.

• Conduct regular business reviews based on product criticality; diplomatically challenge requests using data.

• Retain end-to-end service performance accountability regardless of the underlying delivery model.

• Manage vendors through SLAs, scorecards, and trend analysis; track adoption alongside technical metrics.

• Escalate failures with root-cause analysis and bring commercial recommendations (renew, renegotiate, exit) backed by 12 months of performance data.

• Maintain continuous ownership of security, compliance (POPIA/GDPR), and risk posture.

• Drive access governance (least privilege, MFA/SSO), validate vendor security, and ensure BCP/DR plans are tested.

• Formally review and sign off on residual risks annually.

• Maintain continuous market scanning, competitor benchmarking, and customer discovery to inform the roadmap.

• Act as a domain thought leader, publishing points of view and translating industry trends into competitive advantages.

• Champion innovation (including AI and automation) and represent the customer's voice in prioritization decisions.

• Make non-delegable architecture and technical trade-off decisions in partnership with Enterprise Architecture, Cloud, and Security teams.

• Possess deep technical understanding of the product stack, APIs, data flows, and technical debt to drive build vs. buy calls.

• Ensure all technical decisions align with governance standards (SRB, CAB/ITIL, GitLab) and support security by design.

Minimum Requirements

• Education: Bachelor’s degree in IT, Computer Science, Engineering, or an equivalent field. Product certifications (e.g., Pragmatic, SAFe PO/PM) are advantageous.

• Experience: 5+ years in IT Product Ownership, Technical Product Management, or Senior Technical/Solution roles with proven TCO/P&L accountability.

• Domain Knowledge: Experience within the logistics, supply chain, or warehousing sectors is highly preferred.

• Continuous Learning: Willingness to complete a Pluralsight Role IQ baseline and follow a targeted learning path within the internal framework.

• Accountability: Single-point ownership mindset; ability to drive outcomes independently.

• Technical Depth: Deep understanding of systems architecture, integration, and engineering (hands-on background strongly preferred).

• Financial Acumen: Strong grasp of P&L, TCO, unit economics, and contract/vendor negotiations.

• Strategic Influence: Excellent stakeholder management and evidence-based decision-making skills.

• Agile Fluency: Expertise in Agile/Scrum, backlog management, and product delivery models.

• Compliance & Risk: Thorough understanding of POPIA/GDPR and security governance.

• Communication: Exceptional written and spoken English (additional global languages are advantageous).

Benefits

Competitive salary based on experience (salary can potentially be more based on experience/skills)

IF you meet the above requirements and want to make a career-changing move, apply today by emailing your CV to [Email Address Removed] .com

Desired Skills

• Product Manager

• Product Manager

• Product Manager