Senior Manager: Portfolio Growth & Optimisation - Johannesburg

Job Summary

• We are seeking an experienced portfolio growth and optimisation leader to take newly implemented card, payments and digital product initiatives from delivery into market adoption, commercialisation and measurable value realisation.
• The successful candidate will own the post-implementation growth agenda: shaping go-to-market plans, partnering with Marketing on above-the-line campaigns and ECM on below-the-line campaigns, tracking performance, creating actionable insights and working with the MI team to craft dashboards that inform business decisions.
• This role requires a commercially minded product leader who is comfortable analysing complex data to draw insights, define customer adoption strategies, drive customer uptake and optimise value across the credit card portfolio. The candidate must be able to connect portfolio performance, customer behaviour, campaign results and channel readiness into practical actions that increase adoption and commercial impact.

Job Description

Portfolio growth strategy and commercialisation

• Own the commercialisation agenda for newly implemented product, payments and digital card initiatives after implementation and stabilisation.
• Translate delivered capabilities into clear portfolio growth plans, adoption objectives, campaign priorities, sales targets, customer value propositions and measurable business outcomes.
• Identify growth opportunities across acquisition, activation, usage, retention, spend, balance growth, revenue optimisation and customer engagement.
• Develop business cases, opportunity sizing and initiative roadmaps that support sustainable credit card portfolio growth and value creation.
• Craft customer adoption strategies that define target segments, adoption journeys, channel roles, activation levers and measurable take-up targets.
• Drive customer adoption after launch by coordinating clear propositions, customer education, sales enablement, adoption campaigns and ongoing optimisation actions.

Campaign performance and go-to-market execution

• Partner with Marketing to shape above-the-line campaign briefs, propositions, messaging priorities and launch narratives for strategic product initiatives.
• Partner with ECM to design below-the-line campaign journeys, segmentation approaches, trigger-based interventions and personalised customer communications.
• Ensure campaign activity is linked to measurable portfolio outcomes, including acquisition, activation, spend behaviour, digital engagement, usage frequency, revenue and customer value.
• Monitor campaign effectiveness and recommend optimisation actions based on response rates, conversion, customer behaviour, channel performance and commercial impact.

Integrated channel enablement and adoption

• Ensure integrated channels, including Digital, Branch and Call Centre, understand the product proposition, target customers, value drivers and commercial objectives.
• Work with channel teams to ensure products are positioned, explained and commercialised consistently across customer touchpoints.
• Develop or support channel enablement material, sales narratives, FAQs, adoption playbooks and performance routines that help frontline and digital channels drive uptake.
• Monitor channel performance and identify adoption barriers, customer friction points and opportunities to improve conversion across Digital, Branch and Call Centre channels.

Reporting, dashboards and business insights

• Work with the MI team to craft dashboards that provide a clear view of product uptake, portfolio performance, campaign performance and growth opportunities.
• Define key performance indicators, dashboard requirements, reporting cadences and insight packs for senior stakeholders.
• Analyse complex data to draw actionable insights that explain performance trends, highlight risks and opportunities, and inform customer adoption and growth initiatives across the card portfolio.
• Convert data into clear executive narratives, decision papers and recommendations that support prioritisation and investment decisions.
• Product optimisation and value management
• Continuously assess product performance, profitability, customer behaviour and market share opportunities to identify areas for optimisation.
• Create a structured optimisation pipeline of enhancements, campaign actions, pricing or proposition changes, customer experience improvements and operational interventions.
• Track whether implemented initiatives are delivering expected business value and recommend corrective actions where benefits are not being realised.
• Coordinate with Product, Digital, Sales, Operations, Risk, Finance, Marketing, ECM and MI teams to ensure growth initiatives are practical, governed and executable.

Stakeholder management and governance

• Build alignment across senior stakeholders on portfolio growth priorities, campaign plans, performance insights, risks and decision requirements.
• Manage cross-functional forums, working sessions and governance updates related to commercialisation, portfolio growth and optimisation.
• Ensure initiatives operate within applicable risk, compliance, legal, conduct and data governance requirements.
• Represent portfolio growth priorities in business planning, product forums, campaign reviews and executive updates .

Required experience and qualifications

Essential

• Minimum 7 years' experience in product management, portfolio growth, product development, commercial management, campaign performance, analytics or related financial services roles.
• Strong credit card, payments, banking or financial services experience, with a clear understanding of customer lifecycle management and portfolio economics.
• Proven experience commercialising new product capabilities, crafting customer adoption strategies, launching growth initiatives and driving measurable customer or commercial outcomes.
• Experience working with Marketing, ECM, MI/analytics, Digital, Branch, Call Centre, sales, operations, finance, risk and technology stakeholders.
• Strong analytical capability, including the ability to interpret customer, portfolio, profitability, channel and campaign performance data and convert it into actionable business insight.
• Experience defining dashboards, management information requirements, KPIs and executive reporting packs.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and executive storytelling skills.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent relevant qualification in Business Science, Business Management, Commerce, Informatics, Information Systems, Engineering, Marketing, Data Analytics or a related field.

Preferred

• Experience in credit card portfolio management, digital payments, digital banking, fintech partnerships or customer value management.
• Experience with customer segmentation, lifecycle campaigns, customer adoption journeys, propensity models, next-best-action strategies or data-led value management.
• Understanding of Visa and/or Mastercard ecosystem, card scheme economics, rewards, loyalty, interchange, merchant-funded offers or digital wallet propositions.
• Agile, Scrum, SAFe, PASA or payments-related certification would be advantageous.
• Postgraduate qualification or MBA would be advantageous.

Required skills and capabilities

Commercial growth mindset

• Able to convert implemented capabilities into adoption, usage, revenue and customer value.

Customer adoption strategy

• Able to craft and drive customer adoption strategies across segments, journeys, campaigns and channels.

Analytical expertise

• Comfortable analysing complex customer, product, portfolio, channel and campaign data to draw insights and identify growth opportunities.

Campaign and channel understanding

• Understands above-the-line, below-the-line, lifecycle, digital, branch, call centre and segmented customer engagement approaches.

Product and portfolio management

• Able to manage optimisation backlogs, value tracking, customer propositions and portfoli