Head: Collection Capabilities and Optimization at Absa Group Limited (Absa)

Job Description

• Operations Strategy: Set and cascade the operations strategy in alignment with functional strategy, and ensure resources are in place for its execution 
• Operational Excellence: Oversee the design, implementation, maintenance and continuous improvement of operational activities 
• Change and programme management: Oversee and direct the implementation of change programmes aimed at driving business strategy and improving operational efficiency 
• Business Risk and Compliance Management: Oversee the implementation of, and conformance to, Group Risk and Compliance requirements within the operating environment, in line with set risk appetite 
• Stakeholder Management: Actively promote and manage the collaborative engagement of internal and external stakeholders, including regulators, suppliers, clients, service providers, business partners and other Absa entities 
• People Management: Coach, mentor and manage team members toward driving business objectives and ensuring colleague development 
• Governance: Ensure the fulfilment of all required governance activities, including tracking and reporting

Accountability:

• Collections transformation: To effectively plan, manage and deliver change initiatives that will advance the Everyday Banking collections and recoveries. This entails both strategic and non-strategic book of work items. As the head of capabilities, this role is critical in leading delivery teams across multiple disciplines and teams within the organization.
• Systems enablement: Drive the enablement of collections operations through the following appropriate systems and technology i.e. voice & non-voice; robotics; debt manager (collections system) etc.:
• Incident management
• Deployment of change requests
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT) support teams
• Dialer and workforce management: Responsible for ensuring the effective usage of voice technology (Avaya dialer); drive the improvement in contactability and digital engagement; adequate management of workforce through effective scheduling and planning;
• Operational excellence: To manage the performance coaches and ensure that operational processes and procedures are executed in line with best in class collections standards;
• Quality assurance: independent quality assurance of collections operations; insights sharing both from the customer and collector engagements
• Management Information (MI), (BI),reporting and analytics: Lead an effective MI/BI team that reports on operational performance and provides management with views to support daily/weekly/monthly decision making through data driven insights.

Education and Experience Required

• Minimum NQF level 8 – Bachelor’s degree – Bcom or related
• Masters degree – desirable
• Credit Risk experience
• Minimum  8 years’ experience in a Financial Institution
• Minimum 5 year’s managerial experience
• Experience in utilizing data and technology to enhance collections capabilities

Knowledge & Skills: (Maximum of 6)

• Innovation and Continuous Improvement
• Familiarity with statistical tools and software
• An understanding of the operations of a banking service environment
• Experience in managing projects, including planning, execution, and monitoring
• Keeping abreast of changes in industry and developing own competency through continuing education