Head of IT: Financial Services | Sandton
Our Client, a Listed Insurance Giant is on the hunt for an exceptional candidate to take on the role of Head of IT in Financial Services would be leading and managing all aspects of people, process and technology for our client’s information systems within Group I.T. that pertain to the successful running of the Financial Services business.
Responsibilities:
- Stakeholder Engagement - Build and manage effective / productive relationships with all relevant stakeholders to ensure necessary guidance is given to deliver appropriate solutions. Report directly to the CIO while also managing business deliverables that come from the CEO of Financial Services and the respective Heads of the Financial Services business. Represent the business vertical and its I.T. interests from a information system implementation and system support perspective.
- Operations Management - Create and deliver the functional business unit strategy and operations to ensure the alignment with the overall business strategy in order to support the execution and delivery of the Financial Services goals. Oversee the application portfolio within the business vertical from both a delivery, enhancement and support perspective while continuously driving digital transformation. Deliver agreed strategic GIT initiatives and measure and review the operational duties and ensure continuous performance within areas of responsibility.
- IT Vision and Strategy - In collaboration with their respective business stakeholder in Financial Services and the CIO, develop the GIT key strategic enablers, designing the workflow and business processes that allow new applications, products, and services to be rolled out quickly while ensuring that legacy applications and IT operations are maintained at optimal levels.
- Leadership and Direction - To effectively drive communication of the GIT strategic vision and mission to all within their respective teams; explain the relationship to the broader organisation's mission, vision and values; motivate people to commit to these and to doing extraordinary things to achieve local business goals. Direct the work of a team responsible for support and modernization of the core line of business and digital systems.
- Improvement / Innovation - Take responsibility for developing and delivering continuous IT improvements in the pursuit of constant innovation that supports the specific business units overall strategy. To drive a culture of continuous improvement and innovation through inspirational leadership.
- Performance Management - Manage and report on the performance of the function / business area; set appropriate performance objectives for direct reports and hold them accountable for achieving these; take appropriate corrective action where necessary to ensure the achievement of annual business objectives.
- Organisational Capability Building - Evaluate the capabilities of staff within the department to identify gaps and prioritise development activities. Implement the organisation's formal development frameworks within the area of responsibility. Coach and mentor others to support the development of the organisation's talent pool.
- Operational Compliance - Ensure that business activities within the area of responsibility comply with relevant external regulatory and/or voluntary codes and with internal policies and procedures to minimize business risk and to protect the reputation of the organisation.
- Budgeting & Costing - Take responsibility for setting and managing area budgets so they align with organisational strategy.
- IT Advice - Provide specialist guidance with regards to IT to senior business managers at the business unit or regional level to enable the implementation of policy, projects, and change initiatives.
- Personal Capability Building - Develop own capabilities by participating in assessment and development planning activities as well as formal and informal training and coaching; gain or maintain external professional accreditation where relevant to improve performance and fulfill personal potential. Maintain an in-depth understanding of technology, external regulation, and industry best practices through ongoing education, attending conferences, and reading specialist media.
Technical Competencies:
Computer and IT skills:
- Support business processes with comprehensive understanding and effective use of information systems and standard software packages and guide and train Others.
- IBM RPG.; Azure.; AS400.; C#.; Mean Stack.; Angular.; SQL..
Strategic Action Planning and Organising:
- Use comprehensive knowledge and skill and guide and train others to develop appropriate plans or perform necessary actions based on recommendations. Engage in Strategic planning and organise, prioritise and oversee activities to efficiently meet business objectives.
Verbal Communication:
- Apply comprehensive knowledge and guide and train others to use clear and Effective verbal communications skills to express ideas, request actions and formulate plans or policies.
Presentation skills:
- Use comprehensive knowledge and skill to communicate with other people and guide and train others to speak in a clear, concise and compelling manner.
Negotiation:
- Use comprehensive knowledge and skill to negotiate and guide and train others on how to help the organisation by obtaining consensus between two or more internal or external parties who may have different interests.
Presentation creation:
- Apply comprehensive knowledge / skill, acts with independence and guide and train others.
Data Collection and analysis:
- Guide and train others to analyse data trends for use in reports to help guide decision making.
Review and Reporting:
- Apply comprehensive knowledge and skill and guide and train others to review and create relevant, lucid and effective reports.
Compliance:
- Use comprehensive knowledge and skill and guide and train others to achieve full compliance with applicable rules and regulations in management and/or operations.
Project Management:
- Provide technical guidance when required to manage projects and/or programs within desired cost, time and quality parameters.
Policy and procedures:
- Provide technical guidance when required to develop, monitor, interpret and understand policies and procedures, while making sure they match organisational strategies and objectives.
Education:
- Grade 12/ SAQA Accredited Equivalent (Essential);
- Recognised degree/ diploma in BSC in Computer Science/BCom in Information Management/ BTech (Advantageous);
- Relevant Agile software development principles certification (Advantageous)
Experience:
- 10 or more years experience within the IT industry (Essential); Experience in application Development and DevSecOps support (Essential);
- Experience in a Multiplatform environment (Advantageous); Financial Services experience (Advantageous);
- Relevant exposure to multiple development languages and best practice implementations (RPG, C# .Net framework, MEAN Stack) (Advantageous)
- 5 to 8 years experience in planning, managing and organising resources within short / medium timescales (Essential);
- Proven success managing a team of IT professionals in a fastpaced, demanding environment (Essential)