Senior Manager: Product

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

Job Summary

The Trade and Working Capital Product Manager is responsible for developing, managing, and optimising trade and working capital products for Business Banking (BB) customers. The role safeguards and grows franchise value by ensuring products are competitively positioned, digitally enabled, operationally efficient, and aligned to credit and regulatory standards
This role will work closely with the Corporate Investment Banking (CIB) trade and working capital and BB trade and working capital teams to align strategies, leverage synergies, and deliver solutions tailored to corporate and SME clients. The goal is to ensure that the trade and working capital offerings are competitive and effectively meet the evolving needs of business clients.
This role materially reduces dependency on senior leadership by independently driving product strategy, delivery execution, issue resolution, and structural risk remediation. The incumbent ensures products remain end to end defensible, scalable, and commercially sustainable.

Job Description

• Manage the suite of trade and working capital products for BB clients including overdraft, letters of credit, guarantees and trade loan products.
• Collaborate with the CIB trade banking teams to align product strategies across BB and CIB, ensuring a unified approach.
• Conduct market research to identify trends and gaps in trade and working capital products for business clients, ensuring competitiveness and relevance.
• Work with internal teams (IT, segments, operations, risk, compliance) to ensure smooth implementation and operational efficiency for new and existing products or product enhancements.
• Portfolio management: Plan and manage on-going product investment and activity in line with defined portfolio balance required. Include capacity and capability planning and development.
• Stakeholder management: Identify key stakeholders per product. Ensure clear understanding of their expectations and appropriately manage these together with the agreed objectives.
• Engage stakeholders to build ongoing support, mutual understanding and common commitment of values and principles.
• Define and agree stakeholder communication matrix
• Define the service model for the product set across the various service providers including but not limited to Channels, Operations, IT, Sales and Client on boarding.
• Prepare and present key business cases underpinning strategic investment initiatives to maintain or build out the product capability.
• Challenge existing pricing strategy by understanding the risk & reward opportunity and competitor levels and implement these strategies into production, by liaising with Sales, Information Technology (IT) and other stakeholders within which pricing development, enhancements and management will be effected.
• Provide product analysis and recommend future strategies, especially in light of updated product and competitor activity.
• Strive for optimal product performance to balance marketability with profitability, working closely with other value streams and sales colleagues.
• Serve as the interface between the CIB Product team, the BB segment team and the product specialist sales team.
• Collaborate with the BB segment sales teams to understand the specific trade and working capital product needs of their clients, providing them with the necessary tools and product knowledge to effectively sell trade banking solutions.
• Work closely with the product specialist sales team to drive increased product adoption.
• Ensure that both the segment and specialist sales teams are fully equipped with the right marketing collateral, product updates, and training to engage business clients.
• Provide decisive, informed product leadership across Credit, Risk, Legal, Compliance, Technology, Operations, Distribution, and Finance.
• Lead engagements with a shift from participation to decision‑making authority and accountability.
• Enable frontline teams through clear product positioning, guidance, and escalation pathways.
• Strengthen the product community through insights, cross‑portfolio learnings, and best‑practice sharing.
• Act as first‑line risk owner, ensuring adherence to mandates, credit constructs, pricing frameworks, and regulatory requirements.
• Identify structural risk issues proactively and drive sustainable remediation, avoiding repeated exceptions or tactical workarounds.
• Lead product responses to regulatory findings, audits, and risk events, ensuring durable closure and stakeholder alignment.
• Oversee governance artefacts (procedures, mandates, artefacts, client disclosures) for completeness, accuracy, and alignment to standards.
• Ensure compliance with conduct, consumer protection, credit, data governance, and regulatory obligations.

Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised