Executive: Enablement - MP

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

Job Summary

The overall purpose is to build and manage the Office of the CEO (OCE) project management office to deliver integrated solutions and an end-to-end Project Management capability in support of the Group strategy.
Develop, own, implement, and maintain suitable project management processes, ensuring that approved projects/improvement initiatives are supported, governed and executed in a consistent manner. The incumbent will ensure process alignment to International best practices.

Job Description

Key Focus Areas:

• Run the Project Management Office (PMO) for strategic projects on behalf of the Group CEO, ensuring governance and delivery discipline.

• Advise and co-develop best-practice governance frameworks, accountability structures, initiative charters, meeting cadence, and tracking mechanisms to enable effective oversight and value realization.

• Act as a strategic enabler, not a coordination office—actively identifying solutions, advising stakeholders, and driving practices that accelerate delivery and value creation.

• Build strong internal partnerships with business units, functions, and key stakeholders.

• Stay informed on industry best practices, delivery methodologies, and change management approaches to continuously enhance the Office’s enablement capability.

• Facilitate workshops and co-creation sessions to support content development, problem-solving, and alignment on strategic priorities.

• Develop playbooks, templates, and toolkits to fast-track strategic project delivery and embed best practices.

Accountabilities:

Accountability: Strategic Partnership

• To ensure that the CEO and Executive stakeholders are provided with the right information timeously, supported by recommendations to make decisions regarding effective project selection, execution and performance.

• Provide the necessary information required for the executive team to assess, confirm, and decide on appropriate actions to maintain an optimized the Group’s project portfolio that is aligned to the strategic priorities of the organisation as a whole.

• Setup and maintain an organisational-wide central project register with accurate data available for decision-making purposes.

• Owner of the Group’s project register/Book of Work. This includes formal projects as well as improvement initiatives.

• Influence and facilitate timely completion of project register with relevant project stakeholders when new projects/initiatives are identified.

• Ensure adequate assistance to Executives in the identifying of potential projects based upon annual planning outputs and/or new requirements identified beyond the annual planning cycle.

• Asses the possibilities of project duplication across the organisation.

• Validate and ensure alignment of projects to the strategic direction of the organisation.

• Evaluate all project proposal submissions in terms of strategic alignment.

• Define, escalate and resolve any misalignment with the appropriate project stakeholders and execute on agreed recommendations.

• Develop and present recommendations to Executives regarding project priorities in order to maintain strategic focus, alignment and subsequent delivery of strategic initiatives managed as projects.

• Establish and maintain a suitable project prioritization framework.

• Ensure alignment of the prioritization framework to changing strategic priorities.

• Assess the prioritization for consistency and accuracy.

• Embed the change project management policy procedure through socialization with identified stakeholders.

• Assess compliance by all registered projects to the project management policy procedure.

• Facilitate the implementation of remediation actions when project management activities are performed in conflict with the agreed project management policy and procedures.

• Manage the implementation of prioritization decisions.

• Define and maintain consolidated Group project reporting.

Accountability: Project Management Methodology

• To ensure compliance to the adopted project management methodology to ensure.
• projects deliver within budget, according to specifications and against agreed timeframes, ultimately reducing project related risk to the organisation.
• Develop, approve, promulgate and maintain the Groups project management policy and related procedures.
• Develop and maintain the required level of project management guidelines and templates to enable project resources to deliver projects in a consistent manner thereby ensuring adherence to the required level of project governance.
• Refine project/initiative approach practices as processes mature over time and ensure alignment with Global practices as appropriate.
• Prescribe and ensure compliance to prescribed project management practices.
• Project Owner and Project / Change Leader for the applicable project.
• Prescribe corrective actions to the Executive team and track execution thereof.
• Define, implement and maintain the required quality standards for project management information to maintain a high-level of data accuracy.
• Maintain the implemented project management information system.

Accountability: Project Management Community Support

• To facilitate a cultural shift towards an organisation that applies project management practices to ensure delivery against commitments made.

• Define and facilitate embedment of strategies that will Increase the adoption of project management practices within the Group.

• Ensure that suitable project management mentoring and coaching programmes are developed and manage the execution thereof to support project stakeholders in the application of project management practices.

• Improve overall project execution by building and fostering good relationships with colleagues, business, and project stakeholders.

• Position the Enablement capability favorably with all relevant internal stakeholders by ensuring open communication at all times.

• Attend to role players, stakeholders and customer service requests, enquiries and complaints to ensure business effectiveness.

• Ensure that the organisation is continuously informed about and have access to Project Frameworks and Methodologies.

Accountability: Establish and Manage Project Management Office

• Set and deliver the PMO strategic direction in support of the corporate strategy.

• Define, develop and manager PMO Service Offering.

• Evaluate business cases (complete, appropriate, and accurate) and alignment to Strategic objectives.

• Define methodology to perform benefits realization: Assist all Programmes/Projects to develop benefits realization plans. Track benefits during project stage and communicate benefits realized with key stakeholders.

• Provide consolidated benefits reporting and analysis on projects and review of change control of projects. Supplier Management: Manage contract lifecycle for key Change related vendors. Guidance to projects w.r.t. contract establishment. Manage relationships for Sourcing & Legal.

• Governance Frameworks: Establish and manage key governance forums to govern project delivery. Define standards, policies and methodologies applicable to the definition and implementation of Change initiatives.

• Perform periodic project audits to ensure identified control points are met and supporting documentation available.

• Establish and Implement knowledge management practices.

• Check that all project milestones and/or deliverables have auditable, completed items, are digitally stored and perform the relevant compliance checks.

• Ensure that original signed documents are stored in accordance with governance and document retention standards and ensure that all project deliverables are auditable upon closure of the project.

Education/ Qualification:

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]

• Advanced degree preferred (e.g., MBA, MSc in Finance, Economics, or related field).

• Field of Study: Strategy, Economics, Finance, Business Administration, or related disciplines

Work Experience:

• 10 years related to strategy enablement, programme delivery, or transformation offices within large organizations.
• Acts as a strategic enabler, with problem-solving and solution-orientation bias (versus process orientated).
• Highly collaborative, with the ability to influence without direct authority and build trust across diverse teams.
• Experienced in applying agile methodologies, with a track record in change management.
• Excellent organisational and planning skills.

Education

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