Head of Data

Let's Write Africa's Story Together!

Old Mutual is a firm believer in the African opportunity and our diverse talent reflects this.

Job Description

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Define and direct a data strategy and roadmap that supports the OMC strategy.
Establish a consolidated data management function responsible for embedding and maintaining data architecture; data cataloging and MetaData management; data quality assessment and enhancement, including enrichment efforts; engagement and alignment with Group; GCS/Tamr accountability.
Establish a consolidated reporting enablement function responsible for building and maintaining the semantic layer and producing flexible and usable reporting in relevant analytical tools to support business needs.
Support Compliance and Regulatory functions.
Work closely with senior leadership to improve quality and value of core data assets

Responsibilities

Deliver an updated data strategy and roadmap which aligns to and enables the broader OMC and OML strategies.

Provide leadership and direction to ensure key decision makers and team leaders understand and support what is required to deliver the data roadmap.

Initiate and drive change management efforts to embed the Data team as a federated data management and reporting enablement team for Corporate team, as well as entrenching the self-service reporting capability. 

Support key business initiatives – including digital servicing delivery, automation efforts and leveraging AI as prescribed in the AI strategy.

Data Management responsibilities:

• Data architecture & modelling:

  • Work with the business data architect to embed and develop the proposed data infrastructure.

  • Enable and establish effective and purpose-aligned data pipelines from the data architecture and facilitating data ingestion from multiple sources to achieve efficient and effective data usage within the business.

• Data quality:

  • Drive data ownership throughout Operations by establishing and leading a data stewardship program.

  • Provide reporting on data quality & completeness.

  • Proactively identify data quality/ completeness issues, prioritize and formulate solutions with operational team to address, including historic data cleaning exercises.

  • Explore and apply enrichment processes to enhance quality, completeness and usability of data.

• Group alignment and input:

  • Ensure alignment with Group Policies and Standards, including Data Security and Privacy, in partnership with the Governance function.

  • Participate in Group level forums and platforms to ensure sufficient representation and consideration for Corporate data assets.

  • Explore linkages within the Group environment which align to OMC strategic objectives e.g. OM Bank.

• Data cataloging and MetaData Management: Leverage Group expertise to deliver and maintain a clear view of Corporate data assets, together with a data dictionary to enable alignment.

• GCS/Tamr accountability for Corporate

  • Outward: reviewing, updating and maintaining rules relating to how Corporate data is incorporated.

  • Inward: reviewing updating and maintain rules relating to how Group data is brought into/ used in Corporate.

• Explore and implement ways to improve data maturity score for OMC.

Corporate Reporting Enablement Capability

• Design and implement a semantic layer that organizes and standardizes data definitions, relationships, and business logic; enable consistent interpretation of data across the organization and supports self-service analytics, reporting, and advanced modeling.

• Produce and maintain an inventory of reporting.

• Work closely with the business data architect to optimize analytics capabilities; this includes selecting appropriate tools, designing data models, and ensuring that analytics solutions are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with best practice standards for data management and governance.

• Support the adoption of new technologies to improve the data capturing and analysis capabilities across the business.

Support Regulatory Compliance team

• Reporting enablement to meet data requirements, including reporting to the Data Governance Council and supporting any audit requirements.

• Support with expanding data pipelines as well as addressing relevant data quality issues.

• Support with prioritized investigations relating to AML, PPR, Data privacy, etc.

• Participate in Data Governance Council.

Skills, Qualifications and Experience required:

• NQF Level 7

• Bachelor's degree in data analysis, statistics, mathematics, data science, business intelligence, or a related field.

• 10+ years of experience in data analysis, business intelligence, or a related field.

• Strong project management skills, with the ability to manage multiple projects simultaneously.

• Excellent ability to communicate complex data insights to non-technical stakeholders.

Skills

Action Planning, Adaptive Thinking, Agile Project Management, Business Requirements Analysis, Commercial Acumen, Computer Literacy, Data Compilation, Data Controls, Executing Plans, IT Network Security, Management Reporting, Negotiation, Policies & Procedures, Project Risk Management, Readiness Assessments, Report Review, Workflow Management

Competencies

Action Oriented

Builds Effective Teams

Communicates Effectively

Cultivates Innovation

Ensures Accountability

Manages Complexity

Optimizes Work Processes

Persuades

Education

NQF Level 7 - Degree, Advance Diploma or Postgraduate Certificate or equivalent

Closing Date

03 May 2026 , 23:59

The appointment will be made from the designated group in line with the Employment Equity Plan of Old Mutual South Africa and the specific business unit in question.

The Old Mutual Story!