About Absa Group Limited

Absa Group Limited is a major pan-African financial services conglomerate headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. Listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE: ABG), it is one of the largest diversified financial groups on the continent, serving millions of customers through retail, business, corporate, and investment banking, as well as insurance and wealth management.

Job Purpose

1. Drive business intelligence gathering across customer, market, and industry trends to provide insights that inform strategy, product development and market positioning. Enable data-driven decision-making through structured analysis, bench marking, and reporting.
2. To lead and manage the research and competitor analysis capability within the SCVM business unit, providing actionable intelligence that supports strategic planning, enhances competitive advantage, and drives business growth for Business Banking.

Minimum Requirement

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]
• Business Strategy, Marketing, Economics, Data Analytics, or related fields.

Knowledge and Skills

1. Market and competitor analysis
2. Qualitative and quantitative research techniques.
3. Strategic research frameworks
4. Data analytics and visualization tools
5. Bench marking and performance tracking
6. Customer and industry trend analysis
7. Insight reporting and storytelling
8. Business strategy alignment
9. Stakeholder engagement and influence
10. Digital research platforms
11. Risk and opportunity identification

Experience

1. 8 -10 years’ experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank
2. Experience must include developing integrated customer-eccentric product or service solutions or corporate practice development while working with and managing stakeholders across business and/or functional areas and budget management.
3. Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.
4. Demonstrated success in delivering strategic research and competitor analysis that informs business decisions, drives market positioning, and supports growth initiatives.
5. Experience in engaging stakeholders in presenting market intelligence, competitor bench marking, and strategic insights to influence decision-making and align cross-functional priorities.

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Engage with internal stakeholders to align research outputs with business needs.
2. Present insights to senior leadership and influence strategic direction.
3. Manage relationships with key stakeholders to support aligned delivery and issue resolution.
4. Ensure stakeholder expectations are managed and engagement is consistent with transformation priorities.
5. Ensure ethical and compliant data sourcing and usage.
6. Monitor reputational and strategic risks through competitor intelligence.
7. Promote risk awareness, guide the response to regulatory changes and emerging issues and support audit readiness activities.
8. Define and consolidate the risk profile for the business unit, manage critical risks, and ensure resolution feedback to stakeholders.
9. Enable the development and implementation of integrated corporate governance frameworks in areas of specialisation.
10. Transform research data insights into revenue-generating strategies and operational efficiencies that inform business decisions.
11. Build dashboards and models that unlock value from internal and external data.
12. Apply data insights to support business planning and decision-making in the business area.
13. Develop mechanisms to ensure data is collected, validated, and used to drive performance improvement.
14. Oversee the explicit use of data and its inherent value to explore opportunities and guide decisions.
15. Identify growth opportunities through market gap analysis and competitor benchmarking.
16. Support strategic planning with data-driven forecasts and performance comparisons.
17. Long-Term Market trend analysis: identify emerging sectors, technologies, and business models that will shape future banking needs. Advise on strategic investments and partnerships that support long-term relevance.
18. Sustainable Competitive Positioning: benchmark competitors not just on performance, but on sustainability practices (e.g., green financing, ESG integration). Recommend differentiation strategies that align with responsible banking.
19. Customer Lifecycle Insights: analyzes customer retention, churn, and lifetime value to inform sustainable growth strategies. Support development of solutions that evolve with customer needs over time.
20. Risk & Resilience Forecasting: identify systemic risks (economic, environmental, regulatory) that could impact growth. Support scenario planning to build resilience into strategic plans.
21. Competitor Innovation Bench marking: analyze how competitors are innovating—new products, digital platforms, customer engagement tools. Provide insights to inspire internal innovation and avoid falling behind.
22. Customer-Eccentric Innovation: Surface unmet needs and evolving expectations of business clients. Support development of new solutions (e.g., ESG-linked loans, real-time cash flow tools) that create value.
23. Idea Incubation Support: Contribute research and validation to innovation labs or product development teams. Help prioritize ideas based on market demand and competitive advantage.
24. Scan the external environment to investigate alternative delivery models and offer innovative advice for competitive advantage.
25. Drive change management activities across a single value chain for optimal adoption of change.
27. Data-Driven Decision Support: Provide insights that help prioritize high-potential, low-risk growth opportunities. Ensure decisions are backed by robust market and competitor intelligence.
28. Sustainability Metrics Tracking: Monitor industry benchmarks for ESG performance and sustainable finance. Track internal progress against sustainability goals and market expectations.
29. Innovation Ennoblement: Identify gaps in current offerings where innovation can drive sustainable differentiation. Support product teams with insights into future-ready solutions (e.g., digital lending, carbon accounting tools).
30. Stakeholder Engagement: Equip leadership with insights to engage regulators, investors, and customers on sustainability. Help align internal teams around shared growth and sustainability goals.
31. Formulate and develop multi-function operating frameworks that contribute to sustainable growth.

Important Notes

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.