JOBS: Manager, Product Partnerships at Standard Bank Group

JOB PURPOSE

As a Product Manager within the Innovation unit at Stanbic, you will drive the latest and most innovative ideas through the product development lifecycle. You will operate as the product owner to deliver next-generation product offerings to our customers. You will play a key role in ideating and co-creating new features and products, leveraging partnerships, that uniquely meet the needs of Stanbic’s customers and indeed those of Standard Bank Group and our partners’ customers.

Specifically, as Product Partnerships Manager, the role holder will be responsible for defining, developing, and executing the route-to-market for embedded fintech, real-time digital experiences, and API marketplace ecosystems in collaboration with FinTechs, financial institutions, and beyond, creating value for our clients, our partners and their clients. The role holder will be part of the wider Innovation team, working at the intersection of traditional finance and the disruptive world of building our banking-as-a-service business model. To accomplish this, the role holder will remove uncertainty, making it clear what product partnerships capabilities should be developed or optimized and why, drive the overall vision and product strategy on product partnerships, including but not limited to Open Banking to a coherent whole, and work closely with internal and external partners to deliver scalable partnerships solutions.

The role holder will also support the roadmaps of other Innovation solutions including our select ecosystems and broader partnerships, with the goal of unlocking additional and new revenue streams as well as driving the adoption of new technologies. Ultimately, the role holder will own and build deep integrations with partners to drive value to our customers and those of our partners, while generating new revenue streams for Stanbic. This is a super exciting role for anyone who wants to play a part in making possibilities real for consumers and businesses. The product partnerships manager will be experienced product management professional with strong business acumen, a strategic outlook, and a creative approach to innovation.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Product Partnerships Delivery

• Shape the future of product partnerships including financial digital marketplaces at Stanbic through data-driven market insights, analysis, and thought leadership, thereby contributing to our (Stanbic and Standard Bank Group) vision of becoming a platform-based financial services provider by 2025
• Transform business ideas into goal-based product roadmaps, innovative pricing models, and detailed requirements that enable engineering teams to deliver new or product partnerships enhancements based on business needs
• Manage large-scale, cross-functional programs to coordinate the development of Stanbic’s product partnerships solutions. Includes defining the strategy, articulating client benefits, designing features and use cases of Stanbic’s propositions, and incorporating input from cross-functional stakeholders.
• Act as a key subject matter expert on product partnerships including Open Banking (features, use cases, and regulation) across client segments, solutions, and engineering teams, and externally (FinTech partners, clients/partners, regulators, industry bodies)

Open Banking Execution

• Shape and influence the development of Stanbic’s open Banking product strategy, aligned to Stanbic's business model as well as the broader competitive environment to ensure our open banking products are competitively differentiated from others in market
• Define relevant use cases utilizing Stanbic's Open Banking solutions that solve specific pain points for our clients, partners and beyond
• Bring Open Banking and product partnerships outputs from ideation to live pilots, and later, fully implemented initiatives, ensuring these are delivered in a timely fashion and to a high quality
• Define and lead market research or customer/partner testing for Stanbic’s new open banking product concepts. Translate these market and customer insights to drive product strategy and decisions

Outcome-Based Product Management

• Own, measure and grow product partnerships users and revenue against identified KPIs, including optimization to maximize commercial performance
• Own the discipline around gate processes to ensure we promote partnerships “winners” and drop those with lesser trajectories
• Proactively evaluate new market and partnership opportunities, as well as emerging technologies

Data-Driven Decisioning

• Engage customer/partner data with deep authentic curiosity and empathy to gain deep insights into their ambitions and needs
• Data and insights being ubiquitous, the product partnerships manager will use these resources better than anyone else, and in new combinations to radically redefine product partnerships operating models and value

People

• This is a team role and not one of a lone genius
• The role involves the complete solution life cycle; from initiation to full scale operation. Therefore, management skills involving teams of peers that enable a highly collaborative and creative work form the backdrop to this role

QUALIFICATIONS

• First degree in Business, Engineering/Technology, Mathematics, Strategy, Marketing, or a related commercial field
• Strong, recent experience as a product manager with demonstrated success defining and launching API delivered products, preferably in the financial services and fintech space
• Strong problem-solving skills and willingness to think outside the box
• The high degree of self-initiative, proactive, and self-driven to drive results
• Self-starter, ability to work and thrive within a fast-paced, culturally diverse, and hands-on environment, with demonstrated proficiency in delivering products from 0 to 100
• Proven ability to work with and influence cross-functional teams without formal authority, including client segments, solutions, engineering, and marketing
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present to large and small groups