Managing Executive: Unsecured Lending (Retail SA)

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

With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

Define and drive the Unsecured Lending strategy and business model to deliver market-leading value propositions for products and services for the Retail Bank’s customers. Lead Collections capability by solving for risk at a customer level, leveraging full suite of unsecured product portfolio. Transition into Next generation customer propositions by focusing on purpose led solutions that win customers in the market, agnostic of the product.

KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Lead the end-to-end performance and transformation of the Unsecured Lending portfolio, including Personal Loans and Card.
• Deliver differentiated, purpose-led solutions that are product-agnostic and aligned to customer needs and evolving financial behaviours.
• Own the full Collections value chain, including risk management, supplier relationships, processing, interest calculations, and customer management.
• Embed capabilities for sales commercialisation, customer needs interlocks, and innovative future propositions aligned to Next Gen strategy.
• Optimise product performance through integrated planning, KVD tracking, reporting, and book of work coordination.
• Strengthen the governance, controls, and assurance model across all unsecured lending domains including pre-legal and off-balance sheet debt.
• Expand revenue through bancassurance integration and new income streams such as BNPL, device finance, and acquiring solutions.
• Champion a high-performance, risk-aware culture through strategic leadership of people, performance, and product development.
  
  

Accountabilities

Job Description

Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Define and deliver the integrated Unsecured Lending strategy across Card, Personal Loans, Sales Commercialisation, and Collections, with direct oversight of performance tracking, KVDs, and multi-year planning.
• Set and articulate a long-term strategy with defined objectives, success metrics, and alignment to Group direction and shareholder value creation.
• Develop and communicate a clear strategic vision for the business unit, ensuring alignment with organisational goals, fostering a culture of innovation, and shaping industry discourse.
• Strengthen the bank’s competitiveness through strategic partnerships and industry influence.
• Engage proactively with strategic stakeholders, industry bodies, and regulators to shape and evolve strategy in response to market dynamics and policy developments.
• Oversee the disciplined execution of strategic priorities, ensuring business enablement and operational readiness across the business unit.
• Drive and monitor business unit performance, ensuring timely delivery against strategic goals, and provide transparent reporting on progress, risks, and outcomes.
• Lead transformation as a deeply committed journey, positioning the bank as a customer-centric organisation underpinned by robust journey management and market-leading products.
  
  

Customer Primacy

• Lead the design of future-fit customer value propositions across Card, PL, and Sales Commercialisation, aligned to needs-based segments, customer insights, and seamless fulfilment experiences.
• Leverage market trends, competitor intelligence, and global best practices to generate strategic insights that shape business direction.
• Apply deep customer understanding to guide capability development, prioritisation, and value creation across the business.
• Champion a culture of customer-centricity that balances exceptional experience with sustainable financial performance.
• Prioritise customer-centric initiatives that use data and insights to elevate customer experience, satisfaction, and loyalty—driving both growth and profitability.
• Promote collaboration across business units and product areas to harmonise capabilities, ensuring seamless and differentiated customer journeys.
• Advocate for the segment agenda at executive level, ensuring alignment and integration with Group priorities and cross-functional stakeholders.
  
  

Sustainable Growth

• Maximise growth through commercialisation of Card and PL, expanded Bancassurance penetration, and development of new revenue pools including Side Hustle, BNPL, and Acquiring.
• Lead the delivery of the segment growth agenda in alignment with Group strategic priorities and shareholder expectations.
• Collaborate across the Executive team and with key stakeholders to translate strategic intent into executable growth plans.
• Mobilise the business unit to deliver on strategic objectives, securing ownership, accountability, and cross-functional commitment.
• Accelerate the segment and the business unit’s contribution to sustainable, enterprise-wide performance and long-term value creation.
• Ensure investment decisions reflect both customer and product P&L considerations, and that they align to strategic imperatives and financial sustainability.
  
  

Client-Driven Innovation and Change

• Drive an innovation agenda for the Unsecured Lending portfolio through future-oriented propositions, payment innovation, and design-led experimentation.
• Stay informed of industry and competitor trends to ensure business decisions support market relevance and client value.
• Influence business decisions and capability development to support innovative, client-centric solutions across the value chain.
• Actively shape the client experience agenda through strategic input, cross-functional collaboration, and delivery accountability.
• Lead and manage change initiatives with discipline and empathy, driving transformation practices with clearly articulated outcomes, while ensuring business continuity.
  
  

Leading Talent

• Build deep capability across Cards, PL, Sales Transformation, and Collections through strategic workforce planning, upskilling, and an innovation-driven culture.
• Adopt and apply enterprise-wide human capital processes in ways that reinforce the organisation’s brand, values, and strategic priorities.
• Ensure leadership and workforce capabilities are developed to meet current and future business needs.
• Foster a high-performance, inclusive culture that supports employee engagement and delivers on the employee value proposition.
• Provide executive oversight on people matters, including performance management, talent recognition, and resolution of escalated issues.
• Attract, develop, and retain top talent, creating pathways for diversified experiences and future-ready skills development.
• Empower leaders to act as culture shapers and catalysts for transformation.
  
  

Operational Effectiveness

• Oversee end-to-end execution across product operations (PL), card optimisation, collections processing, and RCCS, ensuring precision, speed, and customer care.
• Translate strategic priorities into clear operational plans and performance measures, ensuring disciplined execution and timely course correction where required.
• Ensure alignment with other business units to ensure coherent delivery, operational integration, and resource optimisation.
• Represent the business with regulators and in key industry forums, reinforcing strategic positioning and operational credibility.
• Leverage business intelligence, performance insights, and external trends to inform decision-making and shape operational direction.
• Drive operational excellence through comprehensive process reviews aimed at harmonising with customer journeys and enabling faster execution through digital adoption and modernised technologies.
  
  

Digital Adoption

• Accelerate digitisation of lending journeys, card servicing, onboarding, and customer collections touchpoints to improve adoption and reduce friction.
• Identify and champion opportunities to digitise, automate, and innovate in ways that enhance customer experience, operational efficiency, and strategic agility.
• Drive the adoption and optimisation of digital platforms and technologies to unlock business value, scalability, and performance excellence.
  
  

Good Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Govern risk across Card, PL, and Collections (including Off-Balance Sheet), and lead NAPA, assurance, and supplier management for internal and external partners.
• Lead the implementation of integrated governance, compliance, and internal control frameworks that uphold the organisation’s integrity and licence to operate.
• Embed a culture of risk-aware decision-making and proactively address complex regulatory and business risks to safeguard long-term sustainability.
• Ensure a robust risk management framework is operational at all levels, integrated into day-to-day decision-making and strategic planning.
  
  

Data Monetisation

• Enable capital allocation decisions and collection strategies using profitability tools, interest calculations, and customer-level risk-return analytics.
• Harness data as a strategic asset to inform decision-making, optimise performance, and unlock new sources of economic value.
• Leverage internal and external data ecosystems to drive actionable insights and deliver measurable business outcomes at scale.
  
  

Stakeholder Management

• Build strategic partnerships across Credit, Finance, Legal, Digital, External Debt Collectors, and Bancassurance to enable integrated product and customer delivery.
• Build and maintain strong, trust-based relationships with customers, employees, regulators, and strategic partners to enable collaborative execution of the transformation agenda.
• Ensure stakeholder alignment around key priorities, promoting shared ownership of the Bank’s vision and value creation goals.
  
  

Education

Bachelor Honours Degree: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required), Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: 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