Deputy Chief Information Officer

at  Sanlam

WHO ARE WE?

Sanlam Corporate forms part of the Sanlam Group which offers retail and corporate life insurance, health and investment products in South Africa. Our vision is to be the preferred partner to Corporate and Public Sector by providing an awesome client experience and comprehensive solutions that enable the financial resilience and prosperity of those entities and their employees. We tap into over 100 years of expertise to provide cost-effective Employee Benefits and Healthcare Solutions that enable financial confidence for our members. We enable our clients to make better retirement and risk decisions today through determined and passionate thought leadership and best-in-class people, innovative products and proven processes all designed to help people live a better life tomorrow.
We believe in creating and cultivating a positive, energised working environment that gives every individual the opportunity to achieve success by embracing diversity and growing our talent.

QUALIFICATION

• Graduate level degree in IT management and/or recognised IT professional qualification

SKILLS, KNOWLEDGE, AND EXPERIENCE

• 5-7 years’ experience in a Head of IT role.
• Proven experience to include:
  o Managing IT Service delivery at a strategic and operational level
  o Developing key account management plans and service offerings
  o Partnership and relationship development
  o Budget ownership and financial management

o IT solution development and business case planning

• Knowledge of contracting trends, licensing models, and traditional and emerging contract and vendor performance models.
• Strong project and process management skills, with the ability to handle multiple vendors and multiple contracts, as well as a wide range of tasks.
• Knowledge of best practices for IT contract negotiation tactics and strategies
• Extensive knowledge of key business processes and drivers within the financial services industry
• Broad knowledge of technology (existing and emerging) and its application in the life industry
• Financial acumen, reporting and costing capability
• Experience in a similar role within the Employee Benefits and Health sector will be advantageous

QUALIFICATION AND EXPERIENCE

Degree or Diploma with 10 to 12 years related experience

KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

IT Strategic Planning and implementation
Information system delivery service
Resource planning and risk management
Project Oversight
Service Level Agreements and management

Drive the IT strategy by engaging with all information technology partners to execute the strategy plan, direct, and coordinate the development, implementation, deployment and operation of information systems and technology solutions for business needs as well as identify and propose new information technologies and systems to improve business processes and decision making. and ensure that IT capabilities are geared for future business plans.

• Continuously influence, shape and drive the IT strategy and the associated transformation and demand of the businesses.
• Aligning IT demand and supply with the business objectives and requirements. This includes partnerships with product teams and partnership and engagement with the Sanlam Group Technology (SGT) Delivery Teams to align supply.
• Taking ownership for defining, prioritising and translating demand into architectural change and simplification, including digital insurance transformation initiatives.
• Take accountability for managing the delivery, including quality of delivery and driving of improvements together with Sanlam Group Technology.
• Own the IT budget and execute sound financial management and IT value optimisation

WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Reporting to the CIO: Health & Corporate, the Deputy CIO: Corporate is a new role. This role will be responsible for driving the strategy and the associated demand and IT transformation to build the IT capabilities which will support the business strategies and related objectives. The incumbent will collaborate with the counterpart in the Afrocentric business, as well as Sanlam Group Technology (SGT) and other group CIOs where required to deliver on the Sanlam Corporate technology architecture, and technology solutions that enable client centricity. This role can be located in Gauteng or Cape Town.

WHAT WILL MAKE YOU SUCCESSFUL IN THIS ROLE?

Drive the IT strategy by engaging with all information technology partners to execute the strategy plan, direct, and coordinate the development, implementation, deployment and operation of information systems and technology solutions for business needs as well as identify and propose new information technologies and systems to improve business processes and decision making. and ensure that IT capabilities are geared for future business plans.

• Continuously influence, shape and drive the IT strategy and the associated transformation and demand of the businesses.
• Aligning IT demand and supply with the business objectives and requirements. This includes partnerships with product teams and partnership and engagement with the Sanlam Group Technology (SGT) Delivery Teams to align supply.
• Taking ownership for defining, prioritising and translating demand into architectural change and simplification, including digital insurance transformation initiatives.
• Take accountability for managing the delivery, including quality of delivery and driving of improvements together with Sanlam Group Technology.
• Own the IT budget and execute sound financial management and IT value optimisation.

o Budget, cost recovery and charge back mechanisms and procedures

o Continuous standardisation, consolidation and optimisation of IT Services

• Advise the business on the total cost of ownership of IT investments.
• Drive business profitability in the context of cost management through Information technology solutions.
• Accept accountability for IT governance, compliance and risk management.
• Oversight of IT operational issues to ensure they receive the necessary attention and are resolved within SLA and highlighting any concerns or blockages to the business units.
• Stakeholder management of key IT and Business stakeholders end to end to align business and IT priorities and strategy.