Operations Shared Services: Product Owner

About Sanlam Corporate

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 awesome client experience and comprehensive solutions that enable the financial resilience and prosperity of those entities and their employees.

We believe in creating and cultivating a positive, diverse, energised working environment that gives every individual the opportunity to achieve success and deliver meaningful value.

The overall purpose of the role

The Operations Shared Services: Product Owner provides operational, governance, planning, reporting and portfolio management support to the Head of Shared Services. The incumbent is responsible for coordinating strategic initiatives, maintaining governance frameworks, tracking delivery against objectives, managing reporting cycles, facilitating stakeholder engagement, and supporting continuous improvement activities across Shared Services. The role acts as a central coordination point, ensuring visibility, consistency, accountability and effective execution of business priorities while enabling leadership to focus on strategic decision-making.

Key responsibilities

Business Planning and Performance Management (25%)

• Coordinate annual business planning activities.
• Maintain departmental scorecards and KPI tracking.
• Consolidate monthly, quarterly and annual performance reports.
• Monitor delivery against strategic objectives.
• Identify risks to delivery and escalate where appropriate.
• Support preparation of Executive, MANCO and SteerCo submissions.

Governance and Risk Coordination (20%)

• Coordinate governance deliverables across Shared Services.
• Maintain annual governance calendar.
• Track policy reviews and governance actions.
• Coordinate BCM, TCF, DPR and other compliance activities.
• Track audit findings and management actions.
• Prepare governance reporting packs.

Portfolio, Project and Initiative Tracking (20%)

• IT product ownership
• Maintain the Shared Services project and initiative portfolio.
• Track progress of strategic initiatives.
• Coordinate updates from initiative owners.
• Monitor benefits realization.
• Prepare status reporting.

Financial and Operational Administration (10%)

• Support budget tracking and expenditure monitoring.
• Assist with business case preparation.
• Monitor vendor and contract administration.
• Track resource allocation and capacity information.

Stakeholder and Executive Support (15%)

• Coordinate management meetings and workshops.
• Track actions and decisions.
• Prepare presentations and briefing packs.
• Facilitate communication across business units.
• Support stakeholder engagement activities.

Continuous Improvement and Automation Support (10%)

• Identify opportunities for process simplification.
• Maintain the improvement opportunity register.
• Support automation and AI initiatives.
• Track realization of operational benefits.

Qualifications and Experience

Qualifications

• Degree or Diploma in:
• Business Management
• Commerce
• Operations Management
• Project Management
• Industrial Psychology
• Similar field

Experience

• 3-5 years business support or business management experience.
• Experience in financial services advantageous.
• Experience in:
• Reporting
• Governance
• Project administration
• Business planning
• Stakeholder coordination

Knowledge and Skills

Technical

• Advanced Excel
• PowerPoint
• Power BI (basic to intermediate)
• SharePoint
• MS Teams
• Power Automate (advantageous)
• Reporting and dashboard creation

Behavioral competencies

• Cultivates Innovation - Creating new and better ways for the organisation to be successful.
• Client Focus - Building strong customer relationships and delivering customer-centric solutions.
• Drives Results - Consistently achieving results and meets deadlines, even under tough circumstances.
• Collaborates - Building partnerships and working collaboratively with others to meet shared objectives.
• Resilience - Rebounding from setbacks and adversity when facing difficult situations.

Turnaround time

The shortlisting process will only start once the application due date has been reached. The time taken to complete this process will depend on how far you progress and the availability of managers. The closing date for the job advert is 14th September 2026. 

Our commitment to transformation

The Sanlam Group is committed to achieving transformation and embraces diversity. This commitment is whatdrives us to achieve a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace as we believe that these are key componentsto ensuring a thriving and sustainable business in South Africa. The Group's Employment Equity plan andtargets will be considered as part of the selection process.