Senior Manager - Head of Security and SD-WAN.ICT Center of Excellence

The Head of Security and SD-WAN is responsible for end-to-end oversight and delivery of solutions, focusing on commercial success, innovation, and the customer experience.​

​This role combines leadership of the below functions into a unified practice aimed at optimizing margins, speeding time-to-market, and enhancing solution maturity:​

Product Management​

Pre-sales and Architecture​

Engineering/ Platform​

Delivery Functions ​

Alliances​

Go-to-market​

​The role holds accountability for the assigned business solution/s driving profitability, ensuring operational excellence, and managing a full P&L across the business line.​

Strategy Development​

Lead the development and execution of end-to-end comprehensive Solutions within Business Line (BL) area in alignment with the broader Business Line and MTN organizational goals, focusing on innovation, time-to-market improvements, and continuous enhancement of solutions. The strategy should ensure future readiness of the entire process from conceptualisation to implementation of Capabilities and Solutions, Sales Performance, and Project Delivery.​

Drive the growth strategy for business line solution/s and commit to sales targets to realise aspirations in alignment with overall Business Line sales teams and Leadership. Provide input into overall Business line strategy.​

Lead solution-specific annual plans in harmony with the overarching business line objectives and strategy.​

Lead the efficient implementation of the solution-specific strategy within the team and business line by providing guidance and cutting-edge methodologies, frameworks, models, and roadmaps.​

Continually assess the needs of customers, emerging market trends and competitive opportunities in defining and evolving the Strategy.​

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Business Line Solution Leadership (End-to-End)​

Lead a multi-functional, unified team comprised of pre-sales, product management, engineering and delivery to spearhead the development and profitability of innovative new solution development and enhancements to existing products (if applicable) and solutions. This includes:​

Lead and oversee pre-sales activities to support business development efforts, working closely with sales teams to understand customer needs and ensure that proposed solutions meet technical and business requirements.​

Build and maintain strong pre-sales capabilities within the business line, developing frameworks and training programs that empower pre-sales teams to deliver effective solutions tailored to client needs.​

Collaborate with and provide direction to the Product, Engineering/ Platform teams to ensure each solution aligns with the overall business strategy and meets customer demands.​

Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the solution development process to accelerate time-to-market, enhance solution maturity, and ensure scalability.​

Ensure that every solution contributes positively to the bottom line, balancing innovation with financial sustainability.​

Lead cross-functional delivery teams, ensuring that all stakeholders (engineering, product management, platform teams, technical pre-sales, and customer support) are aligned and working toward shared delivery goals.​

Prioritize customer satisfaction in every stage of the delivery process by ensuring that solutions are delivered in line with customer expectations, contractual obligations, and service level agreements (SLAs).​

Establish and maintain robust feedback loops with customers, using delivery performance as a way to build stronger customer relationships and drive future sales.​

Ensure the delivery team adopts a customer-centric mindset, with regular check-ins and clear communication to address customer needs, resolve issues, and maintain high levels of satisfaction.​

Provide input into all performance metrics across area of responsibility to ensure optimum performance and monitor these consistently in order to identify improvement opportunities. Highlight significant deviations from defined performance targets and metrics and consolidate recovery plans, ensuring proactive management of issues and risks.​

Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders both internally and externally, ensuring alignment on business objectives and fostering a customer-centric approach across the business line.

 

Business Operations Leadership​

Develop and design area’s Service Level Agreements (SLA’s) to ensure that contractual agreements are met for clients and all parties involved.​

Engage and lead the partnerships between BAU functions and outside partners to help develop products and initiatives, based on synergies that may exist between across portfolio function/ products​

Establish and implement an integrated project management model by understanding all aspects of project management, in turn delivering complete and comprehensive projects.​

Manage and oversee project documents, including all SLA’s and project scopes, to ensure fair and realistic standards have been set, along with appropriate deadlines.​

Identify areas within functional business processes for potential automation, by overseeing the function (including Presales, Products and Solutions) and optimising functionality throughout the function.​

Develop business processes and serve as subject-matter expert for process improvements, as they are built to scale by development teams.​

Oversee multiple functional units within across area of responsibility, by engaging with leaders and teams, ensuring consistency and optimal performance on all aspects of outputs.​

Oversee, review and approve the preparation and submission of all key functional reports required ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and strategic alignment.​

Continuously manage and review the performance and deliverables of direct and indirect reports to ensure that the goals and objectives are achieved. Ensure service delivery excellence at all times within area of responsibility.​

Work with marketing function and team to develop and implement an integrated marketing communication strategy that ensures consistent messaging and seamless customer experiences across internal and external channels, leveraging cutting-edge technologies such as AI-powered chatbots and personalised content delivery.​

Foster strategic partnerships with external partners, industry stakeholders, and ecosystem players to co-create innovative solutions, drive synergies, and unlock new revenue streams through collaborative initiatives that push the boundaries of traditional business models​

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Financial Management/ Budget and Cost Control​

Enhance ROI by leveraging and developing future-proof strategies to offer cutting-edge solutions to customers, fostering repeat business and expanding MTN's market presence. ​

Collaborate closely with the Business Line leadership and account teams to devise annual budgets and sales targets.​

Manage the budget by taking full responsibility for the overall Profit and Loss (P&L) of assigned solution/s and strive to deliver a comprehensive financial forecast with defined bi-annual, annual and multi-year milestones, focusing on cost optimization, revenue growth, and margin improvement.​

Monitor crucial financial metrics and KPIs to monitor performance, identify areas for enhancement, control costs, and boost revenue.​

Identify areas for cost-saving in delivery without compromising quality, ensuring that each solution is commercially viable and contributes positively to the business line’s P&L.​

Prepare regular financial reports and presentations for senior management and other key stakeholders​

Ensure Vendor & IT and other costs are effectively managed. 

 

Governance, Risk and Reporting​

Develop and supervise the implementation of functional policies, standard operating procedures and best practices that ensure operational efficiency, accuracy, security, integrity and compliance with relevant laws and regulations.​

Drive the development of policies, procedures, and governance in alignment with MTN centre, addressing any gaps in standard operating procedures (SOPs).​

Ensure effective implementation of (and compliance towards) company policies, processes, and procedures. Put effective methods and standards in place in alignment with aforementioned.​

Implement and enforce stringent quality assurance processes to ensure that delivered solutions meet the highest standards of reliability, security, and performance.​

Ensure delivery of solutions meet predefined quality standards and passing compliance audits without issues.​

Identify and manage partners, and ensure all contracts are managed in line with procurement policies and standards in order to drive compliance to set processes and procedures.​

Manage and provide solutions to escalations that have multiple processes / functions impact on critical path of service delivery​

Continuously review key risks, issues and dependencies and set mitigation actions.​

Oversee and mitigate commercial, compliance, operational, legal, and regulatory risks to ensure business continuity for the Solution/s products​

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Continuous Improvement​

Conduct research to stay updated on new innovations, and consistently identify and disseminate leading practices, concepts, and benchmarks to internal teams.​

Assume a pivotal role in developing thought leadership concerning area-specific trends and industry best practices within the Solution business lines. ​

Participate in communities of practices and conferences to facilitate knowledge sharing and positioning of MTN’s intellectual property and employer of choice brand towards the external marketplace

 

People Leadership /Management​

Set integrated goals and objectives for the team in order to achieve a future-focused, future-fit high-performing organisation.​

Provide technical, procedural and policy guidance to staff, colleagues , partners and vendors.​

Attract, develop and retain appropriate talent. Build talent by identifying and developing new leaders for the respective environment​

Create and implement personal development plans.​

Define the KPAs and KPIs that will be cascaded down to each area.​

Manage Performance and identify training needs. Coach and guide subordinates.​

Enable and model healthy employee relations and collaborative teamwork.​

Manage diversity, develop, and embed an Employment Equity plan for the business area.​

Contribute to building a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement. Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management​

Act as an ambassador for the team by living the Brand values and vital behaviours and changing and influencing employees’ behaviour.​

Make the environment the best place to work. Foster professionalism, loyalty and commitment to the organization. Build the Company’s brand to be the employer of first choice.​

Development plans in place for all employees​

Employee engagement index​​

3-year degree equivalent / 4-year tertiary qualification in Technology Systems (Telecommunication Management / Information Technology) or related​

MBA / Masters Advantageous​

Experience

Minimum 10 + years’ experience including:​

Sales & Commercial experience​

Senior Management experience in a commercial/telecommunications environment ​

Worked across diverse cultures and geographies​

Proven track record of successfully launching and managing innovative solutions in a fast-paced environment. ​

Proven track record of end-to-end Growth Strategy and P&L Management​

Experience in overseeing cross-functional teams including product development, pre-sales, platform teams, and service delivery, ensuring alignment and collaboration across the entire solution lifecycle.​

Solution-specific experience and knowledge preferred ​