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
Drives strategic insights of market research within the defined portfolio within Marketing and Corporate Affairs, enabling evidence-based decision-making through robust research methodologies, governance and analytics.Job Description
Key Focus Areas
- Research Governance & Quality Assurance: Maintaining methodological rigour, governance practices, and driving of strategic research insights across the portfolio.
- Insight Synthesis & Decision Support: Translating complex analytical outputs into clear insights and recommendations that support senior stakeholder decision-making across the portfolio.
- Advanced Analytics & Modelling: Applying advanced analytical techniques, modelling, and simulation to enhance insights and enable evidence-based decision making.
- Multi-Stakeholder Engagement and Influence: Engaging senior stakeholders, shaping research agendas, communicating insights, and ensuring alignment across diverse stakeholder groups.
- External Research Partnering: Managing third-party research providers to ensure methodological robustness, quality delivery, and alignment with portfolio needs.
- Budget and Resource Optimisation: Ensuring research initiatives are aligned to approved budgets and in agreement with the portfolio’s requirements.
- Complex Programme and Project Leadership: Leading and coordinating multiple research programmes simultaneously, ensuring execution, integration, and delivery of actionable outcomes.
Key Accountabilities
Research Strategy & Governance
- Define and translates portfolio-level research strategy aligned to Absa objectives.
- Embed research standards, methodologies, and processes to ensure consistency, quality, and rigour.
- Ensures research prioritisation to deliver actionable insights for the portfolio.
Research Management & Delivery
- Leads the research activities of third parties within the portfolio, ensuring robust design, sampling, weighting, and analysis.
- Maintain and enhance research frameworks, trackers, and measurement tools.
- Translate complex outputs into clear, concise insights and recommendations for senior leadership.
- Present research findings and implications to senior executives and governance forums.
- Provide advanced analytical outputs, including modelling and simulation, to support portfolio decision-making.
Budget & Resource Management
- Support optimisation of research initiatives while adhering to approved budgets.
- Ensure adequate resourcing to meet portfolio priorities.
Project & Stakeholder Management
- Lead multiple complex research programmes within the portfolio.
- Partner with senior stakeholders to shape research agendas and deliver actionable insights.
- Manage external research partners to ensure quality, value, and alignment with portfolio objectives.
Education/Qualification:
Bachelor’s Degree, Advanced Diplomas, Post Graduate Certificate, or B Tech [NQF7].
Field of Study:
- Degree in Business,
- Economics,
- Data Analysis,
- Statistics,
- Market Research.
Work Experience:
- 5 - 12 years experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank, including a track record of 3 years in a people management position.
- Exposure to process design, optimisation, quality management, customer centricity, technology and data-driven decision-making is preferred.
- Proven ability to present insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders.
- Demonstrated ability to synthesise complex research into succinct, decision-ready outputs.
- Experience operating in multi-stakeholder environments within a portfolio.
COMPETENCIES
Leadership Competencies:
- Strategic Thinking
- Business Acumen
- Communication
- Influence
- Leadership
- Delivering Results
- Adaptability
- Collaboration
- Decision-Making
Knowledge and Skills:
· Strategic insight generation within a specific portfolio
· Advanced research methodologies and analytical capability
· Senior stakeholder level communication and insight storytelling
· Ability to synthesise and summarise complex information clearly
· Project management discipline
· Operational planning and execution
· Process optimisation and service design
· Stakeholder experience management
· Performance measurement and reporting
· Governance and compliance
· Digital tools and platforms
· Data analysis and insight generation
· Team leadership and development
Education
Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Marketing (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
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree or Advanced Diploma (NQF7)
- Degree in Marketing
- 5-12 years relevant experience
- Minimum 3 years people management experience
- Advanced research methodologies, modelling and simulation capability
- Experience designing robust research (sampling, weighting, survey design) and managing external research providers
- Proven ability to present insights and recommendations to senior stakeholders
- Experience operating in multi-stakeholder portfolio environments and leading complex programmes
- Project management discipline and performance measurement/reporting skills
- Exposure to process design, optimisation, quality management, customer centricity, technology and data-driven decision-making
- Team leadership and development skills
Absa Group Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Absa Group and has not been reviewed or approved by Absa Group.
-
Healthcare Strength — Medical aid, group life, disability, and funeral cover are described as comprehensive, with features such as terminal‑illness advances and beneficiary grocery benefits. Wellness and assistance offerings support overall financial and personal wellbeing.
-
Retirement Support — A pension fund and group retirement arrangements are positioned as core benefits within fixed remuneration. Retirement coverage is embedded alongside other protections as part of standard employment.
-
Equity Value & Accessibility — Employee share‑ownership (eKhaya) and equity‑linked awards broaden wealth‑sharing, with dividends or cash‑equivalent participation in some markets. This provides longer‑term value beyond base pay.
Absa Group Insights
What We Do
Absa Group Limited (Absa) has forged a new way of getting things done, driven by bravery and passion, with the readiness to realise growth on the African continent and beyond. We’re a truly African brand, inspired by the people we serve in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. We also have representative offices in China, Namibia, Nigeria and the United States, as well as securities entities in the United Kingdom and the United States, along with technology support colleagues in the Czech Republic.
