Manager, Technology Portfolio and Delivery

Job Overview

Lead the execution of major technology programmes within the organization, including the flagship Group ERP and HRIS implementations across multiple markets. Oversee governance, planning, budgeting, architecture, and control measures before design initiates. Maintain accountability for all aspects including scope, schedule, cost, quality, risks, vendor performance, adoption, and benefits through to go-live, hypercare, and transition to business-as-usual operations. Manage internal software teams developing integrations, extensions, and self-service components around the core systems, applying appropriate delivery methodologies. Maintain clear roles among sponsors, business owners, design authorities, vendors, and assurance to provide a unified programme status.

Key Responsibilities

• Set up each programme prior to design initiation by securing charter approval, defining scope, governance, decision rights, and success metrics. Validate business cases, resource allocation, and market sequencing before finalizing plans.
• Serve as the sole client-side accountable leader, facilitate governance forums for design authority, delivery, readiness, and risk management. Escalate unresolved decisions with detailed options and recommendations, and standardize deliverables for group-wide reuse.
• Manage an integrated programme plan encompassing all workstreams from solution development, integration, custom builds, data migration, testing, change management, security, deployment, and market rollout.
• Combine stage-gated controls for vendor implementations with iterative delivery cycles for internal extensions and front-end components. Monitor schedule, costs, scope, quality, risks, and benefits against baselines and implement corrective actions as necessary.
• Lead in-house teams responsible for building integrations, extensions, reports, and self-service workflows with defined business product owners who manage backlogs and acceptance. Maintain a single prioritized backlog to avoid concurrent change queues.
• Advocate for configuration-first designs, require justification and ownership for all extensions including assessment of support costs, and enforce engineering standards such as source control, peer reviews, automated build and deployments, regression testing, and secure coding practices. Ensure releases receive design authority approval and segregation-of-duties reviews.
• Chair client design authority sessions to challenge unnecessary customizations and promote group-wide standardized designs with controlled adaptations for statutory, tax, payroll, language, and currency needs. Prevent replication of inefficient legacy processes on new platforms.
• Own end-to-end data migration and reconciliation, coordinate integration with core insurance, banking, payroll, payment, procurement, identity, and reporting systems. Ensure compliance with access management, segregation of duties, audit trails, cybersecurity, data privacy, and disaster recovery requirements.
• Define and implement testing strategies with strict entry and exit criteria requiring business sign-off. Block stage progression if evidence, controls, or readiness are incomplete. Oversee cutover activities, go/no-go decisions, hypercare support, and handover to permanent support units.
• Manage relationships with system integrators, software vendors, and third parties ensuring contractual adherence, milestone achievements, service levels, and acceptance criteria. Independently evaluate estimates, change requests, and claims, leading corrective actions and dispute resolutions when required.
• Control budgets, forecasts, contingencies, and total cost of ownership, including operational costs of custom-built components. Collaborate with Finance and Procurement to validate invoices and milestone payments against acceptances.
• Coordinate change management, communications, training, and adoption efforts aligned with technical plans. Track readiness across markets, functions, and user groups. Hold business owners accountable for process decisions, data quality, user acceptance, and post-go-live performance, recognizing training completion as an input, not proof, of adoption.
• Establish benefit ownership, baselines, and realization plans. Lead cross-functional and cross-market teams comprising internal staff, engineers, consultants, and vendors, clarifying responsibilities, securing dedicated capacity, and mentoring workstream and squad leads.

Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering, Business Technology, or related disciplines; Master’s degree preferred.
• Mandatory certifications include PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, MSP Practitioner, PgMP or equivalents.
• Preferred additional certifications: Agile methodology, cloud ERP or HRIS specific product certification, ITIL, COBIT, CISA, or CRISC.
• Minimum 8 years experience in enterprise technology delivery, with at least 3 years leading complex multi-workstream programmes, and 5 years dedicated to ERP, HRIS, or equivalent enterprise solutions.
• Direct oversight of at least two full cloud ERP implementations from inception through go-live, hypercare, and transition, with at least one including HRIS or payroll functions in a regulated financial environment.
• Experience managing in-house software teams using stage-gated and iterative delivery methods as well as leading multi-country implementations spanning at least four nations or jurisdictions.
• Additional programme management experience in areas such as core insurance replacement, digital customer channels, contact centers, or cloud migration is advantageous.
• Track record of managing budgets meeting or exceeding Group Procurement thresholds and supervising major vendors and integrators under outcome-based and milestone contracts.
• Familiarity with financial services regulations, technology risk management, information security, data privacy, and controls, especially within African or multi-regulatory emerging markets.

Technical Skills and Behavioral Competencies

• Expertise in programme delivery and control using stage-gated, iterative, and hybrid methodologies, including critical path analysis, earned value management, forecasting, commercial change control, vendor management, RAID logs, governance, and benefits realization.
• Detailed knowledge of cloud ERP and HRIS implementation lifecycles, including vendor release strategies, environment setups, regression testing, and coverage of finance, procurement, planning, HR, payroll, talent, compensation, absence, ledgers, statutory reporting, and enterprise structures.
• Competence in enterprise and integration architecture, data migration, software engineering best practices including source control, peer reviewing, continuous integration, automated testing, release management, secure coding, and operational readiness.
• Strong understanding of security and control frameworks including access management, segregation of duties, privileged access controls, audit trails, privacy by design, and comprehensive testing and cutover management.
• Demonstrates enterprise leadership with accountability for outcomes, connects planning to execution, manages ambiguity effectively, and maintains delivery momentum without compromising controls.
• Exhibits independent judgment, commercial insight, and a strong control orientation by scrutinizing assumptions and vendor inputs while preserving governance integrity and value.
• Capable of influencing executives and leading cross-cultural teams by presenting complex matters clearly, building consensus across markets, and mentoring team leads.