Head of Data Science & Engineering

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

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

Develop an integrated data science & engineering function and lead the agile solution design, deployment and ongoing optimization and evolution of enterprise wide data science & engineering products and services.

Job Description

Data Science & Engineering

• Work with business & technology stakeholders to define the data requirements for the business
• Translate the business requirements into a Data Strategy (integrating data science & engineering requirements) for optimal results
• Leverage the Group Data rails to translate the business requirements into a sound data architecture & direction for proactive Technology Services monitoring / management
• Lead the data automation agenda for Technology Services Monitoring & Management (where it makes sense to do so)
• Assume one stop shop accountability for all services monitoring / management related data products and services
• Guide the business on the appropriate data solutions & range of strategic data choices to be made
• Apply & cascade design thinking practices across the team to deliver architecturally & technically sound data solution designs & blueprints
• Ensure & Oversee that solution designs & blueprints are translated into leading practice data engineering solutions (& related e.g. source code) that effectively deploy & optimize data retrieval, storage and distribution
• Leverage deep data science & engineering expertise to oversee the mining and modelling of raw data sets with leading practice data science toolsets e.g. advanced statistics, data wrangling, data mining, data analysis, feature engineering & predictive modeling, story-telling, distributed computing & data visualization, machine learning, data intuition
• Lead the detailed scoping, prioritisation & integration planning for data solutions
• Lead the data automation agenda across the estate
• Leverage deep technical expertise to guide and coach data science & engineering teams on appropriate solutioning
• Ensure data products and services translate for business into relevant, quality assured, accurate and commercially impactful data sets that enable strategic & operational decision making for the short, medium & long term
• Meaningfully contribute & ensure solutions align to the design & direction of the Group Architecture & Infrastructure standards, principles, preferences & practices. Short term deployment must align to strategic long term delivery.
• Strategically & operationally monitor the performance of data products and solutions – ensuring cost to value for our businesses (ROI of the data provided)
• Promote data literacy across the enterprise by sharing best practices and showing tangible business impact & recommendations as a direct result of the the data solutions provided
• Proactively stay ahead of the curve on data science & data optimization trends, tools, techniques as well as data engineering trends & leading practice tools and programs (e.g. automation, virtualization, AI, Machine Learning, Programming languages, Open Source Software e.g. Hadoop) & transition the organisation to advanced methods for the continuous optimization of data

Delivery Management (where there is a specific product / service you manage)

• With fluency in the deployment of agile methodologies, resource & manage the appropriate number and nature (skill & capability) of squad based teams to execute on both Run & Change elements of data delivery
• Ensure agile practices are implemented and sustained for effective delivery to business e.g. RETRO’s etc.
• Positively & proactively manage senior stakeholder relationships & expectations
• Proactively engage with & partner technology business units and broader enablement functions to drive alignment & leading practice in data solution design & deployment

People

• Proactively attract, recruit, develop, retain, reward & deploy a diverse resource base aligned to an ever evolving environment (ahead of demand)
• Build a high performance team environment through self-directed teams & PM alignment with agile working practices (including daily, weekly, etc. sprint routines, regular & honest feedback etc.)
• Accountable for the right people in the right teams to deliver on our tech strategy (always!)

Financial & Vendor Management, Risk & Governance

• Carry the ‘one stop shop’ accountability for all data compliance, governance & overall risk associated with data solutions
• Manage & Apply the organization & regulatory risk & governance frameworks
• Manage all vendor selection processes (for data specifically and where relevant) & take full accountability for all related commercial impact
• Deliver on time & on budget (always)
• Hold one stop shop accountability for data quality & data integrity (always) across the business area
• Provide risk, governance, compliance & broader regulatory reporting as required
• Contribute to risk, governance, compliance & broader regulatory processes as a data expert (if & when required)
   

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology

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