Overview
Head of Service Management Jobs in Plaines Wilhems District, Mauritius at Absa Mauritius
Title: Head of Service Management
Company: Absa Mauritius
Location: Plaines Wilhems District, Mauritius
Job Summary
The job holder is responsible for the country Technology Operations based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) service management framework. This includes management of all locally hosted services including monitoring of day-to-day availability, upgrades and maintenance of all application components, supplier management as well as compliance with all relevant technology and cyber security standards.
As owner of the Technology operations, the job holder is the main point of contact for any technology issues and has the responsibility of coordination with all concerned support parties, suppliers, internal stakeholders as well as central support teams to ensure timely resolution of issues and minimal impact to the business and to customers.
Key Accountabilities
Service Delivery Management and Reporting
- End to end ownership of the technology operations to ensure that all technology requirements are met for day-to-day systems use, performance and maintenance, enhancements and change projects with adequate service level agreements in place for Country and the Shared Services hub.
- Ensure the appropriate Service Management requirements for each technology service and ensure appropriate controls and monitoring are in place
- Ensure that support models are in place for all technology services, complete with architecture designs, approvals and recovery instructions.
- Ensure services escalation framework is developed and maintained for all locally managed technology services
- Ensure implementation of service improvement plans/ initiatives where recurrent issues impacting availability have been noted.
- Resolve high-level issues within the Country through providing mitigative actions and driving the implementation of these actions
- Ensure timeously service reporting to key stakeholders on technology services (weekly dashboards, monthly reporting, relevant committees)
- Ensure high standards of Technology services are delivered by managing and monitoring the Technology Service Level Agreement (SLA), interact with Sourcing to acquire quality contracts with third party vendors to support design and development of products to delivery high level of service to business
- Establish a framework for the management of service providers (internal) and external and ensure monitoring of performance through regular service level reviews
- Understand over all business dynamics, to provide optimal delivery across the business units and utilise centre services as required. Ensure that the successful end-to-end delivery of technology change within the country through effective service delivery and sector project delivery.
- Engage with the regulators with regards to regulatory projects and initiatives as well as with regards to banking services provided through the central bank.
- Agree and manage service offerings and Service Level Agreements in conjunction with internal customers (agree annually and measured on a monthly basis).
- Plan the Technology resource requirements for the Service Management team (including people, Capex, Opex, systems and Strategic Investment), negotiate and secure its allocation through the appropriate finance and budgeting processed and ensure delivery based on the promised business results.
- Participate in the design, implementation and delivery of new products/initiatives, and any subsequent activities such as proof of concepts, product evaluations and testing, ensuring all service management requirements are in place for go live
Service Management, Tools and Architecture
- Develop, implement and maintain an integrated set of Service Management processes including but not limited to incident and change management processed
- Develop, implement and maintain IT operations processes that integrate with the abovementioned Service
- Develop, implement and maintain architecture for the underlying technologies to enable and support the Service
- Action, drive and implement IT Disaster Recovery (ITDR) for all aspects to ensure ongoing production and quick turnaround times in cases where there are system down times e.g. Severity 1 and Severity 2 etc.
- Work in close collaboration with centre Service Managers to ensure country business requirements are understood and met
- Responsible for Management of the CMDB ensuring
- Complete and Accurate mapping of CIs against services
- Completion and timely review of criticality assessment for all consumed technology services
- Display a sound understanding of the social and political landscape surrounding country Technology activities and identify how these would impact on availability of services
Risk Management
- Collaborate with country technology risk and governance teams and provide support wherever required.
- Coach team members on all the processes and controls that they have to execute in their daily work and ensure that they understand the reasons for the controls and the consequences for failing to adhere to prescribed processes.
- Test a sample of activities on a weekly basis by reviewing documentation and checking work completed by team members to see if control requirements are being adhered to. Coach the team members on areas for improvement and highlight major failures to the manager of the area
- Identify losses due to technology incidents and ensure logging & follow up of risk events in line with Absa’s relevant standards.
- Ensure the requirements of IT DR /Resilience are well understood by team members and ensure appropriate planning and actions are taken to ensure DR compliance levels are maintained
- Make team members aware of all changes to policies, processes and procedures that are being planned for the area and ensure that they are able to incorporate the changes on the effective date. Ensure that team members read circulars that are relevant to the area and answer questions they may have.
People Management
- Develop a high performing team by embedding formal performance development and informal coaching. Encourage frequent knowledge sharing between team members. Address poor performances and gaps through individual performance improvance/development plans for team members. Analyse development needs for the team and ensure that identified training requirements are budgeted for and executed.
- Establish and maintain a succession plan for the team.
- Create effective workforce and recruitment demand plans to ensure that current and future business requirements can be met.
- Review and update the Service Management team’s structure and role description on a regular basis to ensure that they are fit for purpose and aligned to the strategy of the bank.
- Instil motivation in the entire team that will lead into superior performance and the achievement of unified business success through each other.
- Understand and educate the team about the strategic direction of Absa and ensure its alignment to customer demands, international industry standards with a competitive advantage.
- Champion the required cultural change in the business and emphasise appropriate ways of working
- Uphold and create excitement about the Digital Transformation vision and emphasise respect for values and further alignment of individuals actions, practices and processes and its impact on our team and Customers
Improve Customer Experience
- Always have a “Customer” first attitude and ensure all customer queries / calls are attended to on priority.
- Provide the Product team with customers’ feedback to help identify potential new features or products.
- Monitor the gaps which comes in the way customer experience or internal process or system issues and continuously feedback the project teams with innovations & suggestions to improve the product / process
- Participate in internal brain-storming sessions for development of new products and services or amendment to existing services
- Regular internal follow-ups for open customer issues and ensure that customer’s TAT is not impacted by providing alternative or workaround solutions to get the work done.
- Facilitate a customer obsession culture within and across teams for the long term success of the brand and continuous business growth
Role/Person Specification
Experience & Education
- Degree in computer science or in any Information Technology related fields
- ITIL Certification or equivalent preferred
- Proven experience in managing cloud-based applications (AWS certifications)
- 6–8 years’ experience in an IT operations environment, with a strong understanding of operational support and service delivery.
- At least 5 years’ experience in IT Service Management, including the implementation and oversight of service management practices and processes.
- Minimum of 4 years’ experience in a leadership role, with proven people management and team development capabilities.
- Experience within the financial services or banking sector, technology risk and/or information security management will be advantageous.
- Sound knowledge of the ITIL framework, associated service management processes and Agile delivery methodologies will be a distinct advantage.
Knowledge & Skills
- Demonstrated ability to perform effectively in a high-pressure environment, taking clear ownership of issues and initiatives and driving them through to successful resolution.
- Flexibility to provide support outside standard business hours to help ensure the continuous availability of critical banking services on a 24×7 basis.
- Customer, business, and financial impact of technology changes, risks, and incidents.
- Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and influencing skills, collaborate across both technical and business teams.
- Sound financial management capabilities, including budgeting, financial planning, cost management, and budget oversight.
- Strong commercial acumen, with proven negotiation skills and a sound understanding of contractual obligations, vendor management, commercial risks, and service agreements.
