Product Manager - Card Issuing & Portfolio Growth

Job Title: Product Manager - Card Issuing & Portfolio Growth

Employment type: Contract (On-site)

Contract length: 12 months

Location: Johannesburg, South Africa

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

We are seeking an experienced Product Manager to support the Issuing Leadership team in driving card issuing portfolio growth, product optimization, capability development, and execution governance across multiple African markets.

This role will serve as a strategic and operational extension of the Head of Issuing, working directly with country teams, product leaders, risk teams, analytics teams, and external partners to identify opportunities, solve business challenges, accelerate delivery, and drive commercial outcomes.

The successful candidate will combine strong product management, portfolio strategy, analytics, and execution capabilities to help scale the issuing business and improve portfolio performance across the region. This role is designed for a self-starter who can independently assess business problems, structure solutions, mobilize stakeholders, and drive implementation.

The individual will help enable faster decision-making, stronger market execution, and accelerated commercial growth across the Card Issuing portfolio.

Core Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Product Portfolio Management:

• Support management of the ABSA ARO card portfolio across multiple markets.
• Monitor portfolio performance and identify opportunities to increase cards, spend, usage, penetration, and profitability.
• Conduct portfolio diagnostics and performance reviews.
• Build market-specific growth plans and optimization initiatives.
• Evaluate new product propositions and enhancements.
• Support product commercialization and go-to-market execution.

Portfolio Analytics & Insights:

• Develop portfolio performance dashboards and management reporting.
• Analyze customer behavior, transaction trends, activation rates, attrition, and profitability drivers.
• Identify growth opportunities through analytics and business performance reviews.
• Convert data into actionable recommendations for country teams and leadership.
• Track performance against strategic objectives and KPIs.

Capability Assessment & Development:

• Assess existing product, portfolio, and operational capabilities across markets.
• Identify capability gaps and recommend improvements.
• Support development of product roadmaps and capability enhancement plans.
• Evaluate readiness for new products, services, and customer propositions.
• Assist markets in prioritizing investments and initiatives.

Strategic Initiatives & Program Execution:

• Drive execution of key strategic initiatives across the issuing portfolio.
• Coordinate implementation of portfolio optimization programs.
• Support campaign execution and commercialization initiatives.
• Monitor progress and ensure initiatives remain on track.
• Identify execution risks and proactively recommend mitigation actions.

Regulatory, Compliance & Risk Support:

• Partner with Risk, Compliance, Operations, and Product teams.
• Support product reviews from a regulatory and compliance perspective.
• Assist in capability assessments linked to regulatory requirements.
• Track remediation activities and change initiatives.
• Ensure key product initiatives incorporate appropriate governance controls.

Market Engagement & Stakeholder Management:

• Act as a key interface between regional leadership and in-country teams.
• Support engagement with Product Heads, Country CEOs, Operations, Risk, Marketing, and Analytics teams.
• Facilitate strategic workshops and working sessions.
• Drive alignment across stakeholders to accelerate delivery.
• Escalate execution blockers and support resolution.

Change & Transformation Management:

• Support transformation initiatives across issuing products and portfolios.
• Drive adoption of new operating models, processes, and capabilities.
• Establish and monitor implementation milestones.
• Ensure business change initiatives deliver measurable outcomes.

Knowledge and Experience:

• 5–10 years' experience in Product Management, Cards & Payments, Retail Banking, Consumer Lending, Portfolio Management, and Issuing Business Management.
• Experience across banks, card issuers, payment networks, and financial services consulting environments.
• Experience in Product lifecycle management; product strategy development; product commercialization; customer proposition design; portfolio optimization.
• Business performance analysis; portfolio analytics; customer behavior analysis; financial modeling; KPI management.
• Program management; stakeholder management; cross-functional leadership; problem solving; prioritization and decision support.
• Executive-level presentation skills; workshop facilitation; strategic storytelling; senior stakeholder engagement.

Mandatory Skills:

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Economics, Business Administration, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field (Master's preferred).
• Previous experience within Banking, Digital Payment & Card solutions or the FinTech industry.
• Regional experience, including working in a faced-paced matrix organisation.

Preferred Skills:

• Multi-country African banking experience.
• Experience managing issuing portfolios.
• Exposure to card products including Debit; Credit; Commercial Cards; Affluent Products; Digital Payments.
• Experience in Portfolio growth programs; Customer activation campaigns; Portfolio optimization initiatives; Loyalty and rewards programs; Digital payments transformation.