Job Description

Director: Strategy and Planning - Africa
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Contract Type: Permanent
Salary: R2.2 - R2.5 million CTC per annum + performance bonus + long-term incentive
About the Client
Our client is a global leader in credit information and information management services, empowering businesses, consumers, and communities worldwide to reach their goals. With a mission to enable smarter decisions, they help businesses manage risk and grow customer relationships while supporting consumers on their path to financial well-being.
About the Role
Our client is seeking a hands-on, end-to-end strategist who can lead the full lifecycle of strategic development -- from inception and execution to ongoing monitoring and refinement. This role is not a traditional KPI-holder, but a true individual contributor responsible for driving strategy with support from one junior associate. The ideal candidate must come from within an organisation -- consultants will not be considered -- and have demonstrable experience in financial services.
This is a specialist role requiring someone with a strong personality, the ability to influence and engage across business levels, and a willingness to roll up their sleeves. The successful candidate will be accountable for strategy across South Africa and seven other African markets, working closely with regional executives and contributing directly to growth and transformation initiatives.
Key Responsibilities

• Leads execution of business plans and critical initiatives.
• Manage a team of highly skilled strategy professionals.
• Conducts primary and secondary research and analysis to inform market entry/market expansion opportunities. Translates these insights into material for senior stakeholders.
• Tracks competition and identifies threats and opportunities.
• Provides a critical thinking forum for local leadership.
• Builds trusted relationships with product and industry experts and other key decisionmakers to gather insights and develop actionable go-to-market plans.
• Collaborates with the broader International markets to create and maintain business plans that have clear and measurable targets.
• Develops and delivers senior-level presentations for the short-term and long-range plans.
• Designs, facilitates and manages the strategic planning process in line with the business objectives. Drives the pre-and post-meeting work involved for all planning sessions.
• Supports business case development for new opportunities and partners with regional Product heads, Centre of Excellence heads, and global knowledge experts to facilitate and enable import/export of global IP.
• Researches, analyses, and builds content to identify and support acquisition opportunities and facilitates the development and execution of integration plans for any such acquisitions.
• Continually assesses cross-industry best practices, new business models and techniques to enhance current International planning practices.
• Integrates creativity into strategy formulation and execution.
• Executes ad hoc strategic analysis for the leadership team.
• Gathers competitive intelligence on an ongoing basis, monitors strategy, and predicts competitive responses for key competitors.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Skills, Experience and Qualifications

• An MBA degree with global strategy experience or experience with strategy consulting would be preferred.
• At least 5-8 years of related experience, driving strategic initiatives, including M&A.
• High degree of intellectual curiosity with a successful track record of driving ideas to implementation.
• Experience collaborating cross-functionally within an organisation.
• Financial and/or credit industry subject matter expertise/proficiency.
• Knowledge about the credit reporting industry or International business planning experience.
• Must have business planning experience along with strong facilitation skills.
• A high degree of computer literacy and expertise is required.
• Ability to work independently or as part of a dynamic team in a rapidly changing environment.
• Good project management capabilities and high attention to detail; comfortable working under deadlines and producing key deliverables.
• Sound business judgment and excellent problem solving and influencing skills.
• Proficient financial, analytical, organisational and interpersonal skills.
• Proven ability to quickly grasp industry and business-wide concepts in order to assess implications, drive actions, and capitalise on opportunities.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills with experience in providing crisp, insightful information to executive teams.

What Success Looks Like
Delivery of a cohesive and actionable Africa-wide strategy aligned with global business goals.
Direct impact on regional growth and operational transformation.
High trust and influence with senior business leaders across regions.
Effective oversight and management of strategic priorities with measurable business outcomes.
A visible, hands-on presence throughout the organisation, influencing by doing, not just directing.

Skills Required