Head of Information Technology – BBS Bank

The Bank

BBS Bank Limited is the first indigenous commercial bank in Botswana, whose head office is in Gaborone. Historically BBS operated as building society with the principal business of residential and commercial property finance, in which the bank remains a leader. With acquisition of a commercial banking license this year, the Bank is now poised to introduce a new suite of banking products and services, to become a formidable player in the local banking landscape. In this endeavour the Bank seeks an individual, preferably with technical competencies in Temenos T24 and a background in the banking or financial services industry, to assume the role of Head of Information Technology.

The Role

The Head of Information Technology will actively support the business strategy of the Bank through implementation of the digitisation strategy, geared at development of innovative products and services for a high level of customer experience. The person will be expected to develop an IT operating model aligned with the banking strategy and its customer-centric approaches. The individual will collaborate with business to identify and provide the technology necessary for customer insights, and harnesses digital banking platforms for sustained profitability. Moving into the future the role will gradually migrate platforms into cloud for cost effectiveness. The role entails formulation and implementation of IT frameworks, policies and procedures, building high cyber security, disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities. At operational level, the person will oversee IT security management, data management, access control and change management, while providing banking, network and information systems and services to support banking operations, including through effective vendor management.

• The duties of the Head of Information Technology will include the following –
• Development of short and long-term IT strategies, which are aligned to and support the Bank’s corporate strategy, ensuring that the Bank realises value from the solutions implemented.
• Ensuring that information technology policies, processes and governance frameworks are documented and communicated to IT staff and the relevant audiences in the Bank.
• Oversight of system design, development of new IT applications, and integration of present systems with new technology, to support products and services.
• Maintaining a high level of cyber security, ensuring that threats to the internal network are mitigated against, through implementation of effective cyber security capabilities and awareness amongst employees.
• Oversight of implementation of IT projects ensuring that there is efficiency, cost effectiveness and value realisation, within budget constraints.
• Ensuring that all information systems function properly and receive timely maintenance as necessary for consistency of uptime, to avoid business disruption.
• Development and maintenance of effective disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities for the Bank, including through effective management of service level agreements with vendors.
• Oversight of provision of seamless network and telecommunications solutions that effectively meet the needs of the Bank, including through effective management of service level agreements with vendors.
• Ensuring that IT operations are cost effective, efficient and within established budget constraints, through effective prioritization.
• Continuous analyses of the Bank’s strategic roadmap to assess future trends and realigning of the role of IT in driving of strategy.
• Oversight of research to determine trends in IT and digitisation, including the current legislative and regulatory requirements and assessing their impact on the Bank’s IT strategy.
• Provision of support for market development, market insights, virtual channels and channel strategy and management.
• Actively collaborating with other areas of the business to close gaps between IT and the transactional and service delivery levels of the institution.
• Positioning of the IT Department as a key driver of product development and innovation, ensuring that the resources necessary are available for this strategic positioning.
• Attendance of Senior / Executive Management / Board meetings by invitation in an advisory capacity.
• Provision of leadership for a high-performance culture, through effective management of talent, succession planning and building of a leadership pipeline for the IT Department.

QUALIFICATIONS:

Minimum of a B Sc Degree in information technology or equivalent.

EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:   

Minimum often years of IT experience, preferably in a banking environment, of which 3 – 4 years were at senior management level. Further, the Bank prefers an individual with experience in a Temenos T24 platform environment.

KEY KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNICAL COMPETENCIES

IT Knowledge – Demonstration of a deep and broad knowledge base in fundamental IT technical skill sets to amongst others evaluate various technologies for relevance, cost-effectiveness, enablement of product and service development and implementation in the organisation, which knowledge base is largely maintained by constantly monitoring new technologies in the globally and regionally. A background in a Temenos T24 environment is key.

IT Architecture – Must be able to provide leadership in the area of architectural methodologies used in the design & development of IT systems both within the organisation and the larger industry, and align the overall technical architecture with business requirements, performance goals and long-term direction.

Banking and Operations Management – Sound understanding of the banking business context and IT requirements to support the business as well as the ability to analyse business matrices to determine how to meet the requirements through IT.

IT Strategy and Planning – Must be able to develop a larger vision for the utilisation of IT based systems to modernise work methods and improve efficiency and response times for other business functions, through mastery, knowledge and skill to act independently while providing guidance in order to apply IT solutions for business and through anticipation of and identification of areas that can be transformed through IT support.

Knowledge of IT Governance and Business – Understanding of measures necessary to ensure that data and information systems comply with legislative requirements and regulations, and third party guidelines, enabling leadership in this area while advising on the business impact of changes to IT governance frameworks.

Business acumen – Demonstration of the ability to interpret financial and economic concepts and drivers in order to identify, create and/or exploit opportunities in the business landscape, such as to evaluate the economic viability (cost and value) of each product and  service (i.e., risk versus cost-benefit).

KEY LEADERSHIP COMPETENCIES

• Analytical Thinking
• Numerical Acumen
• Innovative Thinking
• People Management and Empowerment
• Planning and Organising