Manager Operational Readiness

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- 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

Work across tribes & embedded within squads to support the development & implementation of technology operational readiness plans & enable successful deployment of technology updates & changes in our production environments with mínimal to no disruption & or impact to service provision to customers.

**Job Description**:

- Build knowledge & expertise in bank wide architecture & technology stacks (products & services) to enable effective operational readiness planning & execution
- Provide operational readiness support & advisory to Service Delivery & Technology Product & service tribes & squads
- Co-ordinate & consolidate operational readiness inputs (e.g. technology roadmaps) from a broad range of stakeholders including e.g. service delivery & technology teams at BU level for change & release planning
- Co-ordinate & facilitate BU level operational readiness & change & release planning processes
- Develop BU specific detailed change & release documentation & communication across the change & release lifecycle (reflecting the scope of the changes, risks & risk implications of proposed changes, prioritisation, schedules, resource requirements, roles & responsibilities, integration points, quality assurance processes, monitoring parameters and processes etc. Do this across the change & release lifecycle (pre-during-post change & release)
- Participate in integration processes at a portfolio level - to align operational readiness, change & release plans
- As a result of the above, identify operational readiness risks & opportunities and translate these to BU wide Service Delivery & Technology teams leading to operational readiness plan finalisation
- Prepare all BU specific change controls & change approval process documentation & participate (as required) in change governance forums
- Coordinate operational readiness reviews & document assessment outcomes & insights
- Leverage insights from operational readiness reviews & past events (DR, MIM etc.) to identify risks & suggest solutions in mitigation (integrate this at Portfolio level)
- Review operational readiness plan alignment to Group Architecture, Infrastructure, Security, DR & regulatory standards - identify risks and opportunities and suggest solutions in mitigation
- Document & administrate detailed project / program / orchestration plans for changes & releases at BU level. These plans must include: milestones, Go / No Go activities, detailed schedules, prioritization, interdependencies, testing & QA requirements, acceptance criteria, approvals etc. for all pre-prod & prod activity
- Develop & distribute change & release communications & align to portfolio communication plans
- Coordinate & oversee the successful implementation of all BU changes & releases (that form part of the broader portfolio plan)
- Monitor BU specific change & release performance & metrics post-prod, identify risk & implement mitigating actions
- Participate in incident & event management processes during the change / release process (where incidents occur) and ensure appropriate coordination across the value chain for their resolution
- Prepare BU change & release reporting (pre, during & post change & release)
- Stay ahead of the curve on operational readiness, change, release & incident management best practices
- Contribute to the continuous improvement of operational readiness frameworks & tools
- Support Digitization, Automation and Orchestration of the operational Readiness services and its catalogue of services and functions.

Accountability: Finance, Risk & Governance
- Participate in & prepare requirements for risk & governance processes e.g audit
- Support remediation on all non-compliant operational readiness activity
- on time & quality & in alignment with Group & Regulatory standards
- Ensure alignment of all BU operational readiness plans to Group & Regulatory requirements
- Prepare effective MI, knowledge management & document management processes & practices aligned to Group & Regulatory standards and practices

Accountability: People
- Coach & mentor Service Delivery & Technical teams on operational readiness framework, tools & processes
- Positively contribute as a member of self-directed agile teams (including daily, weekly, etc. sprint routines, regular & honest feedback etc.)
- Conduct peer reviews, testing, problem solving within and across the broader team

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology
- Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised_