Business Delivery Partner, Johannesburg

CAREER OPPORUNITY

Santam has a career opportunity for a Business Delivery Partner (BDP) within Santam Technology Services, based in Gauteng or the Western Cape. The role acts as a trusted advisor to business units, shaping demand and orchestrating technology delivery across multiple providers to support business strategy, governance, and value objectives.

ROLE PURROSE

The Business Delivery Partners (BDP) operate within the Business Relationship Management Institute (BRM) framework ( acting as the strategic interface between Santam business units and technology delivery teams, including Santam Technology Services (STS), Sanlam Group Technology (SGT), the Artificial Intelligence, Data and Analytics team (AIDAA), MiWay technology services, and other approved technology partners. The role ensures the effective execution of both strategic and tactical initiatives by aligning business objectives with technology capabilities.

Central to the role is translating business needs into impactful, value‑driven technology solutions and orchestrating delivery across a complex, matrixed environment. By bridging business and technology, the Delivery Partner enables informed technology investment decisions and ensures initiatives deliver measurable business outcomes.

While the role is not directly accountable for business‑as‑usual (BAU) support activities, such as month‑end processing or routine operational tasks, it remains actively engaged where required. This includes supporting escalations, partnering with IT service teams, and contributing to continuity and service excellence for the business.

In addition, the Delivery Partner supports and facilitates adherence to Santam’s governance, risk, and compliance requirements throughout the delivery lifecycle, ensuring initiatives are executed in a disciplined, transparent, and well‑governed manner.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Act as the primary interface for strategically significant and high-impact IT initiatives from Santam business units. This role requires deep insight into each unit’s operations, orchestrating end-to-end IT delivery to enable key priorities and drive business value.

Alignment with Organizational Strategy:

Ensure that IT strategies align with the goals of the organization and Sanlam Group, contributing directly to business success. Ensure a clear understanding of the Business Unit strategy and its alignment with the broader organisational strategy, and how initiatives are translated into actionable delivery efforts as implementation vehicles of that strategy. Drive the delivery of all committed and Business-as-Usual (BAU) funded IT initiatives and features as prioritized by the Business Unit, Strategic Initiative Investment Committee (SIIC) or other relevant governing bodies in the organization.

 Stakeholder Management & Communication:

Engage with C-suite executives, business leaders, operational teams and IT teams to align IT strategies with business priorities. Communicate IT roadmaps, risks, and opportunities effectively. Facilitate collaboration between cross-functional teams. Attend assigned Business Unit Executive Committee meetings.

Delivery Leadership:

Understand business goals, challenges, and priorities, translating them into IT strategies and solutions. Provide leadership in the end-to-end delivery of IT solutions, ensuring they align with business objectives while emphasizing adherence to budget constraints and identifying cost-saving opportunities. Drive the adoption of emerging technologies such as AI, automation, and data analytics to improve business performance. Managing the BU’s Strategic Initiatives Investment Committee (SIIC) and IT BAU (Run and Enhance) budget through the various governance forums.

Matrix Collaboration:

Strengthen cross-functional collaboration by working closely with central IT functions, technical platform owners, and other key stakeholders within the matrix structure to drive seamless integration and efficiency. Facilitate the Operational Level Agreement between STS and the respective Business unit or division supported. Engage with the IT Service Management team to track and analyse IT service management (ITSM), uptime statistics, and other key performance metrics, ensuring transparent and meaningful reporting to supported business units. Partner with IT teams across infrastructure, applications, security, and data to enhance service delivery, optimize performance, and proactively address business needs.

Agile Prioritization and Portfolio Management:

Continually align IT initiatives with business priorities through Agile prioritization and Lean Portfolio Management. Measure effective prioritization through self-assessment and peer-to-peer feedback.

Governance and Communication Hub:

Act as a communication hub, facilitating effective communication of Agile prioritization to the assigned business unit and relevant governance bodies. Suggest fit for purpose governance for Strategic and BAU driven initiatives. . Managing projects via Waterfall, Hybrid or the Agile framework. Facilitate, guide, and support adherence to IT governance, risk, audit, and compliance requirements, without assuming direct accountability. Facilitate engagement with Shared Services such as Legal, Brand and Marketing, Communication Services, Group Sourcing and the Group Risk Office when required, regarding the delivery of IT in the business units.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Scaled Agile Delivery:
In conjunction with the Agile Centre of Excellence and Release Train Engineers (RTE) or other assigned business owners, support scaled agile delivery and support the effective tracking of Sprint and Release goals

Track delivery progress against goals and manage risks.

Product Owner Organization Development:

Support the development of a functional Product Owner organization within the business unit. Work with assigned Agile Coaches and RTEs to set up support structures for ongoing mentoring for the Product Owners. Measure effectiveness through self-assessment and peer-to-peer feedback.

Performance Reporting and Collaboration:

Report on the business delivery portfolio regularly, collaborating with the Business Unit Executive Committee. Provide input to the CIO report and support the business units in reporting on the business value and value realization of IT investments.

Vendor Management 

Collaborate with the STS Strategy and Enterprise Architecture team as well as group sourcing on vendor management, to ensure that third-party engagements support strategic delivery, compliance, and operational continuity. Provide feedback to sourcing and vendor management on vendor performance on SLA and other metrics where required, and support issue escalation and resolution with vendors, to help resolve blockers that impact business outcomes

Enterprise Architecture (EA):

Collaborate with the STS Strategy and Enterprise Architecture team on matters related to EA, including but not limited to Cloud Risk Assessments (CRA) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) agreements. Recommend solutions already in use within the group, supporting EA principles of reuse—prioritising reuse before buy, and buy before build.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCES

Relevant tertiary IT or business qualification 10+ years IT delivery and management experience in complex, matrixed environments Leadership experience leading cross-functional teams without direct line authority Proven C-level stakeholder management and ability to build trusted relationships with senior business leaders Strong understanding and application of IT governance principles in regulated industries Demonstrated ability to contribute to business strategy development and translate business objectives into technology enablers Experience in shaping business cases, defining measurable outcomes, and facilitating value realisation Strong programme and change management experience, with ability to orchestrate across multiple initiatives IT and project budgeting and management experience Experience orchestrating delivery across multiple technology providers (internal and external)

Advantageous

Experience in short-term insurance or financial services Experience in application development, systems implementation, and product/solution selection Technical depth in data, digital, AI, or platform technologies

COMPETENCIES

Collaboration and teamwork Client focus Driving results Flexibility and adaptability Cultivates innovation Interpersonal skills, ability to engage with senior business stakeholders as well as coach and mentor of design / development peers Building networks and good relationships Develop and implement strategy Relevant Technology expertise Business and commercial acumen Change leadership Ability to learn and adapt quickly to changing business demands Ability to learn and apply new technologies Navigating complexity

ABOUT SANTAM

Santam is the market leader in the general insurance industry in Southern Africa. As a large, diversified, and expanding company, we are committed to transformation and growth. While our headquarters are in South Africa, we are rapidly extending our presence into emerging markets across Africa and Asia.

With a client base of over 1 million policyholders, Santam serves individuals, commercial enterprises, specialist business owners, and institutions—including 80 of the Top 100 companies listed on the JSE. Our commitment to Insurance, Good and Proper goes beyond just providing cover—we offer peace of mind, ensuring our clients can focus on living in the moment, not worrying about the unexpected. Because at Santam, we believe the freedom to seize every day is worth protecting.

People drive our business, and we are committed to attracting the best talent, whether for permanent roles or short-term opportunities. 

Santam is committed to diversity, inclusion, and belonging. As an equal opportunity employer, we encourage applications from candidates of all backgrounds, including persons with disabilities. We are dedicated to neuro-inclusivity and fostering a workplace where everyone can thrive.