Manager: Prepaid Voice Products and Services

Mission/ Core purpose of the Job

Develop new and enhance existing Voice Services for the Prepaid market and
effectively manage the product lifecycle in alignment to each project, the
business strategy and profit targets to ensure that the Company is a leader in
the Voice Consumer market by having a well-managed product portfolio and
services which meets the demands of the market.

Job Outcomes / Results

• Successful delivery of the prepaid voice product roadmap.
• Launch of commercially viable and competitive voice products.
• Improved product portfolio performance and profitability.
• Stronger customer satisfaction and product relevance.
• Effective project execution and governance.
• High-quality product implementation and assurance.
• Strong cross-functional stakeholder alignment.
• Continuous improvement, innovation, and capability building.
• Effective market, customer, and competitor insight generation.
• Development of sound business cases and commercial recommendations.
• Compliance with internal policies, product development processes, and regulatory requirements.
• Adequate enablement and training of sales, support, technical, and delivery teams.

Key Activities & Responsibilities

Strategy Implementation and Planning

• Support the execution of the prepaid voice strategy by translating business/ product development objectives into actionable product plans and
initiatives.
• Develop and maintain product roadmaps that align with customer needs, market opportunities, and organisational priorities.
• Consider the impact of solutions on other areas of the business, as well as the interdependency of units;
• Consider the medium term (1-2 years) implications of actions from a broad perspective including long term positioning and strategy;
• Contribute to annual business planning by identifying growth opportunities, enhancement requirements, and portfolio priorities.
• Monitor industry trends, customer insights, and competitor activities to inform product planning and decision-making.
• Develop business cases and recommendations to support product investment decisions.
• Ensure product strategies contribute to subscriber growth, customer retention, and revenue targets.
• Track the delivery of strategic product initiatives and provide regular progress reporting to stakeholders.
• Position MTN's prepaid voice portfolio as a competitive market differentiator.

Product Development and Lifecycle Management
• Define product requirements, customer journeys, and value propositions.
• Translate business opportunities and customer needs into product specifications and development requirements.
• Lead, develop and enhance prepaid voice products, offers, and services utilizing the Product development methodology.
• Manage the end-to-end product lifecycle from concept through launch, optimisation, and retirement.
• Facilitate approval processes, business cases, and governance requirements for new product initiatives.
• Coordinate and manage product initiatives from concept through implementation, ensuring delivery within agreed scope, timelines, and budgets.
• Ensure product launches are executed successfully and achieve intended business outcomes.
• Participate in the decision making around new products and services development.
• Present ideas on product performance and fit to market requirements.
• Review technical specs to ensure that user and functional requirements are met & advise management committee on tactical decisions affecting
development.
• Drive continuous product innovation and enhancement.

Product Delivery and Governance
• Coordinate cross-functional delivery of product initiatives.
• Manage implementation plans, milestones, risks, and dependencies.
• Ensure business requirements are accurately translated into technology solutions.
• Oversee user acceptance testing and product quality assurance activities.
• Monitor delivery readiness and launch preparedness.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, commercial, risk, and governance requirements.
• Address product-related escalations and drive timely resolution of issues.

Budget Management/ Cost Control
• Identify cost-saving opportunities and efficiency improvements while ensuring that workforce needs are adequately met.
• Identify opportunities to generate additional revenue.

Commercial Performance Management
• Monitor product performance against revenue, usage, profitability, and customer acquisition targets.
• Analyse customer behaviour, product utilisation, and commercial performance trends.
• Identify opportunities to improve product uptake, customer engagement, and profitability.
• Support pricing strategies and commercial decision-making processes.
• Develop forecasts and performance projections for the prepaid voice portfolio.
• Prepare and present product performance insights and recommendations to stakeholders.

Customer and Market Insights
• Analyse customer feedback, usage patterns, and market research findings.
• Monitor competitor products, commercial propositions, and market developments.
• Identify unmet customer needs and emerging market opportunities.
• Partner with customer experience, research, and analytics teams to generate actionable insights.
• Recommend enhancements to improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
• Ensure customer considerations are embedded throughout the product lifecycle.

Stakeholder Management and Enablement
• Build and maintain effective relationships with internal and external stakeholders.
• Collaborate with Technology, CVM, Sales, Marketing, Channels, Customer Operations, Commercial and Finance teams.
• Influence stakeholders to achieve product objectives and business outcomes.
• Support sales, customer service, and operational teams through product enablement activities.
• Develop and deliver product training and knowledge transfer where required.
• Facilitate alignment and decision-making across multiple business functions.

Innovation and Continuous Improvement
• Identify opportunities to improve processes, products, and customer experience.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, market innovations, and industry best practices.
• Recommend operational and product improvements to enhance business performance.
• Promote innovation and continuous improvement within the product management environment.
• Support the adoption of new approaches that improve efficiency, customer value, and commercial outcomes.

General Governance, Policies, Procedures
• Ensure effective documentation and implementation of (and compliance towards) company policies, processes, and procedures.
• Facilitate collaboration between internal teams and partners to drive joint initiatives and resolve issues.
• Manage and provide solutions to escalations that have multiple processes / functions impact on critical path of service delivery.
• Continuously review key risks, issues and dependencies and set mitigation actions. Proactively flag and escalate issues and manage impacts on resources, cost and productivity.
• Where required, set up and participate in operational and tactical meetings.

People & Culture Management
• Set integrated goals and objectives for the team in order to achieve a future-focused, future-fit high-performing organisation.
• Provide hands-on support and supplement team capacity when required to ensure continuity, quality, and adherence to turnaround times.
• Enable and model healthy employee relations and collaborative teamwork.
• Provide technical, procedural and policy guidance to staff, colleagues , partners and vendors.
• Attract, develop and retain appropriate talent. Build talent by identifying and developing new leaders for the respective environment
• Create and implement personal development plans.
• Define the KPAs and KPIs that will be cascaded down to direct reports.
• Manage Performance and identify training needs. Coach and guide subordinates.
• Contribute to building a culture of continuous evaluation and improvement. Drive a culture of high performance, accountability and consequence management.
• Act as an ambassador for the team by living the values and vital behaviours and changing and influencing employees’ behaviour.
• Make the environment the best place to work. Foster professionalism, loyalty and commitment to the organization. Build the Company’s brand to be the employer of first choice.

Education, Skills and Experience

Education:
• 3-year Degree / Diploma in Commerce (Marketing /Communication) or related qualification
• Post-graduate qualification advantageous

Experience:
• Minimum of 5 years’ work experience in in Product Management, Product Development, Marketing, Telecommunications, or a related commercial environment.
• Experience in managing product lifecycles, product launches, and portfolio enhancement initiatives.
• Experience analysing customer, market, and commercial performance data to support business decisions.
• Experience leading cross-functional projects and stakeholder engagement across multiple business areas.
• Telecommunications industry experience would be advantageous.

Skills:
• Strong commercial, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to link insights to revenue and profitability outcomes.
• Advanced Excel skills with working knowledge of Power BI or similar reporting tools.
• Proficiency in SQL; Python or similar analytical tools advantageous.
• Strong stakeholder engagement skills with clear communication of insights to business audiences.
• High attention to data accuracy, integrity, and governance.
• Proactive, innovative mindset with strong MS Office capability, particularly PowerPoint