Executive: Strategic Customer Programme Management

Structural Information

Job number:                     10031757

Job title:                             Executive: Strategic Customer Programme Management

Job grade:                          M3

Group/ BU:                       Openserve

Division:                             Openserve

Span of control:               5-10

Reports to:                        Top Management

Core Description

The Executive: Strategic Customer Programme Management is responsible for leading and governing strategic customer programmes across the business. This includes Requests for Proposal (RFPs), bids, contract renewals, customer recovery initiatives, and awarded customer programmes. The role ensures that customer commitments are realistic, clearly owned, and aligned to operational capabilities. It translates approved commitments into executable delivery plans, monitors programme performance, manages risks and dependencies, and drives timely decision-making to protect customer, revenue, SLA, and delivery outcomes. Operating within a matrix environment, the role collaborates closely with Customer Experience, Service Delivery, Value Chain Transformation, Commercial, Finance, Technology, and Operations teams. While functional teams retain ownership of their mandates, this role provides end-to-end coordination and governance of customer programme commitments, risks, issues, decisions, and recovery actions.

Job Responsibilities

1. Operational Management
Establish, implement, and continuously improve the Strategic Customer Programme Management framework for RFPs and customer programmes.
Ensure delivery readiness assessments are completed before strategic bids and RFP submissions.
Translate approved customer commitments into structured mobilisation and execution plans.
Maintain a consolidated view of all strategic customer programmes, including: 
Milestones
Risks
Issues
Dependencies
Decisions
Recovery actions

2. Monitor programme performance against customer commitments, business cases, SLA obligations, and operational readiness requirements.
Coordinate programme activities across: 
Commercial
Finance
Legal
Planning
Engineering
Build
Service Delivery
Assurance
Digital
Information Technology
Procurement
Operations

3. Identify and escalate delivery risks, scope changes, resource constraints, and dependency challenges with clear recommendations and impact assessments.

4. Provide executive-level reporting on programme status, risks, performance, mitigation actions, accountability, and decisions required.

5. Leadership and People Management
Lead, coach, and develop the Strategic Customer Programme Management team.
Implement a flexible resourcing approach utilizing permanent employees and specialist contractors based on programme demand.
Build organisational capability in: 
Programme governance
Delivery management
Risk management
Executive reporting
Customer programme execution
Foster a culture of accountability, customer ownership, delivery excellence, and collaboration.
Ensure adherence to approved methodologies, governance standards, templates, and reporting frameworks.

Financial Management
Monitor programme delivery against: 
Approved business cases
Revenue commitments
Margin targets
Cost assumptions

Identify and proactively manage financial and commercial risks associated with: 
Delivery delays
SLA penalties
Scope changes
Customer dissatisfaction
Funding constraints
Support prioritisation, recovery, and investment decisions to protect customer value, revenue, profitability, and strategic outcomes.

Decision-Making Authority
The incumbent will be responsible for:
Defining governance requirements, approval routes, stage-gate controls, and reporting baselines for strategic customer programmes.
Recommending delivery readiness, assumptions, exclusions, risk positions, and escalations prior to RFP pricing lock and submission.
Approving governance structures, reporting cadences, RAID management practices, and escalation protocols for assigned programmes.
Escalating unresolved risks, resource constraints, scope changes, funding challenges, and delivery trade-offs to executive management.
Recommending mobilisation, reprioritisation, resource allocation, and recovery interventions where programme outcomes are at risk.

Core Competencies

Functional Knowledge
Telecommunications service delivery and customer programme management.
RFP, bid delivery readiness and commercial governance processes.
Programme, portfolio and project management methodologies.
Contractual, SLA, penalty and customer commitment management.
Business case, revenue protection, margin, cost and benefits tracking principles.
Risk, issue, dependency, change and escalation management.
Customer experience, NPS, service transition and assurance principles.

Functional Skills
Business plan formulation and implementation planning.
Cross-functional coordination and stakeholder alignment.
Executive communication, presentation and decision framing.
Risk, issue, dependency and change management.
Negotiation, facilitation and conflict resolution.
Programme dashboarding, action tracking and performance reporting.
Problem solving, analytical thinking and commercial judgement.

Competencies (Behaviour)
Thought leadership: developing insights, challenging assumptions and shaping practical delivery solutions.
Market leadership: understanding customer needs, identifying delivery risks early and creating confidence with strategic accounts.
Business leadership: pursuing goals, taking action, upholding standards and driving measurable outcomes.
People leadership: empowering teams, directing effort, making decisions and building accountability.
Personal leadership: embracing change, showing composure, valuing individuals and working collaboratively.

Certifications

Education

Experience

Additional Information

Certification, qualifications and experience:
Preferred certifications include:
Project Management Professional (PMP)
PRINCE2
Managing Successful Programmes (MSP)
Management of Portfolios (MoP)
Equivalent programme or project management certification

Essential Qualifications:
Bachelor's Degree in: Business Management, Engineering, Information Technology, Commerce or related discipline
Advantageous: Postgraduate qualification (NQF Level 8 or equivalent).

Experience:
Minimum 8 years of relevant experience in: Customer programme management, Portfolio governance, Project delivery, Account delivery management or Large-scale ICT or telecommunications environments
Minimum 3 years in a senior leadership role within programme, delivery, commercial, or customer-facing environments.
Proven experience managing complex, multi-workstream programmes involving technical, commercial, operational, legal, financial, and customer-facing teams.
Experience within fibre, high-capacity services, managed services, carrier, enterprise, public sector, or hyperscale environments will be advantageous.
Demonstrated expertise in: 
Programme governance
Executive reporting
Risk, Assumption, Issue and Dependency (RAID) management
Customer escalation management
Recovery planning
Exposure to commercial, contractual, SLA, and financial governance environments is advantageous.

Special Requirements:
Ability to operate effectively across multiple business units and customer segments within a matrix organisation.
Willingness to support: 
Executive-level escalations
Critical bid cycles
Strategic customer reviews
Time-sensitive programme recovery initiatives
Availability to respond to high-priority customer and business requirements when necessary.

Resourcing Model:
The function will operate with a lean permanent team supported by specialist contractors as required. This flexible approach enables scalability during peak programme demand while maintaining cost efficiency and access to specialist capabilities.
Success Measures
The role will be evaluated on:
Successful conversion of customer commitments into executable delivery plans.
On-time and within-scope delivery of strategic customer programmes.
Reduction in delivery risks and customer escalations.
Achievement of SLA and customer experience objectives.
Protection of revenue, margin, and business case commitments.
Quality of executive reporting and governance oversight.
Effective cross-functional coordination and stakeholder management.

Special Requirements

Physical Requirements

Key Stakeholders

Internal
Openserve CEO
Openserve Executive Committee (EXCO)
Chief Officers
Service Delivery Leadership Teams
Commercial and Segment Business Development Teams
Finance and Revenue Management
Commercial Pricing Teams
Legal, Risk and Procurement Functions
Planning, Engineering, Build and Field Operations
Network Operations Teams
Digital and Information Technology Teams
Service Management Teams
Customer Experience Teams

External
Strategic Customers
Government Accounts
Enterprise Customers
Carrier Customers
Hyperscale Customers
Key Suppliers and Delivery Partners