Business Manager

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Certified by the Top Employer Institute 2026.

Role Purpose/Business Unit:

• To enable the effective operation of the VB Director’s Office leveraging off digital, automation and AI enabled tools to  provide business management support, operational coordination, governance discipline, financial and commercial insight, and high-quality executive reporting. The role acts as a trusted partner to the VB Director by ensuring priorities are translated into clear actions, business decisions are tracked through to execution, and key stakeholders are aligned on critical deliverables.
• The Business Manager supports the Director by creating capacity for strategic focus, strengthening operational rhythm across Vodacom Business, coordinating cross-functional inputs, and ensuring that performance, risks, actions, and key business issues are surfaced timeously to support informed decision-making.

Your responsibilities will include:

Business Performance Enablement    

• Consolidate and interpret business performance information from relevant reporting sources to provide the Director with timely, accurate and actionable insights.
• Monitor progress against strategic priorities, operational plans, business targets and key deliverables, highlighting risks, dependencies and areas requiring leadership attention.
• Support data-led decision-making by translating performance trends, financial indicators and operational inputs into clear executive summaries and presentations.
• Use AI-enabled analytics and reporting tools to identify trends, anomalies, risks and opportunities from business performance data. 
• Leverage AI to accelerate research, benchmarking, summarisation and synthesis of business insights for strategic discussions.
• Coordinate research, benchmarking and business analysis required to support strategic discussions, planning sessions and executive engagements.

Director’s Office Operational Support    

• Enable the effective day-to-day functioning of the Director’s Office by coordinating priorities, actions, deadlines, follow-ups and key business deliverables.
• Act as a central point of coordination between the Director, Exco members, senior leadership teams and relevant functional stakeholders.
• Drive preparation for key meetings by ensuring relevant inputs, pre-reads, decision items and follow-up actions are clear, complete and timeously available.
• Track agreed actions and commitments to closure, escalating delays, risks or unresolved matters where leadership intervention is required.

Commercial and Financial Insight    

• Partner with Finance Business Partners and commercial stakeholders to analyse financial performance, cost trends, budget utilisation and commercial indicators.
• Prepare concise executive updates on expenditure, cost efficiency, delivery progress and financial implications of key business initiatives.
• Support proactive identification, tracking and reporting of cost optimisation opportunities and business improvement initiatives.
• Provide commercially grounded analysis to support trade-off decisions, prioritisation and effective allocation of leadership focus.

Governance, Reporting and Execution Tracking    

• Maintain an effective governance and reporting rhythm for the Director’s Office, aligned to Vodacom/Vodafone standards and business requirements.
• Coordinate monthly reports, business reviews, Exco submissions and Board inputs by consolidating, validating and prioritising critical information.
• Ensure decisions, risks, dependencies and action items are documented, tracked and followed through within the approved governance framework.
• Quality assure reports, presentations and executive materials to ensure they are accurate, coherent, decision-oriented and appropriate for senior audiences.
• Support implementation of business decisions by monitoring execution progress and escalating material deviations or unresolved issues.
• Apply AI tools to improve the quality, consistency and speed of executive reports, decision logs, risk summaries and governance updates. 
• Ensure AI-generated outputs are validated, accurate, confidential and aligned to Vodacom/Vodafone governance standards.

The ideal candidate for this role will have:

• Matric
• Minimum of 3-year relevant Degree/ National Diploma
• Minimum of 8 years’ relevant experience in business management, commercial operations, executive office support, strategy execution or business performance enablement within a large corporate environment, preferably in telecommunications, technology or enterprise services.
• Proven experience supporting senior executives or leadership teams through business planning, operational coordination, decision support and execution tracking.
• Experience coordinating cross-functional inputs, governance forums, business reviews, executive packs, Exco submissions or Board-level reporting.
• Strong background in tracking strategic initiatives, business priorities, risks, dependencies, actions and deliverables across multiple stakeholders.
• Experience analysing business performance, financial information, budgets, cost trends and operational metrics to support informed leadership decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to build trusted relationships with executive stakeholders, Finance, Strategy, Commercial, Operations and other enabling functions.

Technical Competencies 

• Strong understanding of business operations, governance rhythms, decision-making forums and executive office support requirements.
• Ability to consolidate, interpret and present business performance information, financial indicators and operational metrics for senior leadership audiences.
• Working knowledge of financial analysis, budgeting, cost tracking, cost optimisation and commercial performance management.
• Proficiency in executive reporting, business writing, PowerPoint storytelling and preparation of concise, decision-oriented leadership materials.
• Strong data literacy, including the ability to interpret dashboards, identify trends, validate inputs and translate insights into clear recommendations.
• Working knowledge of project, programme and initiative tracking methods, including action logs, risk registers, dependency tracking and delivery dashboards.
• Ability to manage governance processes, meeting cadence, decision logs, executive follow-ups and escalation mechanisms.
• Knowledge of the ICT, telecommunications and enterprise services environment, including key products, services, customer segments and commercial drivers.
• Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, particularly Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook and collaboration platforms; exposure to Power BI or similar reporting tools is advantageous.
  Strong stakeholder coordination skills, with the ability to work across Finance, Strategy, Commercial, Operations and enabling functions to align inputs and drive delivery.

Behavioural Competencies 

• Customer Focus: Prioritizing customer needs and delivering excellent service
• Accountability: Seeks feedback and identifies opportunities for improvement or innovation
• Collaboration: Actively fosters collaboration, seeks input and effectively partners
• Resilience: Actively seeks opportunities for growth, demonstrates a strong commitment to self-improvement and has a growth mindset
• Flexibility: Uses various techniques to influence others (lobbies, approaches decision makers, finds sponsors)
• Organizational Savvy: Demonstrates strong understanding of assigned strategy for the Business/ Function and creates strong team alignment to the strategy.

We make an impact by offering:

• Enticing incentive programs and competitive benefit packages
• Retirement funds, risk benefits, and medical aid benefits
• Cell phone and data benefits, advantages fibre connection discounts, and exclusive staff discounts offered in collaboration with partner companies

Closing date for Applications: 30 July 2026. 

The base location for this role is  Vodacom, Midrand Campus. 

The company's approved Employment Equity Plan and Targets will be considered as part of the recruitment process. As an Equal Opportunities employer, we actively encourage and welcome people with various disabilities to apply.
Vodacom is committed to an organisational culture that recognises, appreciates, and values diversity & inclusion.