Head Market Data Vendor and Commercial Management

Absa Bank is seeking an accomplished executive to lead their Market Data Vendor and Commercial Management functions within Global Markets. This critical role assumes ultimate responsibility for the end-to-end delivery, robust governance, and continuous optimisation of all market data services across the bank's global trading operations.

The successful candidate will be the primary business owner, ensuring that the bank's market data platforms and associated services are not only fit for purpose but also resilient, compliant, and strategically aligned with Absa's overarching trading and risk management objectives. This involves a delicate balance between managing regulatory and operational risks while fostering innovation, ensuring scalability, and maintaining cost efficiency. The role encompasses the commercial, operational, engineering, and governance facets of market data, acting as a single point of executive accountability for this vital production service.

Strategy, Governance, and Oversight

A core responsibility of this position is to define and champion the Global Markets market data strategy. This strategy must be intrinsically linked to the broader business objectives and Absa's enterprise technology strategy. You will serve as the accountable first-line owner for all market data activities within Global Markets, ensuring strict adherence to vendor contracts, internal policies, and all relevant regulatory requirements. Proactive management of audit readiness, timely responses to regulatory inquiries, and ongoing control assurance for market data are paramount. Executive-level reporting on crucial aspects such as market data expenditure, identified risks, service performance metrics, and the progress of strategic initiatives will be a regular requirement.

Vendor and Commercial Management

This executive leadership role demands comprehensive oversight of vendor engagements, the development and execution of a sound commercial strategy, and accountability for contractual outcomes. You will be responsible for overseeing contract negotiations and renewals, meticulously managing commercial risks, and strategically delegating execution where appropriate. A significant aspect of the role involves accurate license forecasting, driving cost optimisation initiatives, and ensuring complete financial transparency regarding market data spend. Crucially, you will ensure that vendor performance consistently meets and exceeds contractual, operational, and regulatory expectations.

Access, Entitlements, and Audit

Accountability extends to the governance of user access and entitlements across all market data platforms. This involves diligent monitoring of data usage to ensure compliance with vendor terms and regulatory obligations. A key duty will be to lead and defend against regulatory and vendor audits concerning data usage, access controls, and overall data management practices.

Engineering, Integration, and Operations

The role also carries executive accountability for the bank's real-time market data distribution platforms and related operational services. Ensuring the resilience of these platforms, validating disaster recovery capabilities, and overseeing incident management outcomes are critical. You will be responsible for the seamless onboarding of new market data feeds and datasets into the Global Markets ecosystem. Furthermore, you will drive the market data engineering roadmap, encompassing feeds, APIs, data normalisation, and integration patterns, ensuring alignment with enterprise architecture standards.

Data Management and Quality

Ensuring the availability, reliability, and fitness for purpose of market data is a fundamental requirement. This involves establishing and overseeing a robust market data quality framework, complete with effective controls, continuous monitoring, and clear remediation processes. You will also oversee data transformation, enrichment, and distribution standards to guarantee data consistency and usability across all consumer groups.

Service Management and Demand

You will own market data as a critical production service, serving trading desks, quantitative teams, and risk functions. This includes managing the intake, prioritisation, and delivery of new market data capabilities to meet evolving business demands. Accountability for service performance, including adherence to Service Level Agreements (SLAs), analysis of incident trends, and the implementation of continuous improvement initiatives, will be integral to the role.

Leading and developing specialised teams responsible for market data operations, engineering, governance, and commercial management is a key focus. Establishing clear operating models, effective delegation frameworks, and robust control structures to support scalable service delivery will be essential. Collaboration with a wide array of stakeholders, including Front Office, Risk, Technology, Architecture, Finance, Compliance, and Procurement, is crucial. Ultimately, this role ensures that market data platforms are strategically aligned with broader Global Markets and Group technology initiatives, driving enhancements in cost efficiency, resilience, data quality, and the speed of delivering new data capabilities.

In South Africa, executive roles in market data management within large financial institutions like Absa typically command significant remuneration, reflecting the complexity and criticality of the function. These positions often involve extensive experience in financial markets technology, a deep understanding of regulatory landscapes, and proven leadership capabilities. Career progression often leads to broader technology or data leadership roles within the financial services sector.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

Education/ Qualification:
Post Graduate Degree or an MBA: in Technology or Data Management or a relevant discipline

Work Experience:

• 10+ years’ experience in market data, trading technology, or markets enablement within financial services
• Proven experience operating in or alongside Global Markets environments
• Demonstrated accountability for regulatory, licensing, and operational risk
• Experience managing large‑scale vendor relationships and commercial contracts

Education

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised