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The Executive Head: Ventures Operations is responsible for defining, building, and scaling Vodacom Business’s ecosystem of strategic partnerships, ensuring they deliver value aligned to the business’s growth, innovation, and customer success strategies. This role leads the design and implementation of an enterprise-wide partnership framework, focusing on commercial excellence, joint value creation, innovation co-development, governance, and long-term business impact. The incumbent acts as the strategic lead across local and global partner engagements—across technology, commercial channels, OEMs, and strategic alliances—while enabling Vodacom Business to unlock competitive advantage through the partner ecosystem
Your responsibilities will include:
Strategy Formulation & Execution:
Define and execute the strategic ventures/partner management framework across all Vodacom Business lines.Identify, evaluate, and prioritise high-value strategic partners across Telco Tech, Cloud, ICT, IoT and Fintech.Drive commercial due diligence and business case development with relevant lines of business for new and existing partnerships.Champion partnership-led innovation and co-creation in alignment with Vodacom’s growth priorities.Set strategic KPIs and commercial performance targets for partner contribution to revenue and margin.Shape multi-year partner roadmaps and portfolio strategies with cross-functional stakeholders.Analyse the market white space to identify new partners, channels and proposition opportunities within defined areas of growthProvide partnership strategy assistance to subsidiary companies to drive growth and achieve business objectives.
Business Enablement & Value Creation
Lead onboarding, contracting, and commercial negotiations for all Tier 1 partnerships.Establish performance measurement tools, scorecards, and review cadences to ensure accountability.Work with product and GTM teams to launch joint propositions and accelerate time-to-market.Facilitate sales enablement with partner solution integration, training, and playbooks.Identify funding or co-investment opportunities from strategic partners to accelerate market impact.Management of rebates and marketing development funds from partners to ensure transparency in VB.Support the account teams and LOBs at partner negotiationsDrive Vodacom Business brand elevation through thought leadership on market trends, customer insights and technology innovation, in collaboration with the marketing team.Ecosystem, Governance & Risk Management
Design and operationalize a governance framework that covers partner tiers, types, and lifecycle stages.Chair regular Partner Review Boards to monitor execution, innovation delivery, and compliance.Mitigate risks across contractual, reputational, and operational areas by implementing best practices.Ensure partner compliance with regulatory, data privacy, and security frameworks.
Stakeholder and Relationship Management
Establish executive-level relationships with key partners to advance shared strategic goals.Build trust-based engagement models across internal and external stakeholders.Act as the executive sponsor in critical partnerships, ensuring escalations are resolved swiftly.Collaborate with Marketing and Comms to enhance Vodacom’s thought leadership and partner visibility.
Delivering through People:
Lead a high-performing Ventures team, fostering innovation, agility, and commercial acumen.Embed a culture of ownership, strategic thinking, and excellence.Conduct ongoing skills gap assessments and ensure upskilling in partner management methodologies.Drive team motivation and recognition initiatives, aligned with the Spirit of VodacomOversee the activities of the team to ensure effective delivery of business outcomes.Supports and enable the team to succeed by encouraging frequent knowledge sharing between team members amongst other enablement initiatives.When required, initiate disciplinary processes for team members calling on support from HR when requiredResolve grievances raised by team members and escalate only if requiredThe ideal candidate for this role will have:B Degree/EquivalentA Post Graduate Degree in Business or related fields.8+ years in Strategic Partnerships/Ventures, Business, StrategyProven experience in structuring and scaling large enterprise or technology partnershipsStrong exposure to deal-making, contracting, and innovation ecosystemsExperience working in multinational matrix organisations within ICT, Telco, or Tech sectorsPragmatic and hands-on, strong ability to execute and deliver plans and projects by way of own craftingBuilding strong, collaborative and trusting partnerships and team relationships as well as structuring organisationsStrong understanding of the technology landscape and industry trends.
Technical Competencies
Strategic Partner Management and ROI optimizationJoint proposition development and partner co-innovationEnterprise engagements, including solutioningGovernance, contracting, and legal fluency in partnership contextsDigital ecosystem strategy and transformation enablementFamiliarity with South African and global ICT partnership landscapesStrategic mind set and out of box thinkingStrong communication skills and the ability to interact comfortably with a cross-section of management, including C-suite executives, at a global levelStrategic Thinking: Effectively delivers against assigned strategy, exceeding expectations. Translates strategy into clear areas of focus and prioritiesUnderstanding of SA business landscapeUnderstanding of the Value Chain Analysis with regards to various partner businesses.Behavioural Competencies
Commercial Acumen and Decision-MakingCustomer Centricity and Market InsightCollaboration, Influence, and Executive PresenceAccountability and Results OrientationPeople Management and Organisational AgilityStrategic Orientation and Visionary LeadershipAccountability: seeks feedback and identifies opportunities for improvement or innovationCollaboration: Actively fosters collaboration, seeks input and effectively partnersResilience: Actively seeks opportunities for growth, demonstrates a strong commitment to self-improvement and has a growth mindsetFlexibility: uses various techniques to influence others (lobbies, approaches decision makers, finds sponsors)People Management: Ensure team work together to deliver on their responsibilities creating accountability and ownership
Closing date for Applications: 21 August 2025.
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.