The Vice President - Product: Platform Services

The Vice President - Product: Platform Services Permanent Full Time Management Johannesburg, Johannesburg, SA, ZA
2 days ago Requisition ID: 2370
"At KCS we've introduced a flexible hybrid work policy, where employees spend three days in the office and two days working from home. This approach promotes a balanced work environment that combines office collaboration with the comfort and convenience of remote work." Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) is a market leader in the development and provision of trading and financial software environments for specialist Distribution, Wholesale, Merchant and Retail industry sectors, addressing single- or multi-branch operations, as well as catering for organisations with 'point-of-sale' showrooms and warehouse.
The Research and Development Department works globally across multiple products and geographies primarily in Europe, South Africa and America. The Vice President - Product: Platform Services is a creative leader within the KCS R&D executive leadership team, reporting directly to the Chief Product Officer. This is a hybrid role within KCS where you will be responsible for driving a distributed team of business line Product Managers and Business Analysts, and be a driving force behind shaping and delivering the KCS product portfolio strategy. You will possess a unique blend of business process understanding and the technical understanding of how a solution looks today and how it can be transferred into the digital age, a big-picture vision, and the drive to make that vision a reality.
The ideal candidate must be a forward-thinking product management leader who has interfaced with executive, support, professional services and account management teams as this role will support the relentless pursuit of our vision to deliver comprehensive and fully integrated trading and business management solutions to trade, wholesale, manufacturing and distribution customers worldwide and help to sustain KCS' position as an innovative market leader. You will act as the voice of the customer, translating needs into a portfolio / product roadmap(s) and backlog, prioritise and manage the team's capacity to maximise customer and business value. Further to this, you will facilitate a long-term view of the industry and product domain to create a vision and product strategy for the KCS portfolio. You will be commercially-focused with strong communication skills to articulate the value of what we are delivering to the market today and our vision for how we are planning to ideally solve the market problems of the future.
Your knowledge of the markets we serve will inform our strategic business and product investment decisions. You will have a continual focus on identifying, deeply understanding and validating those market problems that are pervasive, urgent and those that the market will pay to solve. You should understand important features and functionality for clients, markets and niche segment use cases supported by products within the KCS portfolio, and the KCS competitive landscape including strengths and weaknesses.
This position involves close interaction with Executive Leadership, Product Managers, Product Marketing, Account Executives, Solution Consultants, Prospects and Customers.
Key Responsibilities: Manage the KCS Product Management Team and act as a driving force for the commercial success of the KCS product portfolioAct as the voice of the customer, translating needs into a portfolio roadmap and lead the enhancement and innovation strategy for KCs products and services portfolio.Deeply understand and validate the pervasive and urgent problems faced by our customers and perspective customers in the markets we serveUse market knowledge and data analysis to inform the business on strategic product investment opportunities that accelerate revenue growth and improve customer satisfactionWork in true partnership with line of business Product Managers and Regional Market General Managers, sharing market knowledge that informs their roadmap prioritiesPlay a thought leadership role for the business by attending industry events, seeking speaking opportunities and blogging on relevant market trendsRepresent the Product Management Team for engagements with Industry AnalystsAct as the Product Management Team's primary point of contact with the Regional Market General ManagersUpon request from the field, deliver Product Vision, Portfolio Plan, Roadmap(s) and presentations to prospects during sales cyclesDevelop a true partnership with the Regional Pre-Sales and Account Management Teams to ensure we understand and are advancing product/portfolio enhancements with highest commercial impactAttend regional sales meetings, forecast calls and participate in strategic deal reviews to support a sales-led close strategyThrough engagement in the field, support competitive intelligence gathering efforts that informs continuous refinement of product positioning in collaboration with Product MarketingCommunicate with the business to understand their product requirements whilst working in conjunction with globally distributed Product Managers and Scrum teams, responsible for developing and delivering products against the set roadmap following agile methodologies. Typically, these teams will include a Business Analysts, Frontend (UI/UX) and Backend Engineers, QA Engineers and DevOps Engineers.Identify opportunities to combine certain products and deliver a single modular, yet tailored solution to market.Own the budget to run the teams and building business cases for Capex/Opex investment requests when necessaryAct as an agent of change to create and foster a culture of continuous improvementWork on ad hoc projectsAny other duties commensurate with your role as outline by the Chief Product OfficerSkills, Knowledge and Experience: 7+ years in Product/Program Management roles – experience in Business Development, Sales or Strategic Planning a plus.Experience working within a product led technology driven business with the breadth of skills which covers running a portfolio of products from initial concept through to execution and end of life, as well financial reporting and budget planning at EMEA level whilst continually striving for operational excellenceSolid understanding of modern software development lifecycle, as well as tools and technologies, with demonstrable experience enhancing products which has resulted in positive business impact.Experience with data-informed decision-making and able to identify risks in business performance and segment specific initiatives, define mitigation strategies/contingency plans, arbitrate collaboration and comprise amongst the various cross-functional teams and effectively escalate critical risks & recommendations to Executive Leadership.Experience maintaining and updating governance frameworks, monitoring compliance, establishing operational excellence processes and preparing board packs and presentations.Passionate about working amongst a global team and championing collaboration and communication working towards agile best practice.Proven ability to engage with a broad range of stake holders and to work within a distributed matrix organisation.A natural mentor with strong interpersonal skills – able to motivate and drive your team, but also other product areas without direct authority over those teams.Significant experience and knowledge of Agile methodologies such as Scrum or Kanban (ideally both combined with a keen interest in the latest trends, like new cutting-edge technology and natural curiosity to explore new methodologies and ways of working inline with business best practiceExtensive experience of implementing and driving business, product and cultural changeSaaS industry experience and global business experience required.Experience in reducing cost and increasing productively within the development lifecycleCompany Info Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) is the market leader in developing and delivering fully integrated business management solutions for distributors, suppliers, resellers, wholesalers and merchants. Our mission is simple: to design, implement and support high performance systems that enable our customers to source effectively, stock efficiently, sell profitably and service competitively. 
KCS is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, colour, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires us to adjust the recruiting process please do advise us when contacted.
If this role is of interest to you please apply online.
Health and Safety The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 puts a legal obligation on KCS as an employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of its employees at work.
Employees also have a duty to take reasonable care for their own health and safety and of others who could be affected by their actions. Understanding the safety policies and co-operating with the arrangements that are in place is therefore an essential part of your employment.
To all recruitment agencies: KCS does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our careers site or direct to KCS employee. KCS is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.
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