Product Manager-DFA

ACCOUNTABILITIES & RESPONSIBILITIES (KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS & TASKS)

Product Lifecycle Management

• Manage DFA products through its lifecycle from launch, growth and optimization, maturity and end of life, ensuring continuous improvement and relevance.
• Conduct market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and customer insights to identify opportunities and meet customers.
• Define product positioning, value propositions, and differentiation strategies
• Collaborate with product development to continuously optimise product features, pricing, and processes based on market analytics, trends and feedback
• Manage and track product performance, including revenue, margin and adoption.

Product Strategy & Roadmap

•  Develop and maintain the product vision, strategy, and roadmap aligned with corporate objectives.
• Conduct market analysis, competitive benchmarking, and customer insights to identify opportunities for new products or enhancements.
• Define product positioning, value propositions, and differentiation strategies for enterprise, wholesale, and retail segments.
• Build business cases, including financial modelling, pricing strategy, and ROI projections.

   Product Commercialization

• Define pricing models, discount structures, and commercial frameworks.
• Support sales enablement through training, product documentation, and solution briefs.
  Provide sales support through key customer engagements and provide sales support.
• Set product pricing based on value proposition, competitor, market, and industry trends.
• Develop and track marketing campaigns

Sales and Sales Admin Enablement

• Training and Ongoing Support: Conduct ongoing training sessions for the sales and sales operation teams to ensure they are up to date on new features, enhancements, and roadmap changes.
• Work closely with the Sales team to provide product guidance, support quotations and orders, and ensure that proposed solutions are commercially viable and contractually sound.
• Ensure the product roadmap aligns with the DFA's sales targets and market opportunities. Prioritize product assistance and support that will directly impact sales growth.
• Ensure that all product-related information (features, pricing, legal disclaimers, technical specs, etc.) is easily accessible and up to date for sales administrators to assist in accurate quoting.
• Ensure that product data within the CRM (e.g., products, pricing tiers, feature sets) is accurate and consistent and provides clear guidelines and information necessary for sales administrators to generate accurate quotes and proposals.

Customer & Market Insight

• Engage with customers, partners, and industry bodies to gather insights and validate product direction.
• Monitor regulatory developments, technology trends, and competitive shifts in the telecoms landscape.
• Act as the primary interface between commercial, technical, and operational teams for all product-related matters.
• Gather feedback from customers, sales, and support teams to continuously iterate and improve product offerings.
• Engage with industry bodies, technology partners, and key customers to stay abreast of market developments and influence industry standards where appropriate.

Innovation and Future Growth

• Identify emerging technologies and trends (e.g., Quantum Key Distribution, advanced optical technologies, edge computing integration with fibre) that could impact or enhance DFA's product portfolio.
• Propose and champion innovative product concepts that differentiate DFA in the market and create new revenue streams.
• Utilize and optimize systems/software to streamline workflows, maintain accurate records, and generate insightful reports.
• Contribute to the development and refinement of product management policies, procedures, and best practices within the Commercial Division.
• Play a critical role in product development.

 Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in business management, Commerce, Marketing, or a related technical qualification.
• A post-graduate qualification (e.g., Honours, Master's) or a relevant professional certification in would be advantageous.
• At least 10 years’ experience in the ICT industry with at least 5 years exposure to product development, innovation, product management and customer solution building including customer segmentation.
• Exposure to revenue management including profitability and margin calculations.
• Broad and deep understanding of market, customer, operating model, and technology evolution.
• Broad and deep knowledge of the South African Telecommunications landscape.
• Strong presentation and customer conversation skills at senior level
• Experience in creating or informing products and collateral content generation.
• Strong understanding of customer segmentation, sales channels, business needs and technology and product/services roadmap and experience in engaging with customers in product, service, and process enhancements.
• Experience and exposure to technology standards and the related product, service, and market propositions.
• Experience in sales training and capacity building on complex ICT product and service offerings.
• Experience in product or revenue reporting and trend analysis.