Job Description

The General Manager - Transport & OSS tools is responsible to provide Group wide leadership and innovation in the Planning, design and optimisation of a sustainable and future-proof Transport network and drive transport network topology and architecture to support 5G, MEC, VNF, etc. in line with defined business objectives. The role will lead all aspects of Transport and OSS product and strategy development, from roadmap creation to delivery to market.

The General Manager is also responsible to ensure element management systems and Group Technology Tools are planned, integrated and optimised to meet business requirements. This role is accountable for designing and governing AN Level 4 architectures—intent-based orchestration with closed-loop assurance—and embedding AI (AIOps/MLOps) across Transport & OSS domains. Success is measured by closed-loop autonomy rates, MTTR/MTTD reduction through AI, zero-touch change velocity, ODA/Open API conformance, and financial value realization (opex savings and avoided capex).

Context

MTN’s heightened focus on digitalization for adjacent revenue streams and enhancing efficiency poses a great growth opportunity for the organisation. This has introduced with it the deployment of various technologies including, amongst others, API platforms, AI, cloud and IoT.

The Group’s Technology function must therefore ensure the successful delivery in context of:
- Rapidly changing ICT environment
- The geographic complexity of MTN’s foot print across Africa and the Middle East
- Management of executive and local shareholder expectations across all OpCos and Platform businesses
- Achievement of top quartile operating efficiency and effectiveness through scale and common processes
- Driving growth through business intelligence and standardization to maximize business impact
- Management of customer and supplier expectations
- Enhance MTN position as a leading network and system provider
- Constant dynamics and local challenges in the economic, regulatory and legal environments

Values

We at MTN are a purpose and value-led organization. At MTN, we believe that understanding our people’s needs and aspirations is key to creating experiences that delight you at work, everyday. We are committed to fostering an environment where every member of our Y’ello Family is heard, understood and empowered to live an inspired life.

Our values keep us grounded and moving in the right direction. Most importantly, they keep us honest. It is not something we claim to be. It is in our DNA.

As an organisation, we consider it our mission to create an exciting and rewarding place to work, where our people can be themselves, thrive in positivity and ignite their full potential. A workplace that boosts creativity and innovation, improves productivity, and ultimately drives meaningful results. A workplace that is built on relationships and achieving a purpose that is bigger than us.
Our commitments go beyond an organisational promise. It is in our leadership and managerial ethos to meaningfully partner with our employees, customers and stakeholders with a vision to realise our shared goals.

Live Y’ello
- Lead with Care
- Can-do with Integrity
- Collaborate with Agility
- Serve with Respect
- Act with Inclusion

The General Manager: Transport & OSS tools will be accountable to achieve the following objectives:

• Define overall department’s objectives, strategy and priorities, including building the team to deliver them
• Plan and manage department budget, capex and opex
• Prepare periodic performance reviews of industry competitor benchmark to CTIO
• Provide guidance and oversight for all OpCos during Annual business planning process
• Research, define and suggest transport technologies and innovations that will be relevant for MTN within the future.
• Drive transport network topology and architecture to support 5G, MEC, VNF, etc.
• Plan and orchestrate open and virtualised transport network architecture across the OpCos
• Drive next generation OSS network typology and architecture to support Fixed, Mobile, MEC, VNF, etc.
• End to end design of next generation transport services, capacity planning, performance monitoring
• Drive continuous evolution and refresh of MW technologies to ensure latency optimization and best-case network performance
• Handle network transformation from legacy to seamless IP&MPLS (and SD-WAN) network
• Perform transport operational management optimisations, applying automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to evaluate and improve performance
• Define, order and operationally manage all E2E services spanning all elements of connectivity and colocation of the network, from cell sites to edge, as well as local, regional and national data centres in both private and public cloud environments
• Orchestrate cross-functional SD-WAN strategy and lead technical implementation
• Lead and drive the integration and convergence between Data Centres and transport networks to improve the capability openness and intelligence of the transport network.
• Develop Segment Routing strategies to simplify routing protocols, router complexity and O&M challenges.
• Develop and evolve MTN's Transport roadmap in line with the future network vision
• Assist and support OpCos with alignment to Group Transport strategies, including adoption of transport technologies.
• Work with Group Procurement in selecting all Group Transport vendors.
• Coordinate all Transport technology testing and pilots.
• Responsible for Transport technology KPI development, software and hardware integration and consideration for Transport specific security measures within MTN.
• Work with PMO management to ensure effective project management of transport specific requirements (particularly relating to availability, accessibility and retention).
• Provide guidelines for the Transport and OSS portion of the CAPEX budget and asses all OPCO’s Transport and OSS CAPEX budget requests
• Enable and manage strong alignment and integration with OpCo’s and BU’s with the intent of standardising Transport software and hardware across the entire MTN Group
• Orchestrate the OSS Strategy for the Group including the strategy for OSS applications and set of recommendations.
• Tools strategy development for the Group including deployment, planning and readiness assessment through a deep understanding of customer design requirements and goals.
• Coordinate all tool requirements with the Managed Operations team to ensure proper alignment with the MS vendors
• Tools expansion and optimisation across the Group as well as OSS performance baseline and recommendations on optimisation.
• Ensure that licence models are in place and monitored as well as the forecasting of licensing requirements, lifecycle considerations, feature set recommendations and dependencies for upgrade testing.
• Collaborate with the OPCOs to identify and define key performance indicators (KPIs) and critical success factors (CSFs).
• Rollout of tools across the Group and ensure that the capabilities are established to enable OSS application support on the use or integration with the application in question. Establish the capabilities for change support, systems readiness and relevant change plans.
• Management of Group based tools including ensuring that the capabilities are established to conduct health checks, tool performance, KPI analysis, reporting and review of utilisation. Ensure that review and reporting of KPI is established to identify trends and deviations from the baseline. Make recommendations for improvement and or optimization for OSS.
• Ensure correct tools are deployed to effectively manage customer network experience
• Tool Vendor management.
• Work with Group Procurement in selecting all Group Network Tool vendors
• Coordinate all Tool technology testing and pilots to identify areas for optimisation, improvement and cost efficiency.
• Enable and manage strong alignment and integration with OpCo’s and BU’s with the intent of standardising Tools across the entire MTN Group.
• Oversee Quality management and optimisation – KPI’s, benchmarking and optimisation of IP / MPLS Networks, Service Level SLA, analysis, recommendations and implementation
• Support Transport & OSS Tools pricing and contract negotiations
• Support strategic customer technical meetings, solutions delivery, and operational performance
• Monitor OEM and MS partners’ performance on service deliverables for Transport

Key Deliverables

• Transport network topology and architecture & roadmap to support 5G, MEC, VNF etc
• Transport Availability, Accessibility and Retention
• CAPEX and OPEX efficiency
• Networks are all IP enabled with proper security measures in place
• Networks at forefront of implementing New Technologies enabling innovative products and services
• Vendor roadmap is maintained ensuring MTN is keeping abreast of technology
• Alignment of Technology roadmap to business strategy
• Standardisation of Transport hardware and software across the Group
• Group wide Tools reduction/consolidation and standardisation
• Optimal Tools Expansion
• OSS Tool rollout across the Group
• Autonomy maturity for AI
• Reliability & Assurance (MTTD/MTTR reduction via AI)
• Change velocity and safety
• Capacity and performance optimization including AI-driven capacity forecast accuracy, traffic engineering optimization gain and energy consumption via AI policies
• Customer experience impact (Transport-driven contribution to NPS uplift and SLO compliance for premium services)
• Platform & Data Readiness (AI/MLOps)

Role Dependencies

• Active support from the Executive: Network Design & Planning
• Deep understanding of the MTN business strategy
• Understanding of the OpCo technology, business and regulatory context
• Timely decision making and reporting
• Alignment of OpCo and Group strategy initiatives
  

Education:

• Minimum 4-year Academic Degree with Honours (B Eng. / BSc Degree Preferred)
• MBA / Masters advantageous
• English, French and Arabic (as advantage)
• Relevant certification/accreditation/membership with professional body as required for role

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of Senior Management Experience
• Minimum 5 years relevant sector/industry/area of specialisation
• Minimum 5 years experience in Network Design & Planning / Transport / OSS Tools
• Work across diverse cultures and geographies
• Proven track record of business improvement and strategy development

Competencies:

• Business Acumen, Problem Solving, Information processing, Influencing others
• Data interpretation, Judgement, Continuous improvement, Reporting
• Get it done, Communication, Innovative, Agile, Accountable

Other:

• Regional and international travel
  

As part of MTN’s recruitment process, your personal information may be processed using secure Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to assist with the shortlisting of candidates. This is done in compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA). By applying for this position, you consent to the processing of your personal information for recruitment purposes. All data will be handled securely and used solely for evaluating suitability for the role.

We are a purpose and value-led organization.

At MTN, we believe that understanding our people’s needs and aspirations is key to creating experiences that delight you at work, everyday. We are committed to fostering an environment where every member of our Y’ello Family is heard, understood and empowered to live an inspired life.

Our values keep us grounded and moving in the right direction. Most importantly, they keep us honest. It is not something we claim to be. It is in our DNA.

As an organisation, we consider it our mission to create an exciting and rewarding place to work, where our people can be themselves, thrive in positivity and ignite their full potential. A workplace that boosts creativity and innovation, improves productivity, and ultimately drives meaningful results. A workplace that is built on relationships and achieving a purpose that is bigger than us. This is what we want you to experience with us!

Our commitments go beyond an organisational promise. It is in our leadership and managerial ethos to meaningfully partner with our employees, customers and stakeholders with a vision to realise our shared goals.

We are delighted that you are considering us as your career partner to make a mark in the world. We look forward to your application!