Initiate International

Senior Product Manager (iGaming)

Initiate International  •  Johannesburg, ZA (Onsite)  •  7 days ago
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Job Description

Build products that shape how customers play

A leading operator in the South African iGaming and sports betting market is looking for a commercially minded, delivery-focused Senior Product Manager to take ownership of key digital product areas across sportsbook and gaming.

This is not a role for someone who wants to manage presentations from a safe distance. You will be close to the product, the customer journey, the data, and the delivery teams—turning business opportunities into well-defined, measurable product improvements.

You will partner with internal stakeholders and external technology providers to keep priorities sharp, releases moving, and customer experiences continuously improving.

What you will be responsible for

Own product direction and delivery

  • Take end-to-end ownership of assigned sportsbook and/or gaming product areas.
  • Manage, refine, and prioritise the product backlog in line with customer needs, commercial objectives, regulatory requirements, and delivery capacity.
  • Convert business problems, operational feedback, and customer insights into concise product requirements, user stories, and acceptance criteria.
  • Maintain clear product artefacts, including specifications, roadmap inputs, release notes, decision records, and change documentation.
  • Identify product gaps and opportunities, helping define the route from the current experience to the desired future state.

Drive execution across teams and partners

  • Serve as a key day-to-day contact for platform, content, data, and technology vendors.
  • Coordinate product work across internal teams and third-party partners, actively managing dependencies, risks, and delivery blockers.
  • Support release planning, UAT, defect prioritisation, and sign-off processes to ensure changes are fit for purpose before reaching customers.
  • Keep stakeholders informed of delivery progress, changes in priority, and any material risks requiring action.

Strengthen sportsbook and gaming experiences

  • Apply practical knowledge of sportsbook, casino, or wider iGaming product mechanics to product decisions.
  • Contribute to requirements involving sports data, event feeds, trading workflows, bet settlement, risk controls, and customer-facing betting journeys.
  • Work closely with Risk, Fraud, Compliance, and Operations teams to ensure product changes support responsible gambling and regulated-market obligations.
  • Help deliver experiences that are intuitive for customers while commercially effective for the business.

Use insight to improve performance

  • Monitor key product performance indicators and identify trends that require action.
  • Partner with BI and analytics teams to build useful reporting and maintain visibility over product outcomes.
  • Use customer behaviour, funnel performance, testing results, and operational feedback to inform prioritisation.
  • Support optimisation initiatives across acquisition conversion, retention, engagement, bet mix, and margin performance.

Build alignment across the business

  • Develop strong working relationships with Marketing, BI, Operations, Compliance, VIP, Risk, Fraud, and Technology teams.
  • Communicate product priorities and delivery updates clearly, without hiding behind product jargon.
  • Contribute to leadership updates, governance materials, and planning discussions alongside the Head of Product.
  • Ensure operational teams have sufficient visibility and readiness for upcoming product changes.

What you will bring

  • At least 3 years' experience in product management, product ownership, or a closely related digital delivery role.
  • Proven experience managing a product backlog from discovery through delivery and optimisation.
  • Strong ability to write practical, unambiguous requirements and acceptance criteria.
  • Experience working across multiple business functions and with third-party technology providers.
  • Confidence using data to assess performance, support decisions, and identify improvement opportunities.
  • Excellent stakeholder communication skills, with the ability to make complex delivery issues understandable and actionable.
  • A highly organised, accountable approach to managing several workstreams in a fast-moving environment.
  • A genuine interest in sports betting, online gaming, or the digital entertainment sector.

Advantageous experience

  • Previous experience within online sports betting, casino, iGaming, or a related platform provider environment.
  • Working knowledge of sportsbook concepts such as betting markets, in-play journeys, odds, settlement, trading, or risk controls.
  • Familiarity with gaming platform ecosystems, integrations, and third-party content providers.
  • Exposure to regulated digital products, responsible gambling requirements, or compliance-led delivery.
  • Understanding of the South African or broader African betting market.

Why this opportunity matters

You will join a product environment with genuine room to influence priorities, improve customer journeys, and help build a stronger proposition in a competitive market. The role offers meaningful ownership, visible impact, and the chance to work at the intersection of sport, entertainment, technology, and commercial performance.

Apply now to take ownership of products that customers use every day—and make them better with every release.

Initiate International

About Initiate International

Initiate International is first & foremost the leading Recruiter to the iGaming & Fintech industry across the African Continent, having been formed in South Africa back in 2007. Since we joined The Conexus Group in 2023, we now have the ability to offer global recruitment assistance to our clients & candidates through our sister recruitment brand, Pentasia, with their network of offices spanning every other continent. The Conexus Group portfolio also consists of an M&A Advisory, Payments Consultancy, Training Academy & Marketing Services business enabling us to offer a full-service consulting arm.

Initiate International is a team of specialist recruitment consultants who share a passion for recruitment. We ascribe to a more modern approach to recruitment where we, our clients and candidates form one team. It's through working as a team that we are able to identify a perfect match for both clients and candidates.

Exceptional service and quality delivery lie at the heart of the company, we therefore believe in taking a personalised approach to recruitment by striving to understand not only the requirements of our Clients but the nature and corporate culture of their business. In doing so we are not only able to identify the perfect match for your employment needs but are able to provide an employee who will make an immediate impact and begin to add value to your company from day one.

One of the keys to Initiates success is the wealth of industry knowledge its diversified staff of recruitment specialists have acquired throughout their personal experience and acquired networks in their relevant fields. Each division is headed by a qualified senior consultant who will personally consult and advice on the best solution for your recruitment needs.

Industry
HR & Recruiting
Company Size
11-50 employees
Headquarters
Johannesburg, ZA
Year Founded
2007
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