Background

Pearl Bank is a Commercial Bank whose purpose is fostering prosperity for Ugandans. Our high impact goals are driving sustainable financial inclusion and stimulating entrepreneurship and service. The Bank is growing and giving opportunity for its competent and achievement driven employees as well as the public to fill up the role that has fallen vacant.

JOB PURPOSE

The role holder will be charged to lead the strategic translation of business needs into viable digital solutions, owning the end-to-end delivery lifecycle from market research and business case development through requirements, design, UAT, and successful implementation, ensuring Pearl Bank's innovation projects are commercially sound, customer-centric, and aligned with enterprise architecture.

The role is also responsible for transforming market signals and customer insights into a validated, executable portfolio of digital solutions. This role is accountable for leading Strategic Research & Market Intelligence to future-proof the bank's offerings, and for driving Ideation & Opportunity Framing to translate emerging opportunities into clear, compelling business initiatives.

Responsibilities

• Requirements Management: Lead the elicitation, analysis, specification, and validation of business requirements for all innovation projects, ensuring clarity, completeness, and traceability.
• Solution Design: Oversee the translation of business requirements into detailed Functional Specifications (FSD) and System Requirements Specifications (SRS), collaborating closely with the Enterprise Architect and technical teams.
• UAT Coordination: Plan, coordinate, and oversee User Acceptance Testing (UAT). This includes developing UAT strategy, test cases, and managing the participation of business users to ensure the solution meets business needs.
• Project Coordination: Develop and manage project plans, timelines, budgets, and resources for the solution delivery stream. Identify and mitigate risks and manage dependencies across projects.
• Stakeholder Management: Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders (from both pure banking and Wendi Wallet sides), managing expectations and ensuring continuous alignment throughout the project lifecycle.
• Conduct comprehensive market research to identify emerging trends, technologies, and competitive threats in the financial services landscape (e.g., FinTech, Digital Banking, Mobile Money, AI in Finance).
• Analyze the competitive landscape, benchmarking Pearl Bank's products and services against industry peers and new market entrants.
• Provide strategic reports and insights to the Head of Innovation & Digitization and senior management to inform the unit's roadmap.
• Lead qualitative and quantitative research (e.g., surveys, focus groups, customer interviews, journey mapping) to develop a deep understanding of customer needs, pains, and behaviors, particularly in underserved segments.
• Develop and maintain detailed customer personas and journey maps for key banking products and services.
• Lead the financial modeling and business case development for all proposed innovation projects, including ROI analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and sensitivity analysis.
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and success metrics for new initiatives during the ideation phase.
• Collaborate with the finance department to validate assumptions and ensure alignment with budgetary processes.
• Pure Banking and Digital Wallet Mastery: Develop and maintain deep expertise in both the core banking business (loans, savings, payments) and the Wendi Digital Wallet operations, understanding their unique and intersecting requirements.
• Change Management: Coordinate change requests across all categories on solutions in production including: a) Integrations (3rd party APIs, core banking system links, partner ecosystems). b) Customer Channel Solutions (Wendi E-Wallet, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, USSD, Agent Banking). c) Internal Process Automation Solutions.
• Manage and mentor a team of Business Analysts/Solution Analysts.
• Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the team.

Qualifications, Experience and Competencies Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Business Computing or a related course.
• At least 5 years’ experience in business analysis, solution delivery, or IT project management within the financial services sector.
• Professional training/certification in Project Management (e.g. PMP) and/or IT Service Delivery related field (e.g. ITIL) will be an added advantage.
• Mandatory experience with core banking systems, digital channels, and preferably mobile wallet/payment systems.
• Proven track record of managing the full project lifecycle, from requirements to UAT, for complex IT/business projects.
• Exposure to solution architecture and UML diagrams design tools such as MS Visio, DrawIO etc.
• Passion to help companies improve their sustainability in the long term by driving the development of intangible value drivers such as talent, innovation, corporate governance, and the creation of societal value.

• Requirements Management: Lead the elicitation, analysis, specification, and validation of business requirements for all innovation projects, ensuring clarity, completeness, and traceability.
• Solution Design: Oversee the translation of business requirements into detailed Functional Specifications (FSD) and System Requirements Specifications (SRS), collaborating closely with the Enterprise Architect and technical teams.
• UAT Coordination: Plan, coordinate, and oversee User Acceptance Testing (UAT). This includes developing UAT strategy, test cases, and managing the participation of business users to ensure the solution meets business needs.
• Project Coordination: Develop and manage project plans, timelines, budgets, and resources for the solution delivery stream. Identify and mitigate risks and manage dependencies across projects.
• Stakeholder Management: Act as the primary point of contact for business stakeholders (from both pure banking and Wendi Wallet sides), managing expectations and ensuring continuous alignment throughout the project lifecycle.
• Conduct comprehensive market research to identify emerging trends, technologies, and competitive threats in the financial services landscape (e.g., FinTech, Digital Banking, Mobile Money, AI in Finance).
• Analyze the competitive landscape, benchmarking Pearl Bank's products and services against industry peers and new market entrants.
• Provide strategic reports and insights to the Head of Innovation & Digitization and senior management to inform the unit's roadmap.
• Lead qualitative and quantitative research (e.g., surveys, focus groups, customer interviews, journey mapping) to develop a deep understanding of customer needs, pains, and behaviors, particularly in underserved segments.
• Develop and maintain detailed customer personas and journey maps for key banking products and services.
• Lead the financial modeling and business case development for all proposed innovation projects, including ROI analysis, cost-benefit analysis, and sensitivity analysis.
• Define key performance indicators (KPIs) and success metrics for new initiatives during the ideation phase.
• Collaborate with the finance department to validate assumptions and ensure alignment with budgetary processes.
• Pure Banking and Digital Wallet Mastery: Develop and maintain deep expertise in both the core banking business (loans, savings, payments) and the Wendi Digital Wallet operations, understanding their unique and intersecting requirements.
• Change Management: Coordinate change requests across all categories on solutions in production including: a) Integrations (3rd party APIs, core banking system links, partner ecosystems). b) Customer Channel Solutions (Wendi E-Wallet, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, USSD, Agent Banking). c) Internal Process Automation Solutions.
• Manage and mentor a team of Business Analysts/Solution Analysts.
• Foster a culture of excellence, collaboration, and continuous improvement within the team.

• Business Analysis
• Solution Delivery
• IT Project Management
• Market Research
• Business Case Development
• Financial Modeling
• Customer Insight Analysis
• Core Banking Systems
• Digital Channels
• Mobile Wallet/Payment Systems
• Project Lifecycle Management
• Solution Architecture
• UML Diagrams
• Team Leadership
• Mentorship

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Business Computing or a related course.
• At least 5 years’ experience in business analysis, solution delivery, or IT project management within the financial services sector.
• Professional training/certification in Project Management (e.g. PMP) and/or IT Service Delivery related field (e.g. ITIL) will be an added advantage.
• Mandatory experience with core banking systems, digital channels, and preferably mobile wallet/payment systems.
• Proven track record of managing the full project lifecycle, from requirements to UAT, for complex IT/business projects.
• Exposure to solution architecture and UML diagrams design tools such as MS Visio, DrawIO etc.
• Passion to help companies improve their sustainability in the long term by driving the development of intangible value drivers such as talent, innovation, corporate governance, and the creation of societal value.