Vodafone Idea - Vice President - Product & Services

Vodafone Idea - Vice President - Product and Services

Job Purpose :

1. To lead, define and enable technology product strategy and provide innovative initiatives creating market differentiators, while enhancing revenues & NPS

2. To create industry standard policies for the product landscape in Vodafone Idea and ensure accurate compliance, enabling a cost-effective and simplified architecture

KRA :

- Strategy & strategic initiatives ; Conceptualize, define and enable strategic initiatives considering the following structure:

a. Monetization ; enhance existing & create new revenue streams

b. Technology adoption ; evaluate cutting edge technologies such as AI, ML, IOT, Blockchain etc. from a perspective of relevant product initiatives to ensure "ahead of the curve"

c. Market competitiveness ; Study competitor product decisions and adoption to predict roadmaps and strategies

d. Technology replication ; Define policies to re-use/replicate existing solutions for a wider use

e. Cloud adoption ; design initiatives to ensure adoption of public, software based cloud solutions

- Liaise with specific business teams to ensure that technology strategy is in sync with business goals.

- Develop & present strategic initiatives and subsequent advantages in quantitative/qualitative formats to senior leadership team

Architectural initiatives ; Create and apply architectural initiatives considering the following framework:

a. Open industry standards ensuring global compliance

b. Resilient, redundant & reliable allowing business continuity

c. Modular based on micro-services for portability to software cloud

d. Simple, cost-effective with no vendor monopolies

- Create architectural "check-points" in all processes ensuring strict adherence to pre-defined principles by all relevant stakeholders.

- Design forums such as "Architecture Review Boards" to ensure regular feedback and reviews are enabled.

- POCs & Pilots ; Generate "Proof" to validate ideas and check their efficacy in real life environments.

a. Conduct conceptual validations to ensure that strategic initiatives move from the drawing board to valid business cases

b. Interact with cross-functional teams - product technology, product marketing, corporate strategy, implementation (w.r.t. harnessing ecosystem) etc. to ensure an overall sync w.r.t. final goals

c. Manage & utilize test labs from a POC perspective

- Action oriented awareness of trends, technologies & market dynamics w.r.t. products & services

a. Attend/conduct forums, knowledge management sessions with identified partners and vendor/consultant reviews

b. Market research with valid agencies to ensure that information of cutting edge technologies is always available from a perspective of creating strategic initiatives

c. Thought leadership - whitepapers, IPRs, patents etc.

- RFIs/RFQs ; Conduct vendor evaluations for specific strategic initiatives. Ensure the right choice of vendors/partners for pre-identified concepts so that the RFP and subsequent deployment process is smooth and effective.

- Design & conduct workshops/initiatives to generate ideas and foster a culture of out-of-the-box thinking. Some of these initiatives could be Start-up forums, innovation workshops etc.

Core Competency:

- Excellent stakeholder management skills with ability to interface with senior leadership team

- Subject matter expertise in technology products domain with at least 17 years of experience in technology management

- Strategic bent of mind with well-developed analytical skills

- Mature, evolved thinking abilities with a capacity to absorb pressure and manage stress

- Understanding & knowledge of technology evolution and ability to keep oneself updated with the latest in terms of cutting edge technologies

- Sharp presentation skills

- Financial acumen with good negotiation skills a plus point.

Must Have's:

- Develop & present strategic initiatives and subsequent advantages in quantitative/qualitative formats to senior leadership team

- Create architectural "check-points" in all processes ensuring strict adherence to pre-defined principles by all relevant stakeholders