Head, Product, Structured Trade & Commodity Finance

About the role

Standard Bank Group is looking for a Head of Product for its Structured Trade and Commodity Finance (STCF) portfolio, based in Johannesburg. The role owns pre-export finance, borrowing base facilities, inventory-backed lending and other asset-backed solutions, ensuring commercial scalability within risk appetite, disciplined capital usage and compliance with regulatory and credit frameworks.

Key responsibilities

• Define and maintain the strategic product architecture, including product constructs, collateral frameworks, eligibility criteria and asset coverage models.
• Develop methodologies, margining rules, covenant structures, reporting standards and utilisation mechanisms aligned to client risk profiles.
• Lead the full lifecycle of the product suite, from origination and structuring to execution, monitoring, enhancement and exit.
• Establish governance frameworks, deal templates, security packages, perfection requirements, collateral control standards and operational risk thresholds.
• Define and monitor portfolio limits across countries, obligors, commodities and ecosystems, and drive product-level capital optimisation.
• Develop deal structuring playbooks and pricing frameworks, and commercialise the product across target industries, markets and client segments, including distribution strategies such as risk participation and insurance wraps.
• Support Coverage and Sales teams in engaging anchor clients and expanding into ecosystems.
• Monitor portfolio performance (risk-adjusted returns, RWA intensity, impairment trends, collateral health, early-warning triggers) and lead proactive portfolio interventions such as restructuring, covenant resets and margining adjustments.
• Drive digitisation and automation, including collateral tracking, real-time monitoring, data ingestion, early-warning insights, and simplified borrowing base reporting and compliance checks.
• Elevate documentation standards, legal robustness and enforceability, and provide oversight during execution to ensure adherence to risk frameworks and collateral controls.

Required profile

• First degree in Business Commerce.
• 5 to 7 years' experience in structured trade and commodity finance.
• Experience leading a team and implementing systems and product solutions within structured trade and commodity finance.
• Advanced understanding of structured trade and commodity finance and Transaction Banking, with broad operational and strong functional skills.
• More than 10 years championing the simplification of solutioning ways of working across multiple jurisdictions.
• Knowledge of the macro context across multiple jurisdictions and ability to formulate a clear solution value proposition.

Required skills

• Structured trade and commodity finance and Transaction Banking
• Risk management
• Product development and product knowledge (trading, transacting)
• Strategic planning and reporting