Job Summary

As a Principal, Relationship Manager Public Sector at Standard Chartered based in Johannesburg, you will be entrusted with leading and strengthening strategic partnerships with our diverse Public Sector clientele. You will cultivate deep insights into the structure, operational dynamics, and banking requirements of your portfolio, which includes various segments of the South African Government, its State-Owned Enterprises, affiliated entities, as well as Development Organisation clients and Regional Multilateral Development Banks. This role involves closely collaborating with the existing Public Sector and Broker Dealer relationship teams to ensure seamless management of key client relationships and responsibilities.

You will act as a trusted advisor both internally and externally, driving sustainable growth and innovation. Your work will be supported and amplified by the expertise within our Banking and Coverage team, working collectively to provide cutting-edge and comprehensive financial solutions such as working capital optimization, trade services, financing structures, cash management, and capital markets offerings.

Corporate & Investment Banking at Standard Chartered

The Corporate and Investment Banking division of Standard Chartered brings a heritage of over 170 years supporting clients in dynamic economies and essential trade corridors. Your role as Principal Relationship Manager will emphasize delivering tailored solutions that address the evolving needs of sophisticated public sector clients, leveraging this vast expertise to establish Standard Chartered as a leading partner in the sector.

This position requires a strategic mindset, exceptional client management capabilities, and a commitment to upholding the bank's values while driving client satisfaction and business success in a complex, evolving public sector financial landscape.

Key Responsibilities

As Principal Relationship Manager, your primary responsibilities will include:

• Leading origination and managing relationships for Public Sector (PS) clients in South Africa, while supporting the Banks, Brokers and Dealers business as needed.
• Understanding and applying the Public Sector strategy for clients in South Africa, East Africa, and the Inbound Development Organisation (DO) business.
• Building strong, sustainable relationships with assigned Public Sector clients in South Africa.
• Establishing trusted advisory relationships with local branches of international DOs, supporting their payment operations and resolving issues promptly and professionally.
• Engaging senior management and decision makers to enhance dialogue quality, shifting from transactional interactions to consistent, value-added partnership and strategic advisory roles.
• Anticipate client needs and provide strategic guidance, involving relevant product and industry partners.
• Collaborating with Global Account Managers (GAM) on international accounts with subsidiaries in South Africa and working with Product Partners within the banks global network to deliver comprehensive client solutions.
• Achieving financial performance targets, including revenues, costs, and RoRWA, for clients in South Africa and actively covered inbound clients.
• Leading key business discussions and RFPs by coordinating multi-product deal teams to ensure timely, competitive responses that meet client procurement standards.
• Demonstrating effective origination skills, relevant product expertise, and comprehensive knowledge in managing risks and operational processes, including onboarding, financial crime, regulatory, transactional, operational, credit, and reputational aspects.
• Maintaining an informed and proactive perspective on client business, staying updated on industry trends, portfolio performance, pipeline, compliance, risks, and opportunities.
• Proactively originating new business with key product partners and expanding the franchise by leveraging the Bank’s competitive strengths such as the Global Network and Capital Markets franchise, while selectively developing new relationships.
• Formulating strategy for Public Sector Clients, developing regional talent, and increasing wallet share and quality active relationships.
• Strongly cross-selling the full product suite while managing risk-adjusted profitability within established risk management guidelines.

Skills and Experience

Candidates should demonstrate a robust skill set and relevant experience, including:

• Proven ability to act as a trusted advisor, delivering exceptional account management and cultivating enduring relationships with highly sophisticated clients.
• Strong client-centric mindset with a keen ability to interpret and anticipate client needs, behavioural tendencies, and preferences, shaping client engagement strategies accordingly.
• Advanced financial analysis skills, including the ability to critically evaluate financial statements and reports to assess client performance, risk, and investment suitability.
• Deep understanding of Financial Institutions & Public Sector (PS) Clients
• Sound risk management expertise, capable of identifying, assessing and mitigating financial and operational risks in alignment with regulatory frameworks and bank policy.
• Extensive experience within financial services regulatory environments, ensuring compliance and governance standards are consistently maintained.
• Additionally, excellent communication, negotiation, and interpersonal skills are essential to effectively influence stakeholders and build consensus internally and externally.

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together we:

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.