Senior Manager – Next Generation Business Support Systems needed at MTN

Responsibilities
Mission/ Core purpose of the Job

• The Senior Manager Next Generation BSS role is a member of MTN Group Technology IT Strategy and Architecture team, to lead the transformation of our charging and billing systems through the integration of AI and Generative AI technologies. This role combines deep telecommunications BSS expertise with cutting-edge AI capabilities to create next-generation revenue management solutions across MTN
• The team are focused on driving the digitization and innovation strategy across MTN’s markets through technology leadership and collaboration with the relevant stakeholders to enable new growth engines, achieve operational excellence, deliver superior customer experience and unlock value through TCO reduction as part of the PACE strategy. The role will focus on driving the design and delivery of  creating cutting edge AI solutions for Next Generation BSS/OSS  technology domains through AI journeys, processes, models and KPIs.

Key Performance Areas: Core, essential responsibilities / outputs of the position (KPA’s)

The Senior Manager Next Generation BSS  role will have the following responsibilities: 

• Lead and  co-create cross functionally with other BUs (e.g. CBU, Digital, EBU), MTN platform businesses (e.g. Fintech) and other stakeholders and execute their AI journey.  Design AI-first businesses.  
• Conceptualise and design full stack AI enabled BSS solutions – AI infrastructure and tools / environment selection, AI/ML model development and deployment, AI applications.  AI Architecture, Business Architecture, Customer Insight & Segmentation, Data Mining, Optimization, Big Data Technologies.
• Strategic consulting, implementation, and support for our operating companies,  advising and solutioning for AI enabled BSS at scale – 
• Guide development teams in implementing AI/ML models within BSS workflows
• Establish best practices for AI model governance and billing accuracy
• Collaborate with data scientists to optimize AI models for billing use cases
• Lead proof-of-concept initiatives for emerging AI technologies in BSS
• Strategic thinking, in-depth understanding of business drivers, deep knowledge of legacy & emerging technologies.  AI specific BSS strategy development – “as is” and “to be” scenarios, followed by gap analysis, options development, and technology/execution roadmap.
• Facilitate Collaborations and Partnerships –  Collaborate with strategic partners and organisations in bringing industry consortium solutions together. Innovation through partnering, an eco-systems approach.
• Define Next Gen AI BSS value realization framework; Track and report key impact metrics across user cases in different domains to stakeholders
• Establish community of practice within MTN. Drive roadshows to increase awareness
• Ensure governance model and processes adopted in Opco(s) is in alignment to the established reference standards; conduct reviews, identify issues, and determine root cause, and improve processes to prevent recurring issues
• Ability to network across new areas and build strong and trusted business relationships

Deliverables

• Next GenBSS AI Reference architecture and framework
• Next Gen BSS AI Value Realization Framework
• Quarterly roadmap for AI/ML feature implementation across OpCos 
• Monthly AI/GenAI model performance reports in collaboration with the BSS strategic partners 
• Drive the AI Community of Practice through dedicated IT Circle ( tribes, squads) to drive AI products
• AI adoption business case framework and Business cases for scenarios related to products and services enabled by AI/GenAI at the core, AI enabled High Volume Journeys ; collaboration on network optimization use cases 
• AI standards, policies, guidelines alignment for Next GenBSS
• AI governance framework for billing operations
• AI emerging trends in the BSS domain with a 3 year roadmap
• Conceptualize and Ideate future AI solutions in the BSS domain through Proof of Concepts with strategic partners  

Qualifications
Education:

• Minimum 4-year relevant Academic Degree with Honours (B Eng / BSc Degree Preferred)
• MBA / Masters advantageous
• English (French and/or Arabic advantageous)
• Relevant certification/accreditation/membership with professional body as required for role (e.g. AWS Certified ML  Speciality, AI 900 – Microsoft Azure AI fundamentals, AI -102 Designing and implementing a Azure AI solution)

Experience:

• Manager track record of 5 years or more.
• Minimum of 10 years’ of overall experience in IT with proficiency in computer languages associated with different components in the AI solution life-cycle: data collection, data manipulation, feature extraction, model creation, solution architecture, development and operationalization of the solution (e.g. Linux; Docker; Python,  SQLAlchemy; Java; JavaScript: Angular)
• 8+ years of experience in BSS/OSS architecture, with focus on charging and billing systems
• Strong understanding of modern charging systems (online charging, convergent charging) E/// BSS portfolio, Huawei BSS portfolio
• Minimum of 5 years’ experience building and optimizing AI based solutions (using appropriate  tools and libraries, e.g. Tensorflow, Keras, scikit learn, Prophet, RAPIDs (NVIDIA), Pandas, matplotlib) within a cloud native paradigm 
• Minimum 2 years’ experience in creating and serving AI Cloud solutions for different data modalities (e.g. image, machine telemetry, time-series, text, structured data) and GenAI LLM enabled solutions in the customer experience space
• Minimum 2 years’ experience engaging and working with eco-system partners and vendors in the AI and automation fields
• Hands on experience working on AWS, Azure, Google Cloud building AI, Machine Learning systems. Ability to review code and designs.
• Proficiency in Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service and related concepts on the public cloud.
• Demonstrated specialised technical and strategic leadership through customer engagements, deliverables, and presentation of AI solutions.
• Appropriate certification in AI/ML fundamentals and engineering technologies ( e.g. Azure, AWS or GCP AI certifications)
• Experience in working across diverse cultures and geographies is advantageous
• Strong communication skills, including the ability to communicate complex messages and ideas and influence decision-makers
• Excellent presentation skills and experience in public speaking