Business Analyst - Office of the Group Managing Director

Location: Germiston
Type: Permanent
Remuneration: R600K - R850K CTC per annum

Introduction

South Africa’s premier supplier of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), Cleaning Chemicals, Paper Products, Industrial Consumable Supplies and Workwear is looking for a Business Analyst – Office of the Group Managing Director to join their successful team.

Scope:

This is a chief-of-staff role carrying a business analyst title. The holder is the Group MD’s second pair of hands on the thinking, not primarily on the diary.

Roughly:

60–70% analysis, reporting and project follow-through — branch and category performance, margin and mix analysis, lead-time and process diagnostics, preparation of group flash commentary and BCP-facing packs, chasing exco commitments to closure.
20–30% agenda and governance — running the MD’s operating rhythm, preparing him for BCP, board and customer engagements, ensuring nothing agreed in a meeting quietly dies.
10–20% classic PA work — diary, travel, inbox triage, gatekeeping. Real, but not the centre of gravity.

Duties & Responsibilities

Executive reporting:
- Prepare and quality-assure the monthly group flash commentary and BCP-facing packs to a fixed structure and page limit.
- Own the calendar and the data-gathering behind them.
Performance analysis
- Branch, category and rep-level analysis of sales, gross margin, mix and expenses.
- Explain variances in one page, not twenty slides.
Process diagnostics
- Root-cause work on operational lead times and order flow — quote-to-invoice, open order ageing, factory throughput — with quantified recommendations.
Project follow-through
- Track every commitment made in exco and MD-level meetings to a dated close-out. Escalate slippage early.
Commercial support
- Build the analysis behind pricing, campaign, tender and customer-profitability decisions.
Governance and preparation
- Ensure the MD walks into every engagement with the right pack, the right numbers and the right two questions.
Executive administration
- Diary, travel, inbox triage and gatekeeping, at a standard that never becomes the MD’s problem.

Desired Experience & Qualification

Qualification:

Essential

A completed three or four-year degree in a numerate discipline — BCom, BSc, engineering, actuarial, statistics, economics.

Preferred

Honours, CA(SA), CIMA, industrial engineering, or a part-time MBA or postgraduate diploma in progress.

Experience:

Essential

Three to five years post-graduation in an analytical, commercial, consulting or finance role.

Preferred

Exposure to a multi-branch, multi-site or distribution business.

Technical:

Essential

Advanced Excel. Confident building an executive slide pack.
Able to work with raw system extracts.

Preferred

Power BI or Tableau, SQL, Power Query, ERP reporting experience.

Behavioural:

Essential

Self-starting, resilient under pressure, comfortable challenging senior people with evidence, absolutely discreet.

Preferred

Prior experience working directly to an executive or partner.

Practical:

Essential

Valid driver’s licence and own transport. Willing to travel domestically.

Preferred

Valid passport and willingness to travel to Eswatini and Zambia.

Language:

Essential

Business-level English, written and spoken, to executive standard.

Preferred

A second South African language.

Non-negotiables

- Numerate to a professional standard. Can decompose a margin movement into price, volume and mix without being prompted.
- Writes for an executive. One page, conclusion first, no adjectives doing the work of evidence.
- Advanced Excel as a working tool, Pivot tables, lookups, and enough Power Query or SQL to handle a system extract without asking IT.
- Self-starting. Can take a three-line brief, come back with a one-paragraph interpretation and a checkpoint date, and then deliver.
- Discreet. Will sit inside every sensitive conversation in the business, including remuneration, restructuring and disputes.
- Willing to be on a branch floor and in a factory, not only in a spreadsheet.

Should you not receive a response within 14 days of applying, please consider your application unsuccessful.

Package & Remuneration

R600K – R850K CTC per annum