Job Description: Head: R&D

Employment Type: Full-time Location Type: Remote Salary: Not Specified

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Company Description

Experian is a global data and technology company, powering opportunities for people and businesses worldwide. We are involved in redefining lending practices, preventing fraud, simplifying healthcare, creating marketing solutions, and gaining deeper insights into the automotive market. Our operations span various industry segments including financial services, healthcare, automotive, agribusiness, and insurance.

As a FTSE 100 Index company listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN), Experian has a team of 22,500 people across 32 countries. Our corporate headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland.

Learn more at experianplc.com.

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Position Overview

The Experian Innovation and Strategy team in South Africa, particularly the Research and Development (R&D) team, is central to driving innovation through data. The Head: R&D will be responsible for identifying, assessing, and recommending potential use cases for alternative data sources. This role will also identify opportunities to develop new or expand existing product offerings and support other Experian teams in assessing feasibility and creating conceptual designs for new products.

This role requires strong collaboration skills, a keen understanding of market offerings and needs, a passion for learning, insatiable curiosity, and the ability to foster high performance. The Head: R&D will also be responsible for ensuring adherence to associated Compliance, Risk, Data Governance, and Legal processes.

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Responsibilities

DATA RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT

• Identify alternative data sources beyond those currently leveraged by the business.
• Identify new types of data that could provide value to the business, clients, or consumers.
• Facilitate and participate in obtaining samples of identified data.
• Guide the team in analyzing and investigating data to assess suitability for new or enhanced products.
• Decide on and communicate the outcomes of data assessments to the business.
• Facilitate and participate in building initial viable products where applicable.

DATA ENGAGEMENT

• Engage with executive stakeholders regarding data opportunities and research findings.
• Present ideas and viable products at various stages to clients to gauge market appetite and product applicability.
• Initiate and pursue engagement with potential data suppliers.
• Inform and support commercial conversations related to data acquisition.

DATA RIGHT-TO-PLAY

• Ensure adherence to processes prescribed by Experian's Governance, Legal, Compliance, and Risk frameworks.

CROSS-TEAM COLLABORATION

• Stay informed about existing Experian product offerings, both locally and in other markets.
• Identify potential future new product owners and engage them in the product development process at the appropriate time to facilitate effective handover.
• Maintain effective and solution-focused engagements with Experian colleagues locally and internationally.

DATA THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

• Maintain and ensure the timely delivery of the Consumer Default Index (CDI) and Business Debt Index (BDI), which inform press releases and media engagement.
• Enrich/expand the CDI and BDI on an ad hoc basis to test new ideas or create thought leadership insights for market sharing. This enhancement is performed by the R&D team.
• Present on the latest developments in the market.

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Requirements

• Strong collaboration traits.
• Keen understanding of current market offerings and needs.
• A keen learner, insatiably curious, and an instigator of high performance.
• Responsibility for adherence to associated Compliance, Risk, Data Governance and Legal processes.