Senior Specialist: Governance and Resilience

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together one story at a time.
- With over 100 years of rich history and strongly positioned as a local bank with regional and international expertise, a career with our family offers the opportunity to be part of this exciting growth journey, to reset our future and shape our destiny as a proudly African group.

Job Summary

The Senior Specialist: Governance & Resilience is a crucial value enablement role reporting to the Executive: Control Officer. The Head: Governance & Resilience is a strategic leadership role accountable for establishing and sustaining a robust governance, risk, and resilience architecture across the Business Banking cluster. The role encompasses oversight of Business Continuity Management (BCM), integrated risk governance, secretariat services, and translating the Group Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework into actionable, business-specific practices. A key pillar of the role is to embed a culture of resilience—encompassing operational continuity, strategic adaptability, and organisational agility—to safeguard performance and enable sustained growth in an evolving risk environment.

As an senior in the Absa Business Banking Chief Operations Office, you will excel in commercializing and monetizing strategies with a strong financial acumen. Your ability to leverage digital tools and technology to automate processes and generate commercial value will be paramount. With a focus on efficiency driven by automation, digitization, and cost optimization, you will consistently create demonstrated value for our clients.

Job Description

KEY FOCUS AREAS

Governance and Risk Framework Translation
- Localise and operationalise the Group Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) framework for Business Banking.
- Design and implement a cluster-specific risk and control model that supports proactive risk management.
- Establish governance structures that reinforce ethical conduct, compliance, and transparency across all business units.

Governance Committees and Secretariat Oversight
- Lead the design, coordination, and facilitation of cluster-level risk and control forums, including executive and sub-committees.
- Ensure governance forums are well-structured, outcomes-focused, and aligned to regulatory and strategic priorities.
- Oversee secretariat services to ensure accurate documentation, compliance with governance charters, and delivery of actionable insights.
- Act as governance advisor to the COO, supporting effective decision-making and regulatory alignment.
- Enable speed, efficacy and impact of decision making by defining and embedding RACI matrixes for all relevant committees and forums.
- Research and embed best practices to devolve decision making and increase the effectiveness of committees and forums.

Business Continuity Management (BCM)
- Develop and embed a BCM framework aligned to Group Resilience policies and ISO 22301 standards.
- Ensure BIAs, continuity plans, and crisis protocols are in place, regularly updated, and tested across all business units.
- Coordinate simulation exercises and recovery planning to validate operational readiness across people, processes, technology, and third parties.

Organisational Resilience Leadership
- Drive a holistic resilience agenda that includes operational, strategic, and cultural dimensions.
- Promote operational resilience by ensuring critical services can withstand and recover from disruptions.
- Support strategic resilience through scenario planning, risk foresight, and readiness for market or regulatory shifts.
- Foster workforce and cultural resilience by embedding adaptability, responsiveness, and continuous learning.

Integrated Risk Reporting and Assurance
- Deliver timely, accurate, and insightful risk and resilience reporting to cluster and Group-level forums.
- Develop dashboards, thematic risk reports, and early warning indicators to support data-driven decision-making.
- Monitor and ensure closure of audit and regulatory findings, addressing control gaps and enhancing assurance.

Strategic Leadership and Influence
- Serve as a trusted advisor to the COO and Business Banking Exco on governance, risk, and resilience matters.
- Lead and inspire a multidisciplinary team across BCM, governance, risk coordination, and secretariat services.
- Build and sustain a network of governance and resilience champions to embed a culture of ownership and forward-looking risk management.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy Formulation and Execution
- Translate the Group ERM framework into a tailored risk and control model for Business Banking.
- Develop governance structures that promote compliance, transparency, and ethical conduct.
- Drive strategic resilience initiatives aligned to business priorities and evolving risk landscapes.
- Translate strategic objectives into operational plans and execution roadmaps for the business area.
- Align functional priorities with business unit goals, setting clear short
- and medium-term mi