Executive: People Change and Implementation

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: People Change and Implementation is a value-enabling role reporting into the Executive: Business Transformation and Strategic Change. The portfolio for this role focuses on driving strategic change and implementation initiatives that enhance organisational agility and responsiveness. It encompasses the orchestration of business readiness, adoption, and change communication efforts across group, business units, and clusters. The role ensures seamless integration of change activities, enabling consistent experiences for colleagues and customers, while embedding transformation at the frontline. It also supports the delivery of multi-channel strategies that align with customer value generation and operational excellence. The ideal incumbent will use data as an asset to measure the impact of change and make recommendations to help support business decision making.

As a Senior Manager 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

• Lead the orchestration of change across Business Banking

• Lead the development and oversee the execution of change and implementation strategies.

• Drive business readiness and adoption initiatives across the COO environment.

• Ensure alignment of change activities with strategic objectives.

• Enable speed to value and responsiveness to organisational imperatives.

• Develop and execute strategic business change communication.

• Promote stakeholder engagement and collaboration.

• Support governance, risk mitigation, and compliance in change initiatives.

• Drive continuous improvement and innovation in change practices.

• Ensure integration of change initiatives across business units.

• Use data to measure the end-to-end change cycle, generate insights, and to help make strategic business decisions

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Lead the development and oversee the execution of change and implementation strategies.

• Drive business readiness and adoption initiatives across the COO environment.

• Ensure alignment of change activities with strategic objectives.

• Enable speed to value and responsiveness to organisational imperatives.

• Lead the development of change and implementation strategies aligned to COO priorities.

• Guide the integration of change initiatives across systems, processes, and teams

• 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 milestones.

• Support strategic initiatives through effective partnerships and structured programme delivery.

• Monitor execution progress and adjust plans to ensure alignment with business outcomes.

• Provide input into operating model and strategy formulation to support business performance.

Customer Primacy

• Champion customer-centric change initiatives that improve experience and responsiveness.

• Ensure change activities reflect customer insights and drive measurable value.

• Embed service excellence through integrated frameworks and frontline enablement.

• Use customer insights to inform operational plans and prioritise improvements.

• Enhance customer experience through process optimisation and service delivery.

• Promote customer-centric decision-making across teams.

• Represent customer needs in forums to influence service priorities.

Sustainable Growth

• Align change and implementation efforts with enterprise growth strategies.

• Mobilise teams to deliver transformation outcomes that support long-term sustainability.

• Monitor and evaluate the impact of change initiatives on business performance.

• Contribute to growth planning aligned with segment and enterprise priorities.

• Support execution of growth strategies and operational initiatives.

• Track performance against growth targets and resolve delivery barriers.

• Evaluate returns on initiatives to ensure sustainable business value.

Client-Driven Innovation and Change

• Drive innovation in change practices to enhance customer and colleague outcomes.

• Lead change programmes with clear engagement, readiness, and adoption plans.

• Influence across the organisation to embed new ways of working and digital solutions.

• Identify opportunities for innovation in products, services, or operations.

• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance customer outcomes.

• Support change management efforts across delivery teams.

• Communicate change impacts and ensure stakeholder engagement.

Leading Talent

• Build and maintain change capability within the team and across the COO environment.

• Mentor and develop future leaders in change and implementation disciplines.

• Foster inclusive, high-performing teams aligned to transformation goals.

• Embed people processes and values into team routines.

• Develop team capabilities to meet business needs and future readiness.

• Foster inclusive environments that support performance and growth.

• Address people issues and support development planning.

• Mentor emerging leaders and support talent development initiatives.

Operational Effectiveness

• Lead the orchestration of change across Business Banking

• Enable speed to value and responsiveness to organisational imperatives.

• Develop and execute strategic business change communication.

• Drive continuous improvement and innovation in change practices.

• Ensure integration of change initiatives across business units.

• Ensure operational readiness for change initiatives through structured planning.

• Resolve delivery friction and enable cross-functional collaboration.

• Use data insights to improve implementation effectiveness and decision-making.

• Translate strategic goals into functional plans with clear KPIs.

• Manage budgets and resources to support business performance.

• Resolve operational dependencies and friction across teams.

• Use data insights to improve operational efficiency and outcomes.

• Continuously improve processes for agility and quality.

Digital Adoption

• Promote digital tools and platforms that support change execution and adoption.

• Identify opportunities to digitise and automate change processes.

• Monitor digital integration and ensure alignment with business outcomes.

• Use data to measure the end-to-end change cycle, generate insights, and to help make strategic business decisions

• Support digital initiatives that improve efficiency and user experience.

• Monitor platform performance and ensure integration with operations.

• Identify opportunities for automation and digitisation.

Good Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Support governance, risk mitigation, and compliance in change initiatives.

• Implement governance frameworks to support compliant change delivery.

• Lead risk mitigation efforts and ensure audit readiness across change programmes.

• Align change activities with regulatory requirements and internal controls.

• Implement governance and compliance frameworks in team routines.

• Promote risk awareness and respond to regulatory changes.

• Support audit readiness and ensure compliance adherence.

• Manage risk profile and ensure resolution feedback to stakeholders.

Data Monetisation

• Leverage data to inform change strategy and measure impact.

• Ensure data-driven decision-making in implementation planning.

• Explore opportunities to use data for performance improvement and innovation.

• Use data insights to support planning and decision-making.

• Ensure data is validated and used to drive performance.

• Promote data-driven culture and value extraction.

Stakeholder Management

• Promote stakeholder engagement and collaboration.

• Engage stakeholders across business units to ensure alignment and support.

• Manage expectations and communication to facilitate smooth change adoption.

• Build collaborative relationships that enhance delivery and transformation outcomes.

• Manage stakeholder relationships to support delivery and issue resolution.

• Align engagement with transformation priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Education/ Qualification:
Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]

Field of Study:

• Business, Commerce and Management Studies

Work Experience:

• years experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank, including a track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.
• Experience must include developing integrated customer-centric product or service solutions or corporate practice development while working with and managing stakeholders across business and/or functional areas and budget management.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.
• Demonstrated success in leading enterprise-wide change initiatives and embedding strategic transformation programs
• Experience in engaging executive stakeholders in change strategy alignment and implementation planning

COMPETENCIES

Leadership Competencies:

• Strategic Thinking
• Business Acumen
• Communication
• Influence
• Leadership
• Creativity and Innovation
• Delivering Results
• Adaptability
• Collaboration

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strong commercialisation and monetisation skills with an affinity for finance
• Digital affinity and dexterity that leverages technology to automate and create commercial value
• Mindset of efficiency driven by automation, digitization and cost optimisation, to create client value
• Change management strategy and execution
• Stakeholder engagement and communication
• Business readiness and adoption planning
• Governance and compliance in change initiatives
• Operational excellence in implementation
• Digital adoption and transformation
• Strategic planning and alignment
• Leadership and talent development

Education

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management Studies

Absa Bank Limited is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. In compliance with the Employment Equity Act 55 of 1998, preference will be given to suitable candidates from designated groups whose appointments will contribute towards achievement of equitable demographic representation of our workforce profile and add to the diversity of the Bank.

Absa Bank Limited reserves the right not to make an appointment to the post as advertised

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