Executive Manager Workforce Planning Strategy & Transformation

Commonwealth Bank Of Australia; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Job summary

Commonwealth Bank of Australia is seeking an experienced transformational Workforce Planning leader to shape and build our future capability within Retail Operations in Sydney. You will connect demand, capacity and skills, turning strategy into practical capability and measurable outcomes.

Leading analytics, scenario modelling and optimisation initiatives, you will partner with senior stakeholders across Technology, Data and Finance to deliver an integrated workforce agenda and real-time

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience in Workforce Planning within large operations.
• Strong forecasting, capacity planning and workforce analytics.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into practical capability.
• Experience delivering transformation in complex environments.

Responsibilities

• Shape and deliver the future Workforce Planning strategy and operating model.
• Develop Work & Capacity Optimisation capabilities linking demand, capacity and skills.
• Improve visibility of work, commitments and capacity for decisions.
• Lead skills development and cross-skilling to boost deployment flexibility.
• Identify opportunities to improve service, risk, productivity and cost outcomes.
• Build stronger analytics, scenario modelling and decision-support capability.
• Translate data into clear insights and actions for senior leaders.
• Shape future workforce strategies across Australia and vendor capacity.
• Assess impact of transformation, automation and AI on workforce needs.
• Define data/tech capabilities and reduce manual reporting through automation.
• Pilot and scale new capabilities with Operations and embed them in routines.
• Engage senior stakeholders to drive an integrated workforce agenda.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Workforce planning

Forecasting & modelling

Stakeholder management

Operational transformation

Job description

Retail Operations is a large and complex operational environment, with more than 2,200 people across Australia and India supporting a diverse range of customer journeys and operational activities.

The scale and complexity of our operations means Workforce Planning plays a critical role in ensuring we have the right capacity and capability available to meet customer demand, manage service and risk, support our people and operate efficiently.

As Retail Operations continues to evolve, we are investing in the next generation of our Workforce Planning capability.

We are seeking an experienced transformational workforce planning leader to help shape and build this future capability — strengthening the connection between the work that needs to be completed, the capacity and skills available across our workforce, and drive real time decisions we make about how that capacity is deployed.

Working alongside RO Workforce Planning team, this role will lead the development of new strategic, analytical and optimisation capabilities, to drive broader Work & Capacity Optimisation capability.

We are looking for a leader who can build as well as design — combining strong workforce planning and operational credibility with the ability to turn strategy into practical capability and measurable outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

Workforce Planning Strategy & Optimisation

• Shape and deliver the future Workforce Planning strategy, capability roadmap and operating model for Retail Operations.
• Develop Workforce Planning toward a broader Work & Capacity Optimisation capability, connecting demand, inventory, capacity, skills and operational priorities.
• Improve visibility of work, service commitments and available qualified capacity to enable better operational decisions.
• Develop approaches to skills, cross-skilling and workforce flexibility that improve how capacity can be deployed across Operations.
• Identify and deliver opportunities to improve customer, service, risk, colleague, productivity and cost outcomes through better workforce decisions.

Analytics & Strategic Workforce Planning

• Build stronger workforce analytics, scenario modelling and decision-support capability.
• Translate complex workforce and operational data into clear insights, recommendations and actions for senior leaders.
• Develop forward-looking workforce scenarios covering demand, capacity, productivity, skills, location and workforce mix.
• Shape future workforce and capability strategies across Australia, CBA India and external/vendor capacity.
• Assess the impact of changing customer demand, transformation, automation and AI on future workforce requirements.

Data, Technology & Transformation

• Define the data and technology capabilities required to support the future Workforce Planning model.
• Reduce manual reporting, reconciliation and spreadsheet dependency through better data, automation and self-service capability.
• Partner with OneOps, Data and Technology teams to explore how workforce insights can increasingly inform the prioritisation and allocation of work.
• Translate strategy into a practical transformation roadmap, piloting and scaling new capabilities with Operations.
• Ensure new capabilities are successfully embedded into ongoing Workforce Planning operations and deliver measurable benefits.

Leadership & Stakeholder Engagement

• Build trusted partnerships with senior leaders across Retail Operations, COO, Technology, Data, Finance, People and other key functions.
• Work closely with existing Workforce Planning leadership to deliver one Workforce Planning strategy with complementary leadership focus.
• Bring together Workforce Planning, Operations and enterprise partners to deliver an integrated workforce agenda.
• Build capability within the existing team through involvement in transformation, knowledge sharing and development.
• Influence senior decision-makers through clear, evidence-based insights and recommendations.

We’re interested in hearing from people who have

• Significant leadership experience in Workforce Planning, Workforce Management, capacity planning, workforce optimisation or related disciplines within a large and complex operational environment.
• Strong understanding of forecasting, capacity planning, productivity, workforce analytics and resource planning.
• Experience working across complex operations, ideally including case/inventory-based work and customer contact channels.
• Demonstrated experience designing and delivering significant workforce or operational transformation.
• Strong analytical capability with experience in scenario modelling, workforce analytics and decision support.
• Understanding of how data, workflow, automation and technology can improve workforce and operational decision‑making.
• Experience building new capabilities and translating strategy into practical implementation and measurable outcomes.
• Strong executive stakeholder management skills and the ability to influence across organisational boundaries.
• Strong commercial judgement with the ability to balance customer, service, risk, colleague, productivity and cost outcomes.
• Experience leading teams, building capability and navigating ambiguity and complexity.

We’re particularly interested in people who are

• Builders, not just strategists — able to create new capability and make it work in practice.
• Operationally credible — comfortable with both strategic thinking and the realities of operational delivery.
• Data-led and curious — able to challenge assumptions and turn complex information into better decisions.
• Strategic and pragmatic — able to define where Workforce Planning needs to go and build the practical path to get there.
• Collaborative leaders — able to build capability with existing teams and bring diverse stakeholders together.
• Future-focused — interested in how technology, automation and AI can enable better workforce and operational outcomes.

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