Head of Everyday Banking

Communityfirst; Sydney; On-site; AUD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Community First Bank, a member-owned Australian bank, is seeking a Head of Everyday Banking to lead frontline operations across branches, customer care and contact centre. Reporting to the Chief Customer Officer, you will ensure consistent, trusted service while driving sustainable growth and regulatory compliance.

This role emphasises people leadership, process improvement and risk management, with a focus on member outcomes, channel adoption and community presence across Sydney and surrounding

Qualifications

• Senior leadership experience in retail banking and customer operations.
• Experience leading large frontline teams across multiple channels.
• Strong understanding of Australian banking obligations, risk controls, complaints handling and conduct.
• Proven ability to drive service and operational improvements.
• Knowledge of mutual or customer-owned banking models is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Lead the branch network, customer care and contact centre to deliver simple, consistent and member-centred everyday banking experiences.
• Set and embed service standards, complaint resolution and quality assurance routines.
• Deliver growth targets for deposits, transactions, retention, referrals and cost efficiency.
• Ensure day-to-day operations are well controlled, efficient and scalable.
• Maintain first-line risk management across customer interactions, privacy and AML/CTF.
• Develop a capable, values-led team with coaching and succession planning.
• Strengthen the bank's presence in communities and uphold mutual purpose.
• Support digital service adoption while ensuring access for members needing human support.
• Partner with leaders to translate strategy into practical plans.

Skills

Senior Leadership

Retail Banking

Customer Operations

Change Management

Channel Management

Education

Extensive tertiary qualification in business, finance, management or related discipline

Postgraduate qualification in business, leadership, finance or customer experience

Job description

Community First Bank is one of Australia's leading customer-owned banks, proudly serving members and communities since 1959. With more than 80,000 members, over $2.4 billion in assets, and a strong presence across Sydney, the Illawarra, Sutherland Shire, Western Sydney and the Hunter region, Community First Bank is built on a simple philosophy: people helping people. As a member-owned organisation, we reinvest in delivering exceptional service, competitive products, and meaningful community support rather than generating profits for external shareholders. Our purpose is to help our members achieve their financial goals through trusted relationships, innovation, and a genuine commitment to the communities where we live and work.

Position Scope

The Head of Everyday Banking is accountable for leading the bank’s frontline and service operations across the branch network, customer care and contact centre. Reporting to the Chief Customer Officer, the role ensures members receive consistent, trusted and efficient service across all everyday banking channels, while delivering sustainable growth, operational discipline, regulatory compliance and a strong people culture.

Key Responsibilities

• Channel leadership: Lead the branch network, customer care and contact centre to deliver simple, consistent and member-centred everyday banking experiences.
• Member experience: Set and embed service standards, complaint resolution practices, quality assurance routines and service recovery disciplines that build member trust and advocacy.
• Business performance: Deliver agreed performance outcomes for deposits, transaction accounts, member retention, cross-referrals, channel productivity, service levels and cost efficiency.
• Operational excellence: Ensure day-to-day operations are well controlled, efficient and scalable, with clear procedures, workforce planning, rostering, reporting and continuous improvement practices.
• Risk and compliance: Maintain effective first-line risk management across customer interactions, including adherence to responsible banking obligations, privacy, financial crime, fraud, scams, AML/CTF, complaints and conduct requirements.
• People leadership: Build an engaged, capable and values-led team through coaching, succession planning, performance management, capability uplift and a strong focus on safety and wellbeing.
• Community and mutual purpose: Strengthen the bank’s presence in the communities it serves and ensure teams demonstrate the values, care and stewardship expected of a customer-owned bank.
• Digital and channel adoption: Support members and teams through digital service adoption, channel migration and process simplification while preserving accessible service for members who need human support.
• Stakeholder management: Partner with executive and functional leaders to translate customer strategy into practical service, people, process and technology plans.
• Change leadership: Lead change across frontline teams with clear communication, effective implementation planning and strong adoption measures.

Key Accountability Measures

Member experience outcomes, including service quality, complaints resolution, member satisfaction and advocacy measures.

Achievement of agreed everyday banking growth, retention, referral and deposit performance targets.

Branch, customer care and contact centre service levels, productivity, workforce utilisation and cost-to-serve performance.

Effective management of first-line risk, audit actions, incidents, controls, compliance obligations and operational loss events.

Team engagement, capability, retention, leadership bench strength and safety outcomes.

Successful implementation and adoption of channel, service, process and technology improvements.

Demonstrated contribution to community presence, mutual purpose and organisational values.

Capability Requirements

• Strategic and commercial leadership with the ability to translate customer strategy into clear operational plans.
• Strong people leadership, coaching and communication skills across geographically dispersed and multi-channel teams.
• Customer-centred decision making with sound judgement, empathy and a strong focus on fairness and member outcomes.
• Operational discipline, problem solving and continuous improvement capability.
• Risk awareness and ability to balance growth, service, compliance and operational resilience.

Knowledge Areas

• Retail and everyday banking products, deposit accounts, payments, cards and digital banking channels.
• Branch operations, contact centre management, customer care, service quality, complaints handling and workforce planning.
• Australian banking regulatory environment, including first-line risk management, conduct, privacy, fraud, scams, AML/CTF and operational risk controls.
• Mutual bank operating models, member-owned banking principles, community banking and purpose-led service delivery.
• Performance reporting, budgeting, productivity management and continuous improvement methods.

Qualifications and Experience

• Extensive senior leadership experience in retail banking, customer operations, branch banking, contact centre or member service environments and change management.
• Demonstrated experience leading large frontline teams and delivering customer, commercial, risk and operational outcomes.
• Strong understanding of Australian banking obligations, risk controls, complaints handling, financial crime awareness and conduct expectations.
• Proven ability to lead change, improve service performance and embed consistent ways of working across multiple channels.
• Relevant tertiary qualification in business, finance, management or a related discipline, or equivalent practical experience.

Postgraduate qualification in business, leadership, finance or customer experience; experience in a mutual, customer-owned or community banking environment; exposure to digital transformation, channel strategy, automation or customer experience design.