Director of Strategy, Performance & Operations

Westpac New Zealand Ltd; Auckland; On-site; NZD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Westpac New Zealand Ltd. in Auckland seeks a senior leader to head Business Performance and Operations within the DDAI portfolio. The role unites strategy, planning, investment and performance into a clear business agenda with strong executive reporting and governance.

You will partner across Digital, Data, AI, Payments and Risk, guiding priorities into measurable outcomes while strengthening cross‑functional delivery and enterprise accountability.

Qualifications

• Significant leadership experience in business performance, strategy execution, operations or transformation within a large, complex organisation.
• Experience operating in a regulated environment.
• Proven track record as a trusted adviser to an executive and contributor to a senior leadership team.
• Experience translating strategy into practical plans, priorities, investment choices and measurable outcomes.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including planning, prioritisation and value realisation.
• Experience shaping operating models, governance and decision‑making disciplines.
• The ability to lead cross‑functional initiatives and influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Confidence providing constructive challenge to senior leaders.
• Excellent executive and Board‑level communication skills.
• The ability to turn complex information into clear insight and practical recommendations.
• Sound judgement, risk maturity and discretion when working with sensitive matters.
• Experience leading and developing teams through ambiguity and change.
• A relevant tertiary qualification or equivalent experience would be advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Integrating domain strategies and delivery commitments into a single DDAI business plan aligned with enterprise priorities.
• Leading annual and rolling planning with Finance, People, Transformation and other enterprise partners.
• Running the cross-DDAI prioritisation process and recommending trade-offs across strategic value, customer outcomes, capacity, risk and dependencies.
• Owning the integrated DDAI performance framework, scorecards and executive reporting.
• Bringing together strategic, financial, workforce, risk and delivery insights to provide a clear view of business performance.
• Identifying emerging issues and opportunities, challenging material variances and tracking agreed corrective actions.
• Coordinating the consolidated tracking and challenge of DDAI investment benefits.
• Strengthening business‑management governance, operating routines and cross‑functional interfaces.
• Improving decision clarity, accountability, simplification and productivity across the function.
• Leading executive and Board papers that require integrated DDAI advice and insight.
• Leading and developing the Business Performance and Operations team and its capability.

Skills

Leadership experience

Regulated environment

Executive advisory

Strategy translation

Financial acumen

Cross-functional leadership

Communication with executives/board

Judgement & discretion

Change management

Tertiary qualification or equivalent

Education

Relevant tertiary qualification

Job description

Westpac New Zealand Ltd. in Auckland seeks a senior leader to head Business Performance and Operations within the DDAI portfolio. The role unites strategy, planning, investment and performance into a clear business agenda with strong executive reporting and governance.

You will partner across Digital, Data, AI, Payments and Risk, guiding priorities into measurable outcomes while strengthening cross‑functional delivery and enterprise accountability.