Behavioural Specialist: Conduct & Ethics

absa; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 700,000 - 1,100,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa Bank Limited seeks a specialist to apply behavioural science and data-driven insights to strengthen conduct and ethical culture across the Group.

You will design and evaluate behavioural interventions, develop dashboards for culture metrics, and collaborate with leaders to foster psychologically safe environments where colleagues speak up and act with integrity.

Qualifications

• Degree in Behavioral Science, Psychology, Organizational Psychology, Behavioural Economics or related discipline.
• Postgraduate qualification preferred.

Responsibilities

• Apply behavioural science principles to understand drivers of employee and leadership behaviour.
• Identify behavioural risks that may contribute to misconduct or unethical decision-making.
• Design and implement behavioural interventions (nudges, framing, social norms).
• Develop behavioural indicators and dashboards to monitor culture and conduct trends.
• Partner with leaders to strengthen ethical leadership and decision-making.
• Inform ethics learning programmes and communications with behavioural insights.

Skills

Behavioral science

Organizational psychology

Data analytics

Workshop facilitation

Stakeholder engagement

Curiosity

Education

Bachelor's degree in Behavioral Science or Psychology

Postgraduate qualification preferred

Job description

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

To apply behavioural science, organizational psychology and data-driven insights to strengthen the Group’s conduct and ethical culture. The role is responsible for designing, implementing and evaluating behavioural interventions that promote ethical decision-making, customer-centric behaviours and a strong culture of accountability across the organization.

Job Description

Key Accountabilities:

Behavioral Insights

• Apply behavioural science principles to understand the drivers of employee and leadership behaviour.


• Identify behavioural risks that may contribute to misconduct, poor customer outcomes or unethical decision-making.


• Use behavioural diagnostics to inform conduct and ethics strategies.

Culture and Behavior

• Support the design and evolution of the Group’s culture framework and behavioural expectations.


• Translate organizational values into observable behaviours and practical expectations.


• Develop Behavioural indicators that can be monitored over time.

Behavioural Interventions

• Design and implement interventions using behavioural science techniques (e.g. nudges, choice architecture, framing, social norms and commitment mechanisms).


• Test and evaluate interventions to improve ethical behaviours and decision-making.


• Embed behavioural insights into business processes, governance and communications.

Leadership and Decision-Making

• Partner with leaders to strengthen ethical leadership and decision-making.


• Facilitate workshops and coaching on behavioural biases, judgement and ethical dilemmas.


• Support leadership teams in creating psychologically safe environments where colleagues are encouraged to speak up and challenge constructively.

Measurement and Analytics

• Develop behavioural metrics and dashboards to monitor culture and conduct trends.


• Analyze data from employee surveys, whistleblowing, complaints, conduct incidents and other sources to identify behavioural patterns and emerging risks.


• Evaluate the effectiveness of behavioural interventions and recommend improvements.

Learning and Communication

• Inform the design of ethics and conduct learning programmes using adult learning and behavioural science principles.


• Develop communication strategies that encourage behavioural change rather than simply increasing awareness.


• Ensure messaging is clear, practical and reinforces desired behaviours.

Governance and Advisory

• Provide behavioural insights into policy development, product governance and organisational change initiatives.


• Advise project teams on behavioural risks associated with new products, customer journeys and strategic initiatives.


• Contribute to conduct and ethics reporting to senior management and governance forums.

Required Experience

• Behavioural science, organizational psychology or organizational development experience.


• Experience designing and evaluating behaviour change programmes.


• Experience using behavioural data and analytics to inform interventions.


• Experience working in a regulated industry or financial services is advantageous.

Required Qualifications

• Degree in Behavioral Science, Psychology, Organizational Psychology, Behavioural Economics or a related discipline.


• Postgraduate qualification preferred.

Technical Competencies

• Behavioral science and behavioral economics.


• Organizational psychology.


• Behaviour change methodologies.


• Research design and qualitative analysis.


• Data interpretation and behavioural analytics.


• Workshop facilitation and stakeholder engagement.


• Culture measurement frameworks.

Behavioural Competencies

• Curiosity and critical thinking.


• Strong analytical capability.


• Influencing and stakeholder management.


• Empathy and active listening.


• Innovation and problem-solving.


• Commercial awareness.


• Collaboration.


• Courage to challenge constructively.

Success Measures

• Improvement in behavioural and culture indicators.


• Increased effectiveness of ethics and conduct interventions.


• Positive movement in leadership and accountability measures.


• Increased speak-up and psychological safety indicators where appropriate.


• Demonstrable improvements in ethical decision-making and customer-centric behaviours.


• Successful integration of behavioural science into key business initiatives.


• Evidence-based reporting on the effectiveness of culture and behavioural interventions.

Education

Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (Required)

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