Head of Organisational Effectiveness

Woolworths Financial Services; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 1,000,000 - 1,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Woolworths Financial Services in Cape Town is seeking a Head of Organisational Effectiveness to lead culture transformation, organisational design and change management across the business. You will partner with executives to develop target operating models, drive people practices integration, and shape leadership capabilities that support strategy.

The role requires 8–10 years in OE, a relevant honours, and MBA preferred, with a track record of delivering complex organisational change in

Qualifications

• Minimum 8–10 years in Organisational Effectiveness or OE-related roles.
• Experience delivering culture transformations in large organisations.
• Ability to partner with executive leadership and drive change.
• Strong knowledge of target operating models and organisational design.
• Financial services experience is advantageous.

Responsibilities

• Lead enterprise culture strategy and design across the organisation.
• Drive organisational design and operating model implementation.
• Partner with HRBP and Talent to align people practices.
• Oversee change management programs and governance.
• Manage leadership development and capability frameworks.

Skills

Leadership

Culture Transformation

Organisational Design

Change Management

Executive Partnering

Human Resources

Education

Honours in HR / Organisational Psychology / Industrial Psychology / Business Science

MBA (beneficial)

Job description

Woolworths Financial Services | Full time

Head of Organisational Effectiveness

Cape Town, South Africa | Posted on 09/15/2026

WoolworthsFinancial Services, or WFS as it is better known, is a JointVenture with Absa Bank, that supports the Woolworths retailbusiness by providing in-storecredit inthe formof the Woolworths StoreCard andoffering value-addedservices including credit cards, personal loans and short-terminsurance as well as life insurance linked to otherproducts.

Job Description

Main Purpose

Through strong and professional thought leadership, provide strategicdirection on organisational design frameworks, processes, systems, and futurefit capabilities. Ensure that the appropriate Target Operating Model (TOM)structure, systems and processes are embedded across the organisation. Theseinclude Culture Transformation, Organisational Design, TEB and ChangeManagement.

Key Responsibilities

Enterprise Culture Strategy, Design and Implementation

• Collaborate with WFS leadership toidentify and drive continuous improvements towards the desired culture
• Lead the design and implementation ofevolving interventions that shape and shift the culture to deliver the businessstrategy and cultural aspiration.
• Act as a collaborator and driveintegration with the HRBP’s to drive common foundation and philosophy thatinfluence the people practices across the employee life cycle.
• Lead the enterprise strategic dialogueand culture transformation plans to mobilize and implement the required WFSculture.
• Promote the integration of peoplepractices with the aim of enhancing our culture and employee experience.
• Lead Thought leadership, dialogue andexecution of culture diagnostic tools that are aligned to WFS’s purpose andbusiness strategy.
• Support our culture, by designing andimplementing flagship programmes and initiatives (physical/ virtual and online)that communicate and affirm our culture
• Lead a systemic view of culturetransformation beyond the core “people systems” to embed across all levers,including operating models, organizational design, governance, and decisionmaking.

Organisational Design

• Drive customer-centric organisationalstructures and capabilities and ways of working that enable innovation,collaboration, agility, and speed of execution
• Lead the design and implementation of thebusiness target operating model so that the 'traditional thinking' ischallenged, and innovation pursued
• Work with the Executive Team to 'scenarioplan' for longer term organisation design thinking and systems thinking

Develop and engage the business in acompelling and ethical Organisational Design vision that enables theorganisation to achieve its mission

• Develop OD frameworks for the businessand embed the operating model and deliver improvements in org efficiency andeffectiveness, by using organisation design theories to create designprinciples fit for purpose.
• I mplement and manage effective governanceto support evolution of OD and control changes to organisation structures.
• Evaluate, and where appropriate changethe underlying processes, organisational principles, org structure and rolesand responsibilities to ensure they are effective in delivering the businessmission and strategy
• Understand how information and data flowsthrough the organisation; and effectively facilitate decision making andachieve higher level of performance
• Support the redesigning of job framework,role profiles and capability frameworks

Employee Experience

• Lead and support the Employee Experienceteam, by ensuring that employee work lifecycle process is seamless; theseinclude onboarding programs to daily queries.

Transformation, Equity and Belonging

• Leading and bean ambassador of our Transformation, Equity and Belonging initiatives andstrategy
• Collaboratewith BPs and Talent Head, to craft and mobilise strategic direction to help ourBUs to drive strategies that operationalize our TEB efforts
• Draft andreport on our TEB plan and progress
• Help WFS drivean open and inclusive culture where employees have a strong sense of belonging,and feel empowered to be high performers

LeadershipDevelopment & Culture

• Collaborate and support the Headof Talent and Learnership to design leadership competency models that arealigned with organizational design frameworks and deliver skilled and effectiveleaders and employees
• Collaborate with Head of Talent& Learning to co-create and implement leadership programmes that enforcethe right culture and affirm the right leadership competencies for our intendedculture
• Collaborate with the Head ofTalent & Learning to integrate talent and performance philosophies thatdrive the intended culture and outcomes

Change Management

• Lead and enablesuccessful enterprise change by developing and executing integrated changemanagement and communication strategies
• Assessorganizational change readiness, change impacts and potential risks
• DevelopIntegrated change plans, roadmaps and implementation approaches
• Provide ChangeReporting for the enterprise
• Partner withkey stakeholders to build sponsorship and ownership of change
• Identify all vendors that supplyservices to the area. Review or draw up SLAs. Track vendor performance againstSLAs and action where appropriate.

People Management

• Manage the full life cycle ofdirect reports viz, Onboarding, KPIs, Performance Management
• Conduct informal coaching withimmediate staff and other stakeholders.
• Role model and reinforce the WFSvalues and ethics

Requirements

Qualifications

• Relevant Honours in HR, Business Science,Organisational or Industrial Psychology

Beneficial

• MBA or MPhil

Experience

Minimum

• Minimum8-10 years, In and OE role
• Minimum 8years Business Partnering / HR Generalist experience
• Minimum 8 - 10 years relevantOrganisational Design, Culture experience with proven track record, preferablyin the Retail/Financial ServicesIndustry
• Experience in managing TEB initiatives
• Extensive and proven experience indeveloping and execution of culture strategies that position us favorably intheindustry
• Experience in delivering organisationaland behavioral changes
• Trackrecord of being a strong and credible influencer

Preferred

• Organisationaldesign, Previous experience at Senior Management level

Additional Requirements

• Ability to operate all levels atof the business (incl executive level)
• Track record of operating at a seniorlevel in a complex business.
• Understanding and experience withinFinancial Services an advantage.

As a proud South African brand, Woolworths Financial Services is committed to transformation.

Meeting our employment equity goals will be taken into account in our recruitment decisions.