Lead: Organisation Design Change

absa; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Job summary

Absa Bank Limited in South Africa seeks a senior leader to drive large-scale organisation design, transformation programmes and change enablement. You will translate strategy into roadmaps, manage stakeholder engagement, and embed new operating models with disciplined governance to deliver sustainable outcomes.

You will lead cross-functional teams, monitor adoption, and collaborate with Human Capital, business and transformation groups to ensure readiness and alignment with strategic objectives.

Qualifications

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]
• 12 - 15 years experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank, including a track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.
• Experience should include leading organisation design, transformation, change enablement or corporate practice development initiatives, with exposure to senior stakeholder management and cross-functional delivery.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead large-scale organisation design and transformation programmes by translating strategic design intent into implementation roadmaps, transition plans, milestones and change adoption outcomes.
• Develop organisation design change enablement strategies and transition plans to transform and materialize Group Operating Model, future Design and Workforce design transitions, aligned to stakeholder impacts, business readiness, leadership alignment, communication requirements and adoption risks.
• Enable the embedment of organisation design frameworks including revised naming conventions and accountability architecture to enable role clarity and governance.
• Coordinate readiness activities across impacted business units and functions to support successful implementation and business continuity.
• Lead readiness assessments and impact analyses to determine implications for structures, roles and governance.
• Establish readiness frameworks, measures and dashboards to assess organisational preparedness and track adoption progress.

Skills

Strategic Thinking

Change Management

Business Transformation

Executive stakeholder engagement

Programme and dependency management

Leadership

Adaptability

Delivering Results

Creativity and Innovation

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Human Resources Management

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business Administration

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 Lead large-scale organisation and transformation programmes by translating strategic design intent into implementation roadmaps, transition plans, milestones and change adoption outcomes. Develop organisation design change enablement strategies and transition plans to transform and materialize Group Operating Model, future Design and Workforce design transitions, aligned to stakeholder impacts, business readiness, leadership alignment, communication requirements and adoption risks. To Enable and support the embedment of organisation design frameworks including revised naming conventions and accountability architecture, to enable role clarity, decision rights, interaction models and organisational accountabilities through effective change management. Lead the development of transformational change plans that support cross-functional delivery, dependency management and implementation discipline, while monitoring risks, issues and adoption effectiveness to embed sustainable organisation design changes across the business.

Job Description

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Organisation Design Change Advisory & Impact Management:

• Provide specialist advisory support on the organisational, workforce, leadership, cultural and behavioural implications of organisation design, operating model and structural changes.
• Translate organisation design outcomes into actionable change requirements, stakeholder considerations, capability implications, adoption priorities and implementation dependencies.
• Lead readiness assessments and impact analyses to determine implications for structures, roles, accountabilities, capabilities, governance forums and ways of working.
• Identify organisational risks, dependencies, change saturation points and barriers to successful adoption, recommending mitigation actions and targeted interventions.

• Enable the embedment of organisation design frameworks, standards and practices, including revised naming conventions and accountability architecture, to clarify roles, decision rights, interfaces and organisational accountabilities.

• Ensure change considerations are integrated throughout the organisation design lifecycle and aligned with parallel transformation programmes to improve implementation success and long-term sustainability.

Change Strategy, Planning & Business Readiness:

• Support large-scale organisation design and transformation programmes by translating strategic design intent into structured implementation roadmaps, phases, milestones and measurable adoption outcomes.
• Develop change enablement strategies and transition plans aligned to stakeholder impacts, business readiness, leadership alignment, communication requirements and adoption risks.
• Establish readiness frameworks, measures and dashboards to assess organisational preparedness and track adoption progress.

• Coordinate readiness activities across impacted business units, functions and stakeholder groups to support successful implementation and business continuity.
• Develop implementation and change plans that enable organisation design frameworks to be adopted and embedded into governance, role architecture, naming conventions, accountability structures and day-to-day ways of working.
• Monitor readiness, adoption risks and capability gaps, recommending targeted interventions to address resistance, transition challenges and dependency risks.

Executive Alignment & Stakeholder Engagement:

• Partner with executives and senior leaders to build alignment, sponsorship and commitment to organisation design initiatives.
• Facilitate stakeholder engagement activities that promote shared understanding and alignment of design intent, business outcomes and implementation priorities.
• Coach leaders to effectively lead organisational change, manage stakeholder impacts and reinforce desired behaviours and ways of working.
• Develop engagement approaches that foster collaboration, transparency and accountability across impacted stakeholder groups.
• Build trusted relationships across Human Capital, business and transformation teams to enable successful adoption of organisation design outcomes.

Change Adoption, Communication & Implementation Support:

• Develop and coordinate change support plans that address stakeholder impacts, business readiness, leadership alignment, communication requirements, learning needs and adoption risks.

• Provide project support across organisation design initiatives by coordinating cross-functional teams, tracking deliverables, managing dependencies and supporting resource, timeline and budget discipline.
• Develop targeted communication and engagement strategies that translate organisation design outcomes into compelling, practical and actionable change narratives.

• Coordinate change-related deliverables, stakeholder activities and implementation dependencies across organisation design initiatives to support effective programme execution, delivery discipline and business readiness.
• Align communication, learning, leadership enablement and transition activities to support business readiness, adoption and minimise business disruption.

• Support programme governance through implementation reporting, stakeholder insights and escalation of risks, issues and dependencies requiring intervention.

Change Governance, Measurement & Continuous Improvement:

• Establish change governance and reporting mechanisms to monitor readiness, adoption, implementation effectiveness and alignment with programme milestones.

• Monitor implementation effectiveness, surface risks and issues, and support interventions that embed sustainable organisation design changes across the business.
• Use analytics, dashboards and stakeholder feedback to monitor implementation effectiveness, organisational health indicators, risks, issues and adoption outcomes, recommending interventions to embed sustainable organisation outcomes across the business.

• Evaluate the effectiveness of change interventions through adoption measures, feedback loops, readiness reviews and post-implementation assessments.
• Conduct sustainability reviews to assess whether organisation design outcomes are embedded into routines, decision rights, governance forums and ways of working.
• Capture lessons learned and contribute to the development of enterprise methodologies, toolkits, standards and best practices for organisation design change and implementation enablement.

Education/ Qualification:

• Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]

Work Experience:

• 12 - 15 years experience in a specific capability of importance to the bank, including a track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.

• Experience should include leading organisation design, transformation, change enablement or corporate practice development initiatives, with exposure to senior stakeholder management and cross-functional delivery.

• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making is preferred.

COMPETENCIES:

Leadership Competencies

• Strategic Thinking
• Strategic Change Management
• Business Transformation
• Business Acumen
• Communication
• Influence
• Leadership
• Creativity and Innovation
• Delivering Results
• Adaptability
• Collaboration

Knowledge and Skills:

• Business planning and roadmap development

• Change impact assessment and business readiness planning
• Change governance, adoption measurement and reporting

• Change programme design and delivery
• Organisation design and operating model change enablement
• Executive stakeholder engagement and leadership alignment

• Programme and dependency management

Education

Bachelor's Degree: Human Resources Management (Required), Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business Administration (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