Senior Behavioural Economist

nedbank; Johannesburg; On-site; ZAR 800 000 - 1 200 000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial services provider in Johannesburg is seeking a Senior Behavioural Economist to drive positive behaviour change among clients and staff. You will lead research, design behavioural interventions, and guide cross-functional teams in decision-making. The ideal candidate has over 7 years of experience in behavioural science, especially within financial services. This hybrid position offers an opportunity to create value through data-driven insights while mentoring junior team members in a dynamic environment.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience applying behavioural science within financial services.
• Demonstrated experience designing and evaluating behavioural interventions.
• Experience running RCTs/A/B tests at scale.

Responsibilities

• Lead qualitative and quantitative diagnostic research to identify client behaviours.
• Develop structured behavioural intervention frameworks and implementation roadmaps.
• Produce strategic insights that inform decision-making.

Skills

Behavioural economics

Quantitative research

Stakeholder influence

Data interpretation

Project management

Education

Professional Qualifications/Honour’s Degree

Master’s degree in related field

Tools

Excel

STATA

SPSS

Job description

Cluster: Personal and Private Banking (Product Design and Innovation - PDI)

Hybrid

Job Family

Finance

Strategic

Manage Others

Job Purpose

To drive positive behaviour change among clients and staff, while helping our clients make better money choices by leveraging behavioural science to design, evaluate, and implement scalable solutions. Your role as a Senior Behavioural Economist is to lead a portfolio of activities to realise our intent of creating value through positive behaviour change at an individual level. This includes harnessing your deep behavioural expertise, strategic advisory capability, translating insights into actionable business recommendations, and guiding cross functional teams, while contributing to data driven decision-making.

Job Responsibilities

Behavioural Research & Diagnosis

• Define and prioritise target client behaviours with business units.
• Conduct literature reviews to contextualise behavioural barriers and opportunities.
• Lead qualitative and quantitative diagnostic research (interviews, field research, behavioural mapping).
• Identify psychological frictions, biases, and contextual factors shaping client behaviour.
• Translate behavioural diagnoses into clear problem statements, hypotheses, and recommended interventions.

Behavioural Intervention Design & Testing

• Design behavioural solutions using behavioural economics principles and applied behavioural models.
• Develop structured behavioural intervention frameworks and implementation roadmaps.
• Support and guide data teams in exploring behavioural datasets to quantify patterns and validate hypotheses.
• Lead the design and execution of experiments (RCTs, A/B tests, quasi experiments).
• Develop clear, persuasive communications that drive behaviour change.

Strategic Reporting & Insights

• Produce strategic insights and management reports that inform decision-making.
• Contribute to divisional strategy by identifying trends, emerging behavioural opportunities, and optimisation gaps.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Governance

• Package research and experiment insights into compelling, senior ready presentations.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships across Nedbank.
• Represent the BE Unit as a trusted advisor through proactive engagement and thought leadership.
• Ensure alignment of behavioural projects with Nedbank strategy, policies, and risk governance standards.
• Shape cross functional collaboration to ensure seamless delivery of behavioural projects.

People Leadership & Team Effectiveness

• Mentor and coach junior team members in behavioural research and scientific thinking.
• Encourage innovation, experimentation, and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Contribute to recruitment, onboarding, and team capability development.

Operational Excellence

• Support continuous improvement initiatives within the BE Unit.
• Maintain structured project documentation, processes, and quality standards.
• Contribute to knowledge management, capability building and internal behavioural science community practices.

Essential Qualifications - NQF Level

• Professional Qualifications/Honour’s Degree

Preferred Qualification

• Master’s degree in related field

Minimum Experience Level

• 7+ years of experience applying behavioural science within financial services
• Demonstrated experience designing and evaluating behavioural interventions.
• Quantitative research methodologies (Excel, STATA, SPSS, or similar data analysis software)
• Qualitative research (survey design, interview question design, experience with Qualtrics or equivalent)
• Experience running RCTs/A/B tests at scale.
• Behavioural analytics and data interpretation (Martech, Adobe Analytics)
• Project management principles (AGILE, Waterfall, or other methodologies)
• Stakeholder influence & communication
• Financial services consumer behaviour (including users, service providers, and delivery channels)

Advantageous:

• Experience influencing senior stakeholders and embedding behavioural insights in product or strategy.
• Proficiency in leveraging AI tools and technologies to enhance productivity and building agents

Technical / Professional Knowledge

• Business administration and management
• Change management
• Client service management
• Diversity management
• Governance, Risk and Controls
• Principles of project management
• Strategic planning
• Aligning Performance for Success
• Building Partnerships
• Guiding Team Success
• Business Acumen
• Guiding Team Success
• Building partnerships
• Planning and Organizing

For assistance please contact the Nedbank Recruiting Team at [phone]

Nedbank Ltd Reg No 1951/000009/06.
Authorised financial services and registered credit provider (NCRCP16).