Executive: Business Transformation & Strategic Change

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

The Executive: Business Transformation & Strategic Change is a crucial value enablement role reporting to the Chief Operations Officer (COO). This role focuses on steering strategic change and business transformation within Business Banking. The incumbent will ensure effective project delivery, value realization, people change management, risk handling, and portfolio management aligned with the business's strategic goals. Additionally, the role demands driving business ownership of results and embedding change at the organizational level.
As a Senior Executive in the Absa Business Banking Chief Operations Office, you will excel in commercializing and monetizing strategies with a strong financial acumen. Your ability to leverage digital tools and technology to automate processes and generate commercial value will be paramount. With a focus on efficiency driven by automation, digitization, and cost optimization, you will consistently create demonstrated value for our clients.

Job Description

KEY FOCUS AREAS

• Lead Business Banking’s strategic transformation agenda to achieve future-state ambitions.

• Align the Strategic Initiatives Book of Work (SI BoW) with enterprise priorities for maximum impact.

• Establish robust governance, decision-making, and KPIs to enable insight-led execution and risk management.

• Design scalable frameworks and Centres of Excellence to institutionalize transformation capabilities.

• Champion agile methodologies to drive delivery efficiency and continuous improvement.

• Enable digital and operational model transformation through strategic partnerships and innovation.

• Translate strategic shifts into actionable plans ensuring sustained adoption.

• Collaborate across Exco, Group, and Business Units for cohesive, aligned execution.

• Foster a high-performing, accountable transformation team grounded in agility and excellence.

• Embed a future-focused, customer-centric mindset to drive meaningful, sustainable change.

ACCOUNTABILITIES

Strategy Formulation and Execution

• Align the Strategic Initiatives Book of Work (SI BoW) with Business Banking’s multi-year strategy.

• Translate strategic ambitions into business plans and execution roadmaps.

• Drive enterprise-wide transformation through structured delivery and change management.

• Cascade strategic goals and ensure alignment between business unit vision and functional priorities.

• Develop effective partnerships to enable business performance and sector-wide influence.

• Translate long-term strategic objectives into aligned business plans, execution roadmaps and key milestone measurements for the business area.

• Cascade strategic goals and ensure alignment between business unit vision and functional implementation priorities, setting clear short, medium and long-term milestones.

• Develop effective partnerships to enable business performance and contribute to sector-wide influence aligned with strategic initiatives.

• Respond to emerging policy and regulatory trends by adapting operational strategy and ensuring compliance alignment.

• Coordinate business enablement efforts for Business Banking, ensuring delivery capability across systems, processes, and teams.

• Track execution progress against key strategic initiatives and intervene to correct course where needed.

• Support transformation initiatives through structured programme delivery and change management practices.

• Provide expert advice and support in operating model, strategy, and value chain formulation and delivery alignment.

• Identify practices and technologies that provide competitive advantage and enable knowledge sharing and integration of practice areas.

• Undertake analysis of management and specialist information and guide reporting tool implementation to improve decision-making quality.

Customer Primacy

• Ensure transformation initiatives enhance the end-to-end customer experience.

• Leverage customer insights to shape transformation roadmaps and prioritise investments.

• Represent the voice of the customer in leadership forums to influence strategic priorities.

• Utilise customer data to improve processes and propositions.

• Instil customer-centric decision-making in teams.

• Interpret market and customer insights to inform operational plans and prioritise capability investments.

• Utilise customer data to improve processes and propositions, ensuring measurable customer value delivery.

• Instil customer-centric decision-making in teams, balancing experience and efficiency targets.

• Implement initiatives that improve customer engagement and retention through operational enhancements.

• Coordinate cross-functional initiatives to deliver consistent customer journeys and service quality.

• Represent the voice of the customer within leadership forums to influence service delivery priorities.

• Plan and deliver services that create a culture which aims to exceed customer expectations in all aspects of the business.

• Provide expertise in designing integrated frameworks to embed service excellence.

Sustainable Growth

• Lead the development of growth plans aligned with segment, enterprise, and ESG priorities.

• Partner across Strategy, Technology, and Operations for scalable growth initiatives.

• Monitor growth delivery and align initiative outcomes with financial and customer value targets.

• Evaluate financial and customer returns to ensure business viability.

• Develop business area growth plans aligned to segment and enterprise priorities.

• Work with business partners to define and execute on growth strategies and operational initiatives.

• Mobilise functional teams to deliver growth targets and embed performance accountability.

• Monitor growth delivery, resolving barriers and reinforcing strategic objectives at operational levels.

• Evaluate financial and customer returns on initiatives to ensure alignment with business viability.

• Formulate and develop multi-function operating frameworks that contribute to sustainable growth.

Client-Driven Innovation and Change

• Monitor competitive landscape and identify opportunities to improve products, services, or operations.

• Drive continuous improvement and innovation within the team to enhance customer outcomes.

• Shape client experience initiatives through project ownership and delivery responsibility.

• Lead operational change, ensuring readiness, engagement, and measured impact across delivery teams.

• Influence and communicate across all levels of the business to minimise resistance to change and ensure onboarding of target audiences.

• Scan the external environment to investigate alternative delivery models and offer innovative advice for competitive advantage.

• Drive change management activities across a single value chain for optimal adoption of change.

Leading Talent

• Lead, coach, and empower a high-performing team.

• Build organisational capability in agile delivery, change leadership, and stakeholder engagement.

• Align talent strategies with transformation demands and future readiness.

• Develop workforce capabilities to meet business plan execution requirements.

• Create inclusive team environments that support performance, well-being, and growth.

• Embed people processes and values into business routines, reinforcing a strong leadership culture.

• Develop workforce capabilities to meet business plan execution requirements and future readiness.

• Create inclusive team environments that support performance, wellbeing, and growth.

• Address escalated people issues and ensure application of performance and development processes.

• Develop future leaders through mentorship, stretch assignments, and tailored development experiences.

• Provide expertise and advice in the development and implementation of human capability and accountability frameworks across functions.

• Direct the development and implementation of human capability strategies to support people management priorities.

Operational Effectiveness

• Oversee governance forums, reporting cycles, and dashboards for strategic visibility and risk mitigation.

• Resolve cross-functional delivery barriers for seamless execution across business units.

• Leverage data insights to improve digital enablement, customer outcomes, and execution agility.

• Set financial and resourcing plans to enable business performance and track budgets.

• Represent the business area in operational forums and with delivery partners.

• Operationalise strategic goals into functional plans with clear deliverables, timelines, scorecards with team and individual KPIs to enable effective tracking of business and individual performance.

• Set appropriate financial and other resourcing plans to enable business performance, tracking against budgets and investments for both current and long-term strategic goals.

• Ensure integration across business units by resolving operational friction and dependencies.

• Represent the business area in operational forums and with delivery partners.

• Leverage data insights to improve operational effectiveness and customer outcomes.

• Continuously improve processes for agility, quality, and alignment with customer needs and digital tools.

• Identify problems and formulate alternate solutions to resolve value chain conflicts.

• Provide expert advice on operating model, strategy, value chain formulation, and business controls/governance frameworks.

Digital Adoption

• Execute digital initiatives and promote adoption of technologies that improve efficiency and user experience.

• Monitor digital platform performance and ensure integration with business processes and outcomes.

• Deliberately identify opportunities to digitise, automate, and implement solutions for customer primacy, innovation, and operational effectiveness.

Good Governance, Risk and Compliance

• Implement governance, risk, and compliance frameworks in business processes and team routines.

• Promote risk awareness and lead the response to regulatory changes and emerging issues.

• Support audit readiness and ensure operational teams adhere to compliance requirements.

• Define and consolidate the risk profile for the business unit, manage critical risks, and ensure resolution feedback to stakeholders.

• Enable the development and implementation of integrated corporate governance frameworks in areas of specialisation.

• Influence the implementation of effective internal controls systems and corporate governance practices.

Data Monetisation

• Apply data insights to support business planning and decision-making in the business area.

• Develop mechanisms to ensure data is collected, validated, and used to drive performance improvement.

• Oversee the explicit use of data and its inherent value to explore opportunities and guide decisions.

Stakeholder Management

• Manage relationships with key stakeholders to support aligned delivery and issue resolution.

• Ensure stakeholder expectations are managed and engagement is consistent with transformation priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

Education/ Qualification:
Post Graduate Degree: Honours Degree, Post Graduate Diploma and Professional Qualifications [NQF8]

Field of Study:

• Banking, Business and Commerce
• Organisational Development
• Psychology
• Business Strategy
• Human Capital
• Change Management
• Portfolio and Programme Management

Work Experience:

• 12-15 years’ experience in a capability of critical importance to the bank.
• Track record of 5 years in a people management position in a large enterprise.
• Experience developing integrated customer-centric solutions while managing stakeholders across business areas.
• Exposure to digital transformation and data-driven decision-making.
• Proven success in driving strategy execution, transformation governance, and change capability.

COMPETENCIES

Leadership Competencies:

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

Knowledge and Skills:

• Strong commercialisation and monetisation skills with an affinity for finance
• Digital affinity and dexterity that leverages technology to automate and create commercial value
• Mindset of efficiency driven by automation, digitization, and cost optimisation to create client value
• Strategic business transformation and enterprise change leadership
• Portfolio governance, prioritisation, and execution oversight
• Agile methodologies and change enablement frameworks
• Organisational readiness and change adoption strategies
• Performance tracking, benefits realisation, and value optimisation
• Executive stakeholder engagement and strategic influence
• Digital transformation awareness and adoption of enabling technologies

Education

Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business, Commerce and Management Studies

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