Head, Digital & Change Enablement

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. My Career Development Portal : Wherever you are in your career, we are here for you. Design your future. Discover leading-edge guidance, tools and support to unlock your potential. You are Absa. You are possibility. Job Summary The role is responsible for leading the Bank's digital transformation and enterprise change agenda by translating business strategy into a prioritised portfolio of digital, process and organisational change initiatives. The role provides strategic oversight of digital delivery, change enablement, enterprise architecture and business adoption, ensuring that investments are aligned to the Bank's objectives, governed effectively and deliver measurable customer, colleague, financial and operational benefits. It also drives innovation, process simplification and the responsible use of emerging technologies, while ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, risk frameworks and internal standards • Own and coordinate the Bank-wide digital transformation and strategic change portfolio. • Provide oversight of change enablement, organizational readiness, adoption and benefits realization. • Provide strategic direction for enterprise architecture and alignment of technology investments. • Partner with executive leaders, business functions, Technology, Risk, Finance and external stakeholders. • Promote customer-centric simplification, automation, innovation and data-informed decision-making. Job Description Key Accountabilities Digital Strategy & Transformation Translate the Bank’s strategy into a coherent, multi-year digital transformation roadmap with clear outcomes, priorities, dependencies and measures of success. Lead the identification, assessment and prioritization of opportunities to digitize customer and colleague journeys, simplify processes, automate work and improve service delivery. Partner with business executives and product owners to shape digital propositions and ensure transformation initiatives address defined customer or business needs. Ensure digital initiatives are aligned to Group and ARO strategic platforms, architecture principles and relevant local market requirements. Monitor external developments, customer expectations and emerging technologies, and recommend practical opportunities that strengthen competitiveness, resilience or efficiency. Promote a digital-first, customer-centered and outcome-focused culture across the organisation. Strategic Change Portfolio and PMO Governance Establish and maintain an integrated view of the strategic change portfolio, including scope, investment, milestones, risks, dependencies, capacity and expected benefits. Lead portfolio prioritisation and sequencing based on strategic alignment, customer value, regulatory need, risk, affordability, capacity and return on investment. Define and maintain fit-for-purpose portfolio and project governance standards in line with approved Absa methodologies and local governance requirements. Provide transparent portfolio reporting and decision support to executive and governance forums, highlighting delivery confidence, exceptions, trade-offs and required interventions. Ensure sponsors, accountable executives, programme managers and project managers have clear mandates, decision rights and escalation routes. Challenge underperforming or low-value initiatives and recommend corrective action, re-scoping, re-prioritisation, pause or closure where appropriate. Facilitate effective management of cross-programme dependencies, resource constraints and competing priorities. Change Enablement, Adoption & Business Readiness Define the Bank’s enterprise change enablement approach, including stakeholder engagement, communication, training, readiness, adoption and reinforcement. Ensure each material change has a proportionate change impact assessment and an approved plan for business readiness and adoption. Partner with leaders and change sponsors to build visible sponsorship, manage resistance and embed accountability for adoption within affected business areas. Oversee readiness assessments before implementation and ensure material people, process, policy, control and capability gaps are addressed. Monitor adoption and usage after implementation and coordinate interventions where intended ways of working are not being embedded. Build change capability through practical standards, coaching, communities of practice and knowledge transfer. Enterprise Architecture & Technology Investment Alignment Provide strategic direction for enterprise architecture, ensuring business, data, application, integration, infrastructure and security architecture support the Bank’s strategy. Ensure proposed investments and solution designs are assessed against approved architecture principles, standards, roadmaps and strategic technology platforms. Promote re-use, interoperability, simplification and rationalisation to reduce unnecessary complexity, duplication and long-term operating cost. Oversee architecture governance and ensure material exceptions, technical debt and lifecycle risks are explicitly assessed, approved and tracked. Partner with Technology, Information Security, Risk and business leaders to ensure solutions are scalable, resilient, secure and fit for purpose. Maintain visibility of the target-state architecture and the transition roadmaps required to move from current to future state. Benefits Realisation & Value Management Embed a consistent benefits realisation framework covering benefit definition, ownership, baseline, target, measurement method, timing and validation. Ensure business cases contain credible financial and non-financial outcomes, clear assumptions, delivery costs and accountable benefit owners. Monitor planned and realised benefits across the change portfolio and provide transparent reporting on value delivered, delayed or at risk. Partner with Finance and business owners to validate benefit baselines, actual outcomes and return on investment. Ensure post-implementation reviews identify lessons, confirm outcomes and drive corrective action where value has not been realised. Use delivery and benefits insights to inform future prioritisation and investment decisions. Innovation, Automation & Continuous Improvement Establish a structured mechanism to capture, assess, test and scale ideas that address customer, control, cost, revenue or colleague experience opportunities. Promote responsible experimentation with automation, analytics, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies within approved risk and governance frameworks. Lead end-to-end process redesign and simplification, focusing on removal of manual steps, duplication, avoidable hand-offs and failure demand. Ensure pilots have defined hypotheses, success measures, controls and clear decisions on scaling, revising or stopping. Create channels for colleagues and cross-functional teams to contribute ideas and share lessons from transformation initiatives. Build partnerships with Group teams, suppliers, fintechs and industry participants where these can accelerate strategic outcomes. Risk, Control, Regulatory & Delivery Assurance Ensure transformation and change activity complies with applicable laws, regulations, internal policies, change standards, architecture requirements and risk appetite. Maintain effective oversight of strategic, operational, technology, cyber, data, conduct, third-party and delivery risks arising from the change portfolio. Ensure appropriate stage gates, assurance reviews, risk acceptances, testing, implementation readiness and post-implementation controls are completed. Escalate material risks, issues, control weaknesses, cost pressures and delivery exceptions promptly to the appropriate governance forum. Ensure audit, regulatory and assurance findings relating to the function are addressed through sustainable and evidenced remediation. Promote a culture in which delivery pace is balanced with customer protection, operational resilience and effective control. Financial, Commercial & Supplier Management Coordinate preparation and management of the digital and strategic change investment plan in partnership with Finance and accountable business owners. Ensure investment decisions are supported by clear business cases, affordability assessments, delivery estimates and expected outcomes. Monitor portfolio expenditure, forecasts, commitments and variances, and drive timely corrective action where required. Provide strategic input into sourcing decisions and ensure supplier engagements support architecture, delivery, value and control objectives. Hold delivery partners and suppliers accountable for agreed outcomes, quality, timelines, cost and knowledge transfer, working through approved Procurement and Vendor Management processes. Promote efficient use of internal capability, strategic platforms and existing assets before committing to additional investment. Stakeholder Leadership & Executive Governance Act as a trusted adviser to the Chief Information & Enablement Officer and executive stakeholders on digital transformation, strategic change and enterprise architecture matters. Build strong relationships across Business, Technology, Operations, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Procurement, People and Culture, Group and ARO teams. Chair or contribute to relevant portfolio, change, architecture and investment governance forums as delegated. Communicate complex transformation matters in clear business language, enabling timely decisions and shared accountability. Influence senior stakeholders to resolve conflicts, remove barriers and sustain commitment to agreed transformation outcomes. Represent the Bank in relevant Group, regulatory, supplier or industry engagements where required. People Leadership & Capability Provide clear strategic direction, priorities and performance expectations for the Digital and Change Enablement function and associated delivery community. Lead, coach and develop direct reports and matrix teams, creating an inclusive, accountable and high-performance environment. Define capability requirements across portfolio management, project delivery, change management, business analysis, architecture, innovation and benefits realisation. Build succession, resilience and knowledge continuity for critical roles and specialist capabilities. Role / Person Specification Education & Professional Qualifications Bachelor’s degree from a recognized university in Business, Technology, Engineering, Economics, Finance or a related discipline. Postgraduate qualifications in Business Administration, Digital Transformation, Change Leadership, Technology Management or a related field would be advantageous. Relevant professional certification in Programme or project management, such as PMP, PRINCE2 or MSP. Relevant certification or demonstrated practitioner capability in change management, enterprise architecture, agile delivery, process improvement or business analysis would be advantageous. Experience Required A minimum of 10 years’ relevant experience across digital transformation, strategic change, programme delivery, technology or business transformation, with substantial leadership accountability. Demonstrated experience leading a portfolio of complex, cross-functional change initiatives in a regulated financial services or similarly complex environment. Proven ability to translate strategy into executable roadmaps, prioritised investments and measurable business outcomes. Experience in organisational change, stakeholder adoption, business readiness and benefits realisation. Experience overseeing enterprise architecture or technology investment governance and working with senior technology and business leaders. Strong commercial and financial management experience, including business cases, portfolio investment, budgeting, forecasting and supplier oversight. Experience engaging executive committees, governance forums, regulators, auditors, Group stakeholders and external partners. Proven people leadership, coaching and capability-building experience across multidisciplinary or matrix teams Education Bachelor's Degree: Information Technology