Lead Change Manager
Absa Group
Date: 17 hours ago
City: Johannesburg, Gauteng
Contract type: Full time
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 Chief Digital Technology Office's (CDTO) core responsibility is to enable a coordinated digital transformation effort that balances BU autonomy with the Group’s digital ambition, such that digital transformation is done in a cohesive and mutually reinforcing way across BUs and Functions.
The Lead Change Manager plays a pivotal role in driving the human side of digital transformation across the enterprise. This strategic position is responsible for designing, coordinating, and executing integrated change management strategies that ensure the successful implementation, adoption, and sustainability of digital initiatives. The role requires a seasoned professional who is adept at navigating complex organizational structures and capable of championing a digital mindset and new ways of working. The ideal candidate will bring a proven track record of influencing organizational culture, building change capability, and leading teams through large-scale transformations, while aligning people initiatives with business goals and customer value.
Job Description
What you’ll get to do:
The role is within the Strategic Change team in CDTO, with you reporting directly into the Head of Digital Transformation Enablement Office and your responsibilities will include the following:
Change Strategy Development
Education
Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (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
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 Chief Digital Technology Office's (CDTO) core responsibility is to enable a coordinated digital transformation effort that balances BU autonomy with the Group’s digital ambition, such that digital transformation is done in a cohesive and mutually reinforcing way across BUs and Functions.
The Lead Change Manager plays a pivotal role in driving the human side of digital transformation across the enterprise. This strategic position is responsible for designing, coordinating, and executing integrated change management strategies that ensure the successful implementation, adoption, and sustainability of digital initiatives. The role requires a seasoned professional who is adept at navigating complex organizational structures and capable of championing a digital mindset and new ways of working. The ideal candidate will bring a proven track record of influencing organizational culture, building change capability, and leading teams through large-scale transformations, while aligning people initiatives with business goals and customer value.
Job Description
What you’ll get to do:
The role is within the Strategic Change team in CDTO, with you reporting directly into the Head of Digital Transformation Enablement Office and your responsibilities will include the following:
Change Strategy Development
- Design and implement comprehensive, enterprise-wide change management strategies tailored to support the digital transformation roadmap and specific initiatives.
- Perform detailed change impact assessments, stakeholder analyses, and readiness reviews to inform planning and execution.
- Align change strategies with business objectives, culture evolution, and transformation success metrics.
- Identify and manage relationships with key stakeholders across all levels of the organization, including executive sponsors, functional leads, and front-line employees.
- Develop and execute structured engagement plans to foster ownership, address concerns, and build trust and transparency.
- Create and deploy engaging communication campaigns across multiple channels (e.g., townhalls, newsletters, intranet, videos) that clearly articulate the "why," "what," and "how" of the transformation.
- Lead initiatives that cultivate a digital-first mindset and embed agility, collaboration, and continuous learning into the organizational culture.
- Design and roll out training programs, upskilling pathways, and change agent networks to build internal change capabilities and foster resilience.
- Facilitate workshops, leadership sessions, and innovation labs that drive alignment and accelerate cultural change.
- Partner with program managers, product owners, HR, L&D, and IT to integrate change management into project lifecycles.
- Develop tools, resources, and playbooks to support consistent change delivery and adoption tracking.
- Continuously monitor adoption levels, engagement, and resistance through surveys, feedback loops, and performance metrics; adjust plans as needed.
- Define and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess change effectiveness, including behavior shifts, system usage, and employee sentiment.
- Establish feedback mechanisms to capture lessons learned and drive continuous improvement of change practices.
- Maintain a repository of change assets, frameworks, and success stories to inform future initiatives.
- Proactively attract, recruit, develop, retain, reward & deploy a diverse resource base aligned to an ever-evolving environment
- Build a high-performance team environment through self-directed teams by driving performance management & measurement that is aligned with agile working practices
- Accountable for the right people in the right teams to deliver on our strategy
- Commerce or business administration, compulsory
- PROSCI (Professional and Sciences) (or other recognized OCM) certification, compulsory
- Minimum 8 years’ Experience
- Previous People Management experience
- Coaching and Mentoring Experience, compulsory
- Experience working at change consultant level on projects in a multi-functional organisation, compulsory
- Experience in project managing change initiatives or other relevant business experience, compulsory
- Expertise in Benefits Management
- Expertise in Business process improvement
- Expertise in Knowledge of Banking and Financial Services Business
- Expertise in Organizational Change Management
- Expertise in Stakeholder Management
- Familiarity with digital productivity and collaboration tools such as Miro, Microsoft Viva, SharePoint, O365, Workday, and ServiceNow.
- Strategic thinking and systems orientation
- Empathy, emotional intelligence, and active listening
- Influencing and communication excellence
- Adaptability, grit, and resilience in ambiguity
- Project management and change delivery discipline
- Innovation and continuous learning mindset
Education
Bachelor`s Degrees and Advanced Diplomas: Business, Commerce and Management Studies (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
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