Chief Talent and Capability Officer — Corporate Bank

The mandate

A privately held bank is finding that the same scarce specialists are expected to modernise the corporate franchise and maintain daily client service. Workforce plans describe headcount but not deployable proficiency; internal candidates wait for experience while contractors occupy the work that would provide it. The investment plan will stall unless capability becomes an owned supply system rather than a collection of courses.

The Chief Talent and Capability Officer will influence a corporate bank with approximately A$66,650 million in loans and deposits and lead around 925 employees and material partners. The remit covers workforce capability, executive and critical-role succession, leadership assessment, learning, mobility, talent acquisition, performance and the talent contribution to remediation. It reports to the Group Chief Executive or designated executive committee sponsor.

The appointee will start with demand. Each remediation and investment milestone should reveal the decisions, skills, accreditation and capacity required, where they exist today and when they become available. Generic role families are insufficient for credit judgement, model oversight, data lineage, financial-crime controls and complex-client coverage. Leaders must state the standard of proficiency they will accept and the evidence by which it will be tested.

Supply will then be segmented by response. Some gaps justify external hiring; others need structured experience, redeployment, vendor knowledge transfer or a narrower project sequence. The Officer will compare time, cost, retention and execution risk across these options. Recruitment activity is not success unless the person becomes productive before the dependency constrains delivery.

Supervisory remediation changes the burden of proof. Training completion cannot demonstrate competence on its own. Colleagues should practise consequential decisions, receive observed feedback and show that learning transfers into files, controls and escalation. Independent risk and assurance will agree evidence standards without taking ownership away from business leaders.

Internal mobility is a delivery mechanism. Talent marketplaces often advertise opportunities while managers protect strong performers or candidates lack release cover. The appointee will create transparent selection, dated release commitments and backfill choices for the roles most important to the plan. Moves should broaden judgement without breaking segregation or moving an unresolved performance concern elsewhere.

Leadership depth requires more than succession names. For each pivotal role, the organisation needs the exposures a successor has completed, the decisions still untested and a practical emergency arrangement. Stretch appointments will carry sponsorship, limits and review points. External candidates should be used where the readiness gap cannot close before the risk arrives.

The capability portfolio will be funded like investment. Programmes need a defined business dependency, target population, proficiency measure, adoption owner and continuation gate. Content with strong attendance but no operating consequence should end. Academies can pool design and practice, but local leaders remain accountable for coached application in real work.

Contractors and partners form part of the talent balance sheet. Contracts should identify scarce knowledge, transfer obligations, replacement dates and acceptance evidence. The Officer will prevent extensions becoming the default response to weak planning while protecting delivery where specialist capacity is genuinely temporary.

People data must support forward decisions. Skills claims, vacancies, attrition, learning, mobility and contractor reliance will connect to programme milestones and operational exposure. Privacy and fair use are non-negotiable; leaders receive aggregated evidence sufficient to act without turning development records into ungoverned employee surveillance.

Why this seat is open

This planned replacement allows the incumbent to complete an agreed succession period and structured handover. The board has allowed four to six months for assessment and diligence because continuity matters during remediation, while confidential sequencing protects employees, customers and partners.

What you will own

• Convert remediation and investment milestones into dated capability demand.
• Influence an A$66,650 million corporate-bank perimeter through talent choices.
• Establish verified proficiency for critical control, data, credit and client roles.
• Make build, buy, borrow, redeploy and sequence decisions using complete economics.
• Turn internal mobility into dependable capability supply with manager accountability.
• Lead approximately 925 employees and partners with credible leadership succession.
• Govern academies, recruitment and contractor knowledge transfer through evidence gates.
• Give capital sponsors an early view of capability constraints and alternatives.

The first 12 months

During the first 90 days, reconcile critical-role demand across remediation and investment plans. Meet the 30 stakeholders most consequential to capability supply, including supervisors, risk, programme owners, business leaders, learning partners and employee representatives. Assess the leadership team, identify immediate knowledge dependencies and agree evidence gates with the sponsor.

Months four to nine should launch targeted academies, mobility moves and priority recruitment while retiring activity without a business dependency. Establish observed proficiency for the highest-risk roles and secure knowledge-transfer commitments from material partners. Early value should appear in reduced vacancy age, faster readiness, contractor exits or avoided programme delay.

By year end, capability supply, internal mobility and leadership depth should show repeatable improvement. Delivery must stay within 10% of the approved case and forecasts should reconcile milestones, cash, customer and people assumptions across three quarters. Priority talent risks need independent closure evidence, and serious escalations cannot remain unresolved beyond 30 days.

What the board will measure

• Critical-role demand and verified supply against remediation and investment dates.
• Time from selection to demonstrated proficiency in priority capabilities.
• Internal moves completed on schedule without hidden operational gaps.
• Contractor knowledge transferred and external dependency reduced as planned.
• Retention above 90% for pivotal talent and immediate successors for 70% of direct reports.
• Programme outcomes attributable to capability action rather than course attendance.

The person

You are a Chief Talent Officer, Learning and Capability Head or Deputy CHRO with 22–28 years in banking or a comparable regulated enterprise. You have rebuilt capability supply where supervisory commitments and strategic investment competed for the same people.

Your accountable P&L, book, budget or portfolio has been at least A$38,650 million, and you have led 650 or more people. You can show where capability evidence changed project sequence, hiring or vendor decisions and where results endured across two reporting periods.

You understand corporate banking, regulated competence and the difference between knowledge, observed skill and independent authority. You can persuade executives to release talent, challenge inflated skills inventories and stop popular learning that has no measurable operating effect.

Relevant backgrounds include financial services, payments, lending, insurance and regulated fintech where business consequence and governance are similar. Specialist learning experience without enterprise talent, workforce and executive accountability will not meet the bar.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is A$380,000–500,000 plus annual incentive. The permanent Sydney role follows a hybrid pattern, supports international relocation and can accommodate notice of up to six months.

Confidentiality

The bank, incumbent, supervisory programme and capital sponsors will be identified only after reciprocal interest and a confidentiality undertaking. Scale and operating facts are deliberately composite.