Head Human Capital Service Management

Empowering Africa’s tomorrow, together…one story at a time.

Job Summary

The Head Human Capital Service Management provides strategic leadership for the design, governance, and optimisation of the Human Capital (HC) service delivery ecosystem across all markets and business units. The role is accountable for defining and governing the enterprise-wide Human Capital Services (HCS) model, ensuring that every HC service — from transactional processes to advisory support — is digitally enabled, data-driven, scalable, and experience-led. Within this context, accountable for architecting service standards, governance structures, automation capabilities, and experience frameworks that embed operational excellence, human-centered design, and continuous improvement at scale, ensuring seamless delivery of HC services to colleagues across Africa.

Job Description

Key Focus Areas

• Design and govern a unified, future-fit HC Service Management model aligned to enterprise strategy.

• Embed operational excellence and service maturity, ensuring consistent quality and reliability across all HC services.

• Leverage digital, data, and automation to transform service delivery and enhance the colleague experience.

• Integrate and collaborate across HC COO, CoEs, CPOs, and Digital/AI teams to ensure end-to-end service alignment.

• Establish governance and performance frameworks for continuous improvement and stakeholder satisfaction.

• Develop capability and culture within the service management organisation to enable agility, innovation, and excellence.

Key Accountabilities

1. Strategic Service Management Leadership

• Define and implement the Human Capital Service Delivery Strategy, aligning with the HC and business strategic objectives to ensure scalability, standardisation, and responsiveness across Africa.

• Shape and oversee the HC Service Management operating model, ensuring integration across all service delivery channels — digital platforms, shared services, business HR, and CoEs.

• Establish the HC Service Delivery governance framework, setting out service principles, accountability structures, escalation paths, and performance standards.

• Partner with the HC COO to design the future operating ecosystem, incorporating automation, self-service, and AI-driven solutions that improve delivery efficiency and employee empowerment.

• Influence HC leadership forums and Group-wide transformation initiatives to ensure the HC Service model supports the enterprise’s operating model and strategic direction.

2. Operational Excellence and Performance Management

• Set and maintain enterprise-wide service standards (SLAs and KPIs) for quality, timeliness, accuracy, and colleague experience across all HC processes.

• Lead the development of performance dashboards and data analytics tools to monitor service health, track delivery outcomes, and identify improvement opportunities.

• Drive a culture of evidence-based decision-making through data insights, trend analysis, and benchmarking.

• Conduct regular service reviews with CoEs, CPOs, and business stakeholders to assess delivery performance, identify systemic issues, and agree on improvement actions.

• Oversee the service catalogue and ensure clear visibility of available services, service levels, and support mechanisms.

3. Service Experience, Design, and Continuous Improvement

• Embed a customer-centric service philosophy, ensuring the design and delivery of HC services prioritise colleague and manager experiences.

• Introduce design thinking and journey mapping to reimagine HC services, ensuring simplicity, accessibility, and digital convenience.

• Lead a continuous improvement framework (Lean/Six Sigma-inspired) that drives standardisation, process optimisation, and waste elimination across all service streams.

• Establish structured feedback and learning loops to capture service performance data, analyse root causes, and implement systemic improvements.

• Collaborate with the HC Digital and AI teams to identify and deploy automation and self-service tools that simplify transactions and enhance user experience.

4. Service Governance, Compliance, and Risk Management

• Define and maintain the HC Service Governance Framework, ensuring service policies, standards, and procedures are clearly articulated, documented, and embedded.

• Implement a knowledge management system that ensures all process documentation, FAQs, and service guides are accurate, current, and accessible.

• Monitor compliance with regulatory, legal, and policy requirements across all HC services, ensuring effective risk controls are in place.

• Manage and resolve high-impact escalations, ensuring timely resolution and stakeholder confidence in service responsiveness.

• Partner with audit and compliance teams to ensure alignment with internal and external assurance requirements.

5. Digital and Data Enablement

• Partner with HC Digital, Data, and AI Leads to leverage technology, analytics, and automation to drive service efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.

• Oversee the integration of ServiceNow, Workday, and other related platforms to create a seamless service experience and ensure system interoperability.

• Define the data governance standards for service performance reporting and workforce metrics, ensuring reliability and integrity.

• Drive adoption of predictive analytics and AI-powered service insights to proactively identify issues, forecast trends, and improve service delivery outcomes.

• Champion self-service and digital enablement, ensuring employees and managers have access to intuitive, mobile-friendly, and real-time service tools.

6. Leadership, Capability, and Culture

• Build and lead a high-performing HC Service Management team with the right technical, analytical, and service delivery capabilities.

• Promote a culture of operational excellence, accountability, and innovation, empowering teams to identify and implement improvements.

• Develop a structured capability uplift programme to enhance service management, automation, and analytics competencies across the function.

• Serve as a strategic advisor and integrator across the HC COO, CoEs, and CPOs, ensuring alignment between functional excellence and business delivery.

• Foster collaboration, inclusion, and shared accountability across geographically dispersed teams to deliver consistent HC experiences across Africa.

Knowledge and Skills Required

Strategic and Conceptual

• Deep understanding of Service Management, Operating Models, and Organisational Design, ideally within large, complex, multi-country enterprises.

• Strong systems thinking and design orientation to align processes, technology, and people for end-to-end service integration.

• Ability to translate business and people strategies into scalable, efficient, and user-focused HC delivery frameworks.

Technical and Functional

• Proven expertise in Service Management frameworks (ITIL, Lean, Six Sigma, or similar).

• Experience with digital HR platforms (Workday, ServiceNow, etc.) and automation technologies.

• Strong capability in data analytics, dashboard design, and KPI governance.

• Understanding of AI and digital workflow enablement to enhance employee experience and process optimisation.

• Solid grounding in HR operations, compliance, and risk management across multiple jurisdictions.

Leadership and Interpersonal

• Demonstrated ability to lead large, geographically dispersed teams through change and transformation.

• Influential communicator with strong stakeholder management and facilitation skills.

• Proven success in establishing governance, process ownership, and accountability frameworks at enterprise level.

• Ability to foster collaboration across functional and business boundaries.

Future-Fit Capabilities

• Digital fluency and readiness to adopt emerging technologies in service delivery.

• Data-driven decision-making mindset and comfort with analytical insights.

• Customer-centric and design-led problem solving.

• Commitment to continuous learning, inclusion, and innovation.

Qualifications and Experience

• Post Graduate Degree in Human Resources, Business or related field (NQF8)

• Master’s degree in Business, Operations Management, Human Resources, or Digital Transformation (preferred).

• 12–15+ years’ experience in service management, HR operations, or business service delivery, with at least 5 years in a strategic leadership role.

• Proven experience leading large-scale service transformation and digital enablement programs.

Education

Bachelor Honours Degree: Human Resources Management, Postgraduate Degrees and Professional Qualifications: Business Management

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