Job Description

Job Family

Human Resources

Career Stream

Learning & Development

Leadership Pipeline

Manage Managers

Job Purpose

To lead the design and implementation of one or more functional academies within the Shared Services HR Hub, ensuring that employees and leaders develop the professional, technical, commercial, digital and leadership capabilities required to deliver the strategy of their functions.

The role acts as a senior capability partner to functional leadership and is accountable for converting business strategy, workforce plans, professional standards and future-skills requirements into coherent academy strategies, capability frameworks, curricula, development pathways and applied learning experiences.

The role does not operate as a training coordinator or administrator. It provides strategic capability consulting, academy leadership and portfolio oversight, while working with central learning operations, digital platforms, subject-matter experts and external partners to enable delivery at scale.

Job Responsibilities

Functional Capability Diagnosis

• Develops a clear understanding of functional strategy, operating model, workforce profile, standards and performance priorities.
• Identifies current and future capability requirements through engagement with executives, subject-matter experts, HR Business Partners, workforce planning teams and employees.
• Uses workforce analytics, skills data, performance information, risk findings, audit outcomes, succession data and business insight to identify material capability gaps.
• Distinguishes learning needs from issues requiring organisation change, process redesign, clearer expectations or other management interventions.
• Provides leaders with an evidence-based view of capability strengths, risks and investment priorities.

Academy Strategy and Architecture

• Develops and maintains the academy strategy for the relevant function or portfolio.
• Translates capability frameworks into curricula, learning pathways, professional journeys and role-based proficiency expectations.
• Ensures academy architecture addresses technical, professional, commercial, risk, digital, leadership and behavioural capability.
• Creates differentiated pathways for new entrants, experienced professionals, specialists, managers, senior leaders and successors.
• Aligns academy design to career pathways, internal mobility, accreditation, critical talent pipelines and enterprise learning standards.

Strategic Learning Solution Design

• Determines the most appropriate development response for each prioritised capability requirement, rather than defaulting to formal training.
• Designs blended, applied learning solutions such as workplace assignments, simulations, coaching, mentoring, peer learning, digital learning, expert sessions and structured career experiences.
• Embeds learning close to the flow of work so employees can apply knowledge and skills to real business challenges.
• Partners with subject-matter experts to convert technical and professional expertise into scalable, quality learning assets.
• Ensures learning journeys are inclusive, accessible and relevant to different experience and capability levels.

Executive and Stakeholder Partnership

• Acts as a senior capability advisor to functional executives, leadership teams and Strategic HR Business Partners.
• Facilitates strategic discussions on future skills, capability health, professional development, succession readiness and workforce transformation.
• Challenges learning requests that lack a clear business, performance or capability need.
• Secures executive sponsorship, subject-matter expert input and leadership accountability for academy success.
• Builds relationships with professional bodies, universities, industry partners and specialist providers where external capability or accreditation is required.

Job Responsibilities Continue

Future Skills and Workforce Transformation

• Assesses how artificial intelligence, automation, digitalisation, regulation and changing service models affect roles and capability requirements.
• Partners with workforce planning and functional leadership to define reskilling and upskilling pathways for workforce transition.
• Identifies capabilities to build internally, access through partnerships, acquire through recruitment or enable through alternative workforce models.
• Ensures academies prepare employees for future role requirements while supporting digital, data and artificial intelligence fluency within appropriate risk, control and ethical standards.

Leadership and Talent Pipeline Development

• Works with functional leaders and talent teams to strengthen succession pipelines for critical professional and leadership roles.
• Translates talent review outcomes into targeted development journeys for successors, high-potential employees and scarce-skill populations.
• Develops transition pathways for employees moving into specialist, leadership or cross-functional roles.
• Supports progression of diverse and underrepresented talent into critical roles and monitors whether development improves succession readiness, mobility and talent availability.

Academy Portfolio Governance

• Maintains a prioritised academy roadmap, investment plan and delivery portfolio for supported functions.
• Keeps academy activity aligned to strategic priorities and prevents fragmentation from uncoordinated business requests.
• Defines requirements for learning operations, technology, content production, facilitation and external expertise, while holding delivery partners accountable for quality and outcomes.
• Keeps academy content current, credible and aligned with strategy, professional practice, technology and regulation.
• Identifies opportunities to reuse, standardise or scale learning assets across functions where this creates enterprise value without weakening functional relevance.

Impact and Capability Measurement

• Establishes baseline capability measures, expected outcomes and evaluation methods for academy interventions.
• Evaluates proficiency, workplace application and business impact using measures such as speed to proficiency, accreditation, succession readiness, mobility, productivity, quality, risk reduction and stakeholder confidence.
• Uses impact data to refine priorities, redesign interventions and advise leaders on areas requiring further attention.
• Provides concise, decision-relevant capability reporting to functional executives and academy governance forums.

Capability Community and Knowledge Stewardship

• Creates communities of practice that help professional employees share insight, solve problems and strengthen capability collectively.
• Encourages senior specialists and leaders to act as teachers, mentors, coaches and stewards of functional capability.
• Captures and transfers critical institutional knowledge where there are succession risks, scarce skills or dependence on a small number of experts.
• Strengthens the link between learning, knowledge management, professional practice and business performance.

Preferred Qualification

• A relevant degree in Human Resources, Education, Industrial Psychology, Organisational Psychology, Business Management or a related field is essential.
• An Honours degree or relevant postgraduate qualification would be advantageous.
• Relevant professional accreditation in learning, instructional design, coaching, talent or a functional profession would be advantageous.

Minimum Experience Level

• At least 8–10+ years of experience in learning strategy, capability development, academy design, talent development, professional education or a related field.
• Experience consulting to senior stakeholders and translating complex business or professional requirements into capability strategies.
• Experience supporting specialist, governance, professional or shared services functions would be advantageous.
• Experience designing functional academies, career pathways or large-scale capability programmes would be advantageous.

Technical / Professional Knowledge

• Capability diagnostics and skills analysis
• Functional academy strategy and architecture
• Curriculum and learning pathway design
• Adult learning and applied learning methodologies
• Strategic workforce planning and future-skills analysis
• Talent, succession and career development
• Digital learning and learning technology
• Capability measurement and impact evaluation
• Executive consulting and stakeholder influence
• Professional accreditation and external learning partnerships
• Strong commercial and business acumen

Behavioural Competencies

• Decision Making
• Business Acumen
• Building Talent
• Curiosity in Action
• Planning and Organizing
• Building Partnerships

Please contact the Nedbank Recruiting Team at +27 860 555 566