Investec – Where Out of the Ordinary Happens

At Investec, we do things differently. We're a leading international bank and wealth manager built on a culture of curiosity, entrepreneurial spirit and human connection. Ideas are heard, ambition is celebrated, and impact is encouraged. As part of a team that challenges convention and strives for outperformance, you'll help shape bold solutions for clients who expect something more than the ordinary.

We are looking to fill two roles:

1x experience as a Programme Director for a Corporate Bank

1x experience as a Programme Director for a Private Client/ Private Bank

Roles will be a key part of the COO team for Corporate Banking or Private Client & Retail.

What will I be doing?

• Drive portfolio prioritisation and strategic alignment
• Own the prioritisation of programmes and projects across the portfolio, ensuring alignment to strategic objectives, optimal resource allocation, and clear trade-off decisions between competing initiatives
• Actively lead portfolio performance, governance and financial control
• Provide consolidated oversight of portfolio delivery, including financial management, risk and issue trends, and performance against KPIs, ensuring robust governance, transparent reporting, and effective escalation to executive forums
• Lead the mobilisation, and execution of large-scale, multi-stream programmes
• Translates high-level business objectives set by leadership into actionable, coordinated initiatives
• Develop and maintain integrated programme views aligning priorities, sequencing, and interdependencies
• Drive delivery momentum through active engagement, problem solving, and hands-on support
• Foster a high-performance, outcome-driven delivery culture
• Resolves cross-team dependencies, balances limited resources, and mitigates risks that could impact the broader program

Advisory, Enablement & Delivery Support

• Provide hands-on support to stream leads, including facilitation of:
  • Planning sessions
  • Risk and issue discussions
  • Cross-team alignment workshops
• Provide advisory input into:
  • Target operating models
  • Governance structures
  • Programme cadences and delivery rhythms
• Produce informal, decision-support artefacts, including:
  • Options papers and scenario analysis
  • Early-stage thinking and thematic insights
• Support resolution of blockers, clarify ownership, and escalate decisions required to maintain momentum

Operate in a collaborative, transparent, and delivery-focused manner, ensuring:

• Regular stakeholder engagement to maintain:
  • Alignment to priorities
  • Visibility of progress
  • Awareness of risks and issues
• Clear backlog management, ensuring priorities remain aligned to:
  • Business strategy
  • Regulatory requirements
  • Client needs
• Concise, high-quality communication, including:
  • Written updates
  • Verbal briefings
  • Participation in governance forums and leadership sessions
  • Product Managers & Product Owners
  • Delivery Managers
  • Client Enablement leads
    to ensure realistic expectations and prioritised outcomes
• Continuous improvement of programme execution, including:
  • Programme rhythms and cadences
  • Communication flows
  • Stakeholder engagement models
• Strong delivery discipline, working closely with:
  • Product Managers & Product Owners
  • Delivery Managers
  • Client Enablement leads
    to ensure realistic expectations and prioritised outcomes
• Continuous improvement of programme execution, including:
  • Programme rhythms and cadences
  • Communication flows
  • Stakeholder engagement models

Portfolio and Programme Oversight & Control

• Establish pragmatic governance aligned to Investec standards
• Maintain effective RAID management with proactive escalation
• Conduct periodic cross-stream health reviews to identify:
  • Emerging risks
  • Delivery gaps
  • Misalignments
• Provide actionable recommendations to course-correct delivery

Stakeholder Management

• Act as a trusted advisor to senior business, technology, and operations stakeholders
• Support engagement with ExCo and SteerCo through:
  • Executive briefings
  • Progress insights and summaries
• Influence decision-making through clear trade-offs and pragmatic recommendations

Financial & Resource Oversight

• Operate within a time and materials framework, ensuring value delivery and cost discipline
• Support effective allocation of resources across central and federated teams
• Identify efficiency, automation, and cost optimisation opportunities

Team Leadership and Capability Building

• Coach and support programme managers, project managers and delivery leads
• Build sustainable delivery capability through practical engagement. 
• Embed consistent, effective delivery practices.

Core skills, knowledge and experience:

Mandatory Skills and Attributes:

• To act with integrity at all times and to embrace the Consumer Duty Principles and the philosophy of treating our customers fairly (compulsory)
• Regulatory Knowledge as applicable to role (compulsory)
• Coaching & Assessment (compulsory for Managers and Supervisors)

Essential

• Ability to balance competing initiatives and align investment decisions to enterprise strategy, maximising value delivery across the portfolio
• Proven experience delivering complex programmes within a corporate Bank or Private Client environment
• Strong track record in programme shaping, mobilisation, and recovery
• Experience operating in time & materials / advisory delivery environments
• Deep expertise in governance, risk, and stakeholder engagement
• Ability to operate across centralised and federated models
• Strong facilitation, influencing, and problem-solving capability
• Excellent executive presence and gravitas.
• High resilience when managing in-flight change in high-pressure, fast-paced environments.

Leadership Competencies (Investec-Aligned)

• Strategic & Outward-Looking
• Pragmatic & Delivery-Focused
• Collaborative & Influential
• Accountable & Results-Driven
• Adaptive & Resilient

Communication skills

• Excellent communication skills both written and verbal, and an ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
• Ability to build strong relationships across business teams and geographies
• Strong team player who understands and demonstrates the benefits of a collaborative style and approach
• Strong, objective facilitation skills to encourage collaboration, energise, and maintain participation.
• Emotional intelligence to ‘read the room', and the confidence to step in and actively resolve conflict when needed.

Programme Management & Analytical skills

• Significant experience in either a Private bank/ Private client environment or Corporate Bank essential
• Experience delivering large scale, multi-year programmes that impact multiple teams
• Experience of running non-IT related programmes but understanding of how the IT process will work for these projects.
• Awareness of business analysis methodologies, business analysis, facilitation and problem solving
• Sound business case development and approvals skills.
• Working in a matrix management environment (with accountability to the individual projects and wider organisational team)
• Experience with benefits realisation planning and management
• Excellent problem-solving skills

Organisational skills

• Ability to prioritise and manage time while working on multiple projects
• Ability to multitask, work flexibly and work well under pressure
• Ability and willingness to work flexibly to meet deadlines

Facilitation skills

• Ability to obtain consensus within the group; to command respect and to create a sense of community amongst the members of the project teams.
• Experience of facilitation & collaboration tools
• Maintain an objective role & resolve conflict as required

Qualifications

Programme or Portfolio Management accreditation preferred

Other helpful information:

Success Measures (First 12 Months)

• Clear, aligned programme structure and priorities established
• Portfolio roadmap in place and under delivery
• Improved delivery momentum and reduction in key blockers
• Strong senior stakeholder feedback on clarity and effectiveness
• Early identification and mitigation of cross-stream risks
• Measurable improvement in delivery discipline and predictability

As part of our collaborative & agile culture, our working week is 4 days in the office and one day remote. We believe that being together enables us to live our values and support our clients and communities in an extraordinary way.

Investec offers a range of wellbeing benefits to make our people feel healthier, balanced and more fulfilled in their lives inside and outside of work. You can find a list of our benefits here

Embedded in our culture is a sense of belonging and inclusion. At Investec we want everyone to find it easy to be themselves, and to feel they belong. It's a responsibility we all share and is integral to our purpose and values as an organisation. We believe that innovation thrives when everyone feels respected, included, and empowered to contribute.

We actively seek out diverse talent and foster an inclusive environment, encouraging applications from people of all backgrounds and experiences. Here, you'll find networks, benefits, and development opportunities designed to support your career journey, wherever it may lead.

If this role excites you but you don't meet every requirement, we'd still love to hear from you. Your unique perspective and experience could be exactly what we are looking for.  Get in touch!

At Investec, we're deeply invested in our clients, our colleagues, and our communities. It's more than a mindset; it's how we show up every day.

Be part of something Out of the Ordinary.

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