Deputy Head of Strategy

Purpose of the Position- The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is seeking a Deputy Head of Department to lead its Strategy, Continuous Improvement, and Portfolio Management functions.- This is a unique opportunity to establish and shape the Bank’s strategic planning and continuous improvement capabilities from the ground up.- The role will inspire, guide, and enable a team to:
- Coordinate strategic planning activities that support the Bank’s vision.- Establish and embed an enterprise-wide continuous improvement capability.- Oversee governance of the enterprise project portfolio and ensure effective delivery.

Key Responsibilities- Strategic Planning: Develop and implement an enterprise-wide strategic planning framework and associated processes to define and deliver on the organisation’s strategic priorities. Coordinate the development of these plans across the Bank and design and embed ongoing enterprise workload prioritisation processes.- Portfolio Management: Oversee the management of the enterprise project portfolio, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities, effective governance and risk management, efficient resource allocation, and the delivery of targeted benefits.- Continuous Improvement: Establish and deploy a continuous improvement framework and supporting processes across the Bank to drive operational excellence and innovation.- People Leadership: Lead and manage the team, fostering a high-performance culture and supporting the development of all employees to achieve organisational and team goals.- Stakeholder Engagement: Collaborate closely with the Bank’s senior leadership, executive team, and board members to define priorities, navigate policies and operational accountabilities, and support the delivery of the Bank’s charter objectives and strategic goals.

Objectives- Design, develop, and roll out a Bank-wide strategic planning framework. Coordinate the delivery of strategic planning activities across the Bank, including engagement with key executive stakeholders to secure sponsorship and foster cross-department collaboration, advice, and support to achieve enterprise outcomes.- Design and embed ongoing enterprise-wide workload prioritisation processes.- Balance strategic priorities, risk management and funding constraints to ensure a portfolio mix which contributes to compliance, efficiency, risk mitigation and capability development / innovation- Establish a continuous improvement framework to support ongoing enhancements to business-as-usual activities.- Lead effective portfolio governance by overseeing and enforcing project controls, providing strategic advice, constructive challenge, and actionable insights to ensure successful portfolio delivery and benefits realisation.- Oversee the management of the Bank’s project delivery frameworks, methods, and tools to enable and support effective portfolio execution.- Motivate, foster, and inspire a culture aligned with the Bank’s values, creating an environment that supports high levels of staff engagement and performance.- Provide leadership, guidance, and development for employees and teams to effectively achieve both team and enterprise outcomes.- Promote proactive and effective communication, encourage multi-level feedback, and foster a culture of openness and trust.- Anticipate and manage issues and risks effectively, ensuring processes align with the Bank’s risk appetite.- Enable and recognise workforce performance in ways that encourage high achievement and continuous improvement.- Manage the day-to-day operations of the team, including strategic direction, people management, financial oversight, and risk management.

Challenges- Navigating Complexity: Understand the Bank’s accountabilities, policies, processes, and operational arrangements.- Establishing a New Function: Lead the creation of a new function with enterprise-wide responsibilities.- Team Transition: Manage the integration of team members from other departments.

Example Tasks- Establish an annual strategic planning operating framework for the Bank.- Coordinate the development of the Bank-wide Corporate Plan (strategic priorities component) on an annual basis, including integration into departmental planning and annual budgets.- Provide advice, guidance, tools, and templates to support the development of departmental strategic plans.- Oversee project portfolio planning and management to ensure alignment with organisational needs.- Establish and operationalise an enterprise-wide continuous improvement capability.- Encourage and support regular formal and informal performance and development conversations, helping staff create plans that address current and future needs.- Facilitate regular team communication sessions where informal feedback is both sought and provided.- Anticipate, manage, and oversee the function’s risk management responsibilities in line with the Bank’s risk appetite.- Manage and oversee operations, including budget, people, and process management, with a f