Appointment of Head of People & Culture – Australian Financial Services Organisation

Client Profile
Australian financial services organisation
1,800 employees across Australia
Operating across regulated financial and customer service environments

Role Appointed
Head of People & Culture

Context

The organisation was undergoing significant organisational transformation, including leadership restructuring, workforce modernisation, and operational growth across multiple divisions.

The existing People & Culture function required executive leadership capable of strengthening workforce strategy, leadership capability, and organisational structure.

Challenge

The role had remained vacant for over three months, with previous recruitment efforts unable to secure a suitable appointment.

Key market challenges included:

• Strong demand for experienced People & Culture leaders across financial services
  
• Limited availability of leaders with both operational and strategic leadership experience
  
• Requirement for candidates capable of supporting organisational transformation
  

Without executive People leadership, workforce strategy and organisational development initiatives were delayed.

Approach

Civitas Talent conducted a retained executive search targeting senior People leaders across financial services, insurance, and enterprise organisations.

The search included:

• Mapping 124 senior People leaders nationally
  
• Direct engagement with passive executive talent
  
• Structured leadership assessment and capability evaluation
  

Within 21 days, Civitas Talent presented a targeted shortlist of four executive candidates.

Solution Delivered

The successful candidate brought over 17 years of People leadership experience across financial services organisations with workforces exceeding 3,000 employees.

Measured Impact

Within the first 12 months:

• Strengthened People leadership capability across multiple divisions
  
• Improved leadership alignment and workforce strategy execution
  
• Supported workforce transformation initiatives
  

Strategic Outcome

The organisation strengthened executive People leadership capability, improving organisational stability and workforce performance.