Head of Organisational Design - (HR-L10.1) at Zutari

Role overview

• The Head of Organisational Design role is responsible for establishing, governing and delivering the enterprise-wide organisational design strategy; ensuring the operating model, structure, decision making frameworks, and workforce shape enable Zutari’s growth, profitability, and delivery excellence.
• The role requires extensive experience in organisational design and effectiveness outcomes for a professional services environment operating, with a strong understanding of engineering and consulting delivery models.
• The role provides functional leadership in OD, sets standards and governance, and partners with key stakeholders and leadership to design fit-for-purpose operating models, organisation structures, job architecture, and workforce plans that enable strategy execution, profitable growth, and sustainable capability.

Role responsibilities

Organisational design & operating model leadership

• Establish an OD governance forum and decision routes for enterprise and BU design changes (including design authority, escalation protocols, and control gates)
• Ensure OD policies align to business strategy, regulatory requirements (where relevant), and professional services delivery models.
• Architect and govern organisation structures aligned to utilisation and growth requirements.
• Design and embed organisational competency framework in collaboration with Talent management
• Drive role clarity and accountability through role design, decision rights, spans and layers, and governance forums

Strategy Enablement

• Define and deliver the OD strategy, vision, policy, and standards (e.g., design principles, governance, assurance, documentation requirements)
• Understanding the business strategy with the ability to translate it into a fit for purpose organisational structure with roles, capabilities and clear ways of working
• Establish and maintain standards for role design, decision rights (RACI matrices), spans and layers, and governance forums, in support of ideal leverage.
• Strategic advisor to Executive leadership on implications of organisational growth, change, market shifts or strategic direction.

Role architecture and governance

• Drafting of Job descriptions in partnership with the People Business Partner as key strategic input into the job evaluation process.
• Drive role clarity across engineering and consulting delivery models, including interfaces between advisory, design, and project delivery.
• Support the Head of Talent Management with the harmonisation of job families/career paths across the organisation.
• Lead complex restructures: spans/layers optimisation, centralisation vs decentralisation, shared services, capability hubs, and project-based resourcing models, within a matrix environment.
• Establish workforce “shape” targets (critical roles, skills mix, partner-to-staff leverage, billable vs non-billable mix).c
• Partner with Finance on cost-to-serve, productivity, and scenario modelling (capacity, utilisation, chargeability, project pipeline).

Organisation Effectiveness & Decision Effectiveness

• Diagnose organisation health using quantitative and qualitative methods to enhance and enable ideal structures for delivery and performance (e.g., ONA, engagement and productivity signals, process bottlenecks, decision latency).
• Improve decision-making effectiveness by clarifying accountabilities, eliminating duplication, and simplifying governance, taking note of internal organisational governance structures and approval bodies

Change Leadership and Stakeholder Influence

• Act as advisor to the People team and Senior leaders in the business, facilitating high-stakes design decisions and trade-offs.
• Lead change approach for restructures (case for change, organisational communications, consultation processes, implementation planning, risk controls).
• Analyse the impact of organisational change initiatives to inform and shape effective organisational design decisions.
• Build change capability in the People team and amongst leaders, especially in matrixed engineering/project environments.

OD Capability Building and Practice Leadership

• Build and lead an internal OD “centre of excellence” (methods, tools, playbooks, templates).
• Coach the People Business Partnering team and senior leaders on design thinking, operating model principles, and organisation effectiveness.
• Manage external consultants where necessary; assure quality and knowledge transfer.

Minimum requirements

• 12-15 years’ Organisational Design/Organisation Effectiveness experience in a professional services / professional skills environment (engineering consulting and/or management consulting strongly preferred).
• Demonstrated delivery of OD programmes across multiple countries/regions, ideally including Africa and/or the Middle East.
• Postgraduate degree in HR, Industrial/Organisational Psychology, Business, Engineering, or related field.
• OD/Change certifications
• Strong understanding of engineering and consulting delivery models and the implications for structure, governance, and resourcing.
• Proven capability influencing Executive and Senior Leadership across cultures and geographies.