Organisational Design Lead FTC at Santam Insurance

What will you do?

• Santam’s Human Capital function has a 12 months fixed-term contract opportunity for an Organisational Design Lead, based in Cape Town or Johannesburg, reporting to the Head of HC Strategic Projects, Organisational Design and Analytics.
• This role will play a critical role in enabling business performance through the design, optimisation, and embedding of effective organisational systems, structures, and ways of working. Santam’s OD approach is facilitative: we equip leaders and HR partners with structure, tools, and insight, while business leaders own decisions and implementation. This role leads through influence and delivery, not through line management.

ROLE PURPOSE

• The Organisational Design Lead will act as a senior internal consultant within the Organisational Effectiveness capability, providing specialist expertise across organisational design, operating models, change enablement, and leadership alignment.
• This is a hands-on, delivery-focused role and will lead and execute strategic, enterprise-wide and business-unit-level initiatives that improve organisational health, effectiveness, and performance outcomes across Santam.

Key Responsibilities

Organisational Effectiveness & Operating Model Design

• Act as a subject matter expert in organisational design, operating models, and organisation effectiveness.
• Lead end-to-end OD engagements using a structured OD process from diagnosis through to implementation planning and monitoring.
• Lead the diagnosis and analysis of organisational structures, roles, reporting lines, accountabilities, and workflows.
• Design and implement fit-for-purpose organisation structures and operating models aligned to business strategy.
• Develop and evaluate future-state design options using structured analysis of costs, benefits, and risks; make recommendations with clear trade-offs.
• Identify and design for interfaces and interdependencies across teams and functions to ensure the structure works end-to-end, not only within a BU.
• Translate business needs into clear operating model and governance requirements, integrating diverse information sources to develop robust solutions. (including build/buy considerations where enabling solutions are required)
• Develop and embed organisation design and organisational effectiveness frameworks, principles, and standards across the business.

Change & Performance Enablement

• Provide change management leadership to support operating model and organisational changes.
• Manage OD workstreams within transformational change programmes, ensuring integration with related initiatives.
• Using structured change methods to build acceptance.
• Partner with HR Business Partners, Change Managers to develop practical implementation and adoption artefacts (narrative, leadership packs, FAQs, comms approach, transition plan), aligned to the change enablement expectations.
• Evaluate the impact and effectiveness of organisational interventions and adjust approaches to optimise outcomes. Support leadership teams in navigating complexity, ambiguity, and change.

Consulting, Capability & Stakeholder Engagement

• Operate as a trusted internal consultant to senior leaders and line management to make clear design decisions.
• Build internal organisational effectiveness and organisation design capability within HR and the broader business.
• Plan and facilitate workshops, leadership engagements, and diagnostic sessions across multiple levels of the organisation to surface root causes, decision constraints, and competing priorities.
• Identify systemic organisational issues related to culture, leadership, values, and ways of working, and design interventions accordingly.
• Build Org Design capability with HR Business Partners and the business by coaching on methods, tools, and practical application.

Project & Portfolio Delivery

• Lead and manage strategic HC and organisational design projects, from conceptualisation through to delivery.
• Deliver initiatives that span enterprise-wide transformation as well as targeted BU-level interventions.
• Build team structure, roles and responsibilities, and ways of working needed to execute OD programmes successfully.
• Strengthen “continuous improvement” by explicitly calling out process optimisation as part of OD interventions.
• Ensure projects are delivered within agreed scope, timelines, and quality standards and are packaged for executive decision-making.

What will make you successful in this role?

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

• Completed University Degree in Behavioural Science or a related field (e.g. Psychology, Industrial/Organisational Psychology).
• Postgraduate qualification in a related field (advantageous and typical for the level).
• Minimum 5 years’ experience in organisational effectiveness, organisational design, change management, management consulting or performance consulting roles within medium to large organisations with evidence of delivering end-to-end OD/TOM engagements and advising leaders through complex decisions.
• Proven experience operating as an internal or external consultant including executive-level stakeholder engagement.
• Demonstrated experience in leading organisational change and complex, multi-stakeholder projects from diagnosis to implementation planning.
• Experience building OD recommendations supported by cost/benefit and impact analysis.
• Experience influencing and engaging senior leaders; some people or project leadership exposure preferred.
• Exposure to Org Analytics and Structural Assessment and Design tools such as OrgVue will be advantageous.