Head of Strategy: Commercial & Partnerships

Our client, a major social-insurance and financial-services organisation, is seeking an experienced Head of Strategy: Commercial & Partnerships to provide strategic leadership across its commercial strategy, growth agenda and partnership ecosystem.

The successful candidate will identify growth opportunities, strengthen strategic partnerships, enhance customer value propositions and translate market, customer and data-driven insights into sustainable organisational outcomes.

This is a senior Group-level role suited to an established strategy, commercial or consulting leader with experience operating across complex, regulated environments and engaging executive and Board-level stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Develop and continuously refine the organisation’s commercial and partnership strategy.
• Lead enterprise-wide strategic initiatives supporting long-term growth and sustainability.
• Identify new markets, growth opportunities and innovative commercial models.
• Develop growth strategies across insurance, administration and related business portfolios.
• Drive customer value creation and revenue-optimisation initiatives.
• Identify, negotiate and manage strategic partnerships and alliances.
• Establish partnership governance frameworks and measure partnership effectiveness.
• Lead annual and multi-year strategic planning processes.
• Develop strategic measures, scorecards, KPIs and performance-monitoring frameworks.
• Present strategic insights, recommendations and performance updates to executive forums.
• Lead strategic transformation and innovation initiatives.
• Promote customer-centricity, agile ways of working and data-informed decision-making.
• Support digital-transformation and operating-model initiatives.
• Build and maintain relationships with executive, industry, government and other strategic stakeholders.
• Lead, develop and grow a high-performing strategy and partnerships team.
• Ensure that strategic initiatives comply with relevant governance, regulatory and risk-management requirements.

Requirements

• A postgraduate qualification in Strategy, Business Management, Commerce, Economics, Finance, Insurance, Actuarial Science, Engineering or a related discipline.
• An MBA or equivalent master’s degree would be advantageous.
• Approximately 8–10 years’ relevant experience in strategy, consulting, commercial management, partnerships or business transformation.
• At least 5 years’ experience in a senior leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated experience leading enterprise-wide strategic initiatives.
• Proven experience in commercial strategy, growth and strategic partnership management.
• Experience within financial services, insurance, employee benefits or a related regulated environment.
• Strong experience engaging executive leadership and Board-level stakeholders.
• A track record of leading multidisciplinary teams and delivering strategic outcomes.
• Strong understanding of strategic planning, execution monitoring, performance management and value realisation.
• The ability to identify sustainable commercial opportunities while balancing commercial outcomes with a broader social-impact mandate.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, influencing, analytical and presentation skills.
• Sound knowledge of governance, regulatory compliance and strategic-risk management.