Close on the heels of announcing that it would be cutting 6000 jobs over the next three years, the National Australia Bank has said that it will be hiring 600 technology specialists, beginning immediately.
The bank said today that the jobs — in software engineering, data, architecture and security — were part of its strategy to reshape its global workforce and create up to 2000 jobs by 2020 to meet what it said were "the changing needs of customers".
This will mean that the overall number of staff lost from the bank's rosters — which number about 30,000 — will be in the region of 4000.
NAB chief technology and operating officer Patrick Wright said the bank was aiming to recruit the best talent both locally and globally.
{loadposition sam08}“We want the top talent in the industry to come and join us, as we change dramatically to become the very best bank we can be and give our customers the products and services they demand and deserve,” he said.
“We know this is an ambitious target and acknowledge the war for talent is intense, but these are the essential skills and roles we need in order to deliver our plan."
Yuri Misnik, Patrick Wright and Kyle McNamara.
In what is a change of policy, NAB said it also aims to shift from outsourcing work to local and foreign agencies, and bring talent back to its own offices to "increase competitive advantage".
The bank said it had already begun the tech recruitment drive, with the appointment of two senior executives.
Yuri Misnik, a senior technologist, will join NAB as executive general manager business enabling technology, and Kyle McNamara will take up the role of executive general manager leading the Program Management Office.
Misnik has held senior roles with HSBC, Microsoft and Amazon. In his last job, as digital chief information officer of HSBC Group London, he drove digitally focused transformations, changing service provisions to customers as well as internal business operations.
McNamara was with Canada's Scotiabank for the last 18 years, leading global teams across technology, strategy, risk management and operations.
NAB said McNamara was a specialist transformation executive, with deep expertise in project management.
Both Misnik and McNamara will report to Wright.
Photo: courtesy NAB