Senior Behavioural Economist

Job Requisition Details

REQ: 143752

Closing Date: 3 February 2026

Talent Acquisition: Noli Madikane 

Cluster: Personal and Private Banking (Product Design and Innovation - PDI)

Location: Johannesburg, Sandton

Hybrid

Job Family

Career Stream

Leadership Pipeline

Job Purpose

Job Responsibilities

Behavioural Research & Diagnosis

• Define and prioritise target client behaviours with business units.
• Conduct literature reviews to contextualise behavioural barriers and opportunities.
• Lead qualitative and quantitative diagnostic research (interviews, field research, behavioural mapping).
• Identify psychological frictions, biases, and contextual factors shaping client behaviour.
• Translate behavioural diagnoses into clear problem statements, hypotheses, and recommended interventions.

Behavioural Intervention Design & Testing

• Design behavioural solutions using behavioural economics principles and applied behavioural models.
• Develop structured behavioural intervention frameworks and implementation roadmaps.
• Support and guide data teams in exploring behavioural datasets to quantify patterns and validate hypotheses.
• Lead the design and execution of experiments (RCTs, A/B tests, quasi experiments).
• Develop clear, persuasive communications that drive behaviour change.

Strategic Reporting & Insights

• Produce strategic insights and management reports that inform decision-making.
• Contribute to divisional strategy by identifying trends, emerging behavioural opportunities, and optimisation gaps.

Stakeholder Collaboration & Governance

• Package research and experiment insights into compelling, senior ready presentations.
• Build and maintain strong partnerships across Nedbank.
• Represent the BE Unit as a trusted advisor through proactive engagement and thought leadership.
• Ensure alignment of behavioural projects with Nedbank strategy, policies, and risk governance standards.
• Shape cross functional collaboration to ensure seamless delivery of behavioural projects.

People Leadership & Team Effectiveness

• Mentor and coach junior team members in behavioural research and scientific thinking.
• Encourage innovation, experimentation, and knowledge sharing within the team.
• Contribute to recruitment, onboarding, and team capability development.

Operational Excellence

• Support continuous improvement initiatives within the BE Unit.
• Maintain structured project documentation, processes, and quality standards.
• Contribute to knowledge management, capability building and internal behavioural science community practices.

Essential Qualifications - NQF Level

Preferred Qualification

• Master’s degree in related field  

Minimum Experience Level

• 7+ years of experience applying behavioural science within financial services
• Demonstrated experience designing and evaluating behavioural interventions.
• Quantitative research methodologies (Excel, STATA, SPSS, or similar data analysis software)
• Qualitative research (survey design, interview question design, experience with Qualtrics or equivalent)
• Experience running RCTs/A/B tests at scale.
• Behavioural analytics and data interpretation (Martech, Adobe Analytics)
• Project management principles (AGILE, Waterfall, or other methodologies)
• Stakeholder influence & communication
• Financial services consumer behaviour (including users, service providers, and delivery channels)

Advantageous:

• Experience influencing senior stakeholders and embedding behavioural insights in product or strategy.
• Proficiency in leveraging AI tools and technologies to enhance productivity and building agents
• Experience in App development

Technical / Professional Knowledge

Behavioural Competencies