Head of identity security (all humans)

Make a difference in the financial life of millions of people: At Erste Digital you are co-creating the digital future, in which better financial health is possible. #believeinyourself

We are part of Erste Group – the largest banking group in Central and Eastern Europe with more than 2,500 branches and over 45,000 employees. Our more than 2,000 IT experts and enthusiasts are the bank's Digital Muscle.

Help shape the next generation of Cyber & Information Security at Erste Digital. We are evolving our security organization around clear missions, accountable services and stronger collaboration across domains. As Head of Department, you will shape the capability together with your teams and peers rather than inherit a fixed organizational blueprint. You will be accountable for outcomes, people leadership, service maturity and cross-Group value.

Your Mission

Build and evolve trusted, reusable identity and access capabilities that allow people, applications and machines to authenticate, receive appropriate access and consume services securely across Erste Digital and the Group.

What you will shape and be accountable for

• Evolve Identity Security from individual IAM solutions into a coherent, reusable identity platform and service ecosystem.
• Set direction across identity lifecycle, entitlement and role management, access governance, authentication, authorization, federation and identity data.
• Create identity services that are easy to consume by application and platform teams through standardized APIs, connectors, patterns and self-service capabilities.
• Establish scalable approaches for roles, entitlements and authorization that reduce application-specific access logic and enable consistent policy enforcement.
• Improve automation, data quality and transparency across identity lifecycle and access-certification processes.
• Prepare the identity capability for non-human identities, workloads, automation and AI-enabled services without creating parallel or fragmented control models.
• Guide the transition from fragmented or solution-specific capabilities towards a coherent service-oriented target architecture while maintaining dependable day-to-day operations.

Group first - Built to scale beyond one entity

Think Group First: design identity capabilities for Group consumption wherever a shared service is realistic and creates value. Where central consumption is not feasible, provide reusable reference architectures, APIs, standards, blueprints and implementation patterns so entities can apply the same principles consistently. Align with Group Security, Holding and relevant entities before creating local-only solutions where common patterns or shared capabilities are possible. Treat interoperability and portability as design requirements: a strong solution should not only work locally, but help simplify identity across the Group.

What success looks like

• Identity and entitlement data is trustworthy enough to support automated, context-aware access decisions.
• Authentication, authorization and federation are provided through consistent capabilities with strong security and low user friction.
• Role and entitlement models are understandable, scalable and increasingly reusable instead of being recreated application by application.
• Developers and application teams can consume identity services through clear patterns, APIs and connectors instead of building their own security mechanisms.
• Orphaned, excessive and outdated access rights are reduced through reliable lifecycle and review processes.
• Other Group entities can consume the capability directly or reuse its patterns, standards and blueprints.

Who benefits from your work

Employees, developers, solution managers, application owners, IAM owners, platform teams, HR/IT processes, auditors, Holding functions and Group entities benefit from simpler access, stronger authentication and authorization, more reliable identity information and reusable identity services.

What you bring

• Leadership experience in identity, security, enterprise platforms or another complex technology domain.
• Good understanding of identity lifecycle, access governance, role and entitlement models, authentication, authorization and federation concepts.
• Ability to think in platforms and services: moving from individual solutions towards reusable capabilities with clear consumers and measurable outcomes.
• Ability to simplify complex dependencies and establish clear ownership across processes, technology and stakeholders.
• Comfort working across highly interconnected domains where collaboration matters as much as technical excellence.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, build alignment across organizational boundaries and turn strategic intent into concrete delivery.

Leadership approach we value

We are looking for leaders who combine high standards with trust, candour and genuine interest in helping others succeed. Servant leader: create clarity, remove obstacles and give people the space and trust to do their best work. High standards, genuine support: set clear expectations, follow through on commitments and help people reach them. Honest and elevating: give direct, respectful feedback, make achievements visible and create opportunities for others to grow and be recognized. Expert without micromanaging: bring enough subject-matter depth to ask the right questions, coach and exercise sound judgement, while trusting specialists to own the technical detail. Delivery oriented and willing to address difficult topics: turn concepts into measurable outcomes, exercise sound judgement when needed, address difficult topics early and question established approaches when they no longer serve the mission.

Click here to learn more about our Leadership Dimensions.

Why this role

You will have the opportunity to shape one of the most foundational security capabilities in the organization: the trust layer used by employees, applications, platforms and increasingly machines. You can influence how identity works across Erste Digital and the Group while creating an environment where strong specialists can take ownership, grow and deliver visible outcomes.

Employee benefits – Benefit from special conditions for financial services and insurances, supermarkets, clothing stores and many more. Employee Referral Program – Become a talent scout for career opportunities in IT. We are rewarding every successful referral for Erste Digital. A competitive and performance-related salary dependent on your professional and personal qualifications is granted - the minimum wage for this position in accordance with the respective collective agreement is EUR 85.000,-- gross per year. But this is just a formality, we are more than happy to discuss your actual expectations.

In your motivational letter, please include the following two perspectives: Briefly describe one concrete example of how you would make a local security capability valuable for the wider Group - as a shared service, blueprint, pattern or standard. Reflect on one aspect of this role description you would deliberately challenge or refine, including why. We look forward to receiving your application by 16. October. First-round interviews are planned for early November. You do not need to match every point perfectly to be a strong candidate. If the mission resonates with you and you believe you can grow into parts of the scope, we encourage you to apply.

The way we are

Erste Group considers the diversity of its employees as key to innovation and success. As employer we are proud to offer everyone equal chances, irrespective of age, skin colour, religious belief, gender, sexual orientation or origin.