Director of Talent, Capability & Performance

THE ICONIC is entering a defining phase. As Australia and New Zealand’s leading online fashion and lifestyle destination, we are accelerating our evolution into a platform business spanning wholesale, marketplace and fulfilment services. Powered by continuous digital and AI-enabled innovation.

We are seeking an exceptional enterprise leader to help shape the organisation behind THE ICONIC’s next stage of growth. Reporting directly to THE ICONIC’s CEO, you will be a member of the Senior Leadership Team and lead our talented People & Culture team. This is a rare opportunity to operate at the intersection of business strategy, organisational performance, technology and culture designing the people architecture required for a fast-moving platform business to win.

This is not a traditional HR leadership role. You will be accountable for how THE ICONIC builds, deploys, develops and enables its people: translating enterprise ambition into the workforce structures, leadership capability, operating models and performance systems that make growth executable.  You will be at the forefront of embedding and enabling AI as part of our organizational design and workforce management. 

The ICONIC is part of Global Fashion Group (GFG), a global fashion and lifestyle e-commerce group publicly traded on the DAX in Frankfurt. Together, we are focused on growing market share and our active customer base, while building a more capable, productive and future-ready organisation.

The Opportunity

As Director of Talent, Capability & Performance, you will be the trusted adviser to the CEO and Senior Leadership Team on the organisational decisions that influence growth, productivity, retention, risk and the P&L.

You will work in close strategic partnership with THE ICONIC’s Director of Strategy & Transformation. They lead the enterprise strategy and transformation roadmap, setting the strategic agenda and you will lead the people architecture required to deliver it: organisational design, workforce capability, leadership and performance systems, change and operating-model shifts. Together, you will turn business ambition into organisational execution.

What you’ll lead

• Organisation and workforce architecture: Design the workforce structures, organisational models and capability frameworks needed to support THE ICONIC’s platform transition. Ensure workforce planning anticipates AI-driven role evolution, emerging skills needs and the capabilities required for future growth.
• Performance and leadership capability: Continue to grow and develop the performance accountability infrastructure that connects enterprise priorities to everyday execution. Strengthen manager and leadership capability across coaching, accountability, performance and digital fluency, ensuring enterprise outcomes are as visible and meaningful as functional ones. 
• AI-enabled people innovation: Drive practical AI adoption, automation, people analytics and P&C systems improvement across the workforce. Lead the workforce implications of AI transformation including capability uplift, role redesign.
• Commercial workforce governance: Ensure headcount allocation, retention, capability investment, reward and people programmes deliver tangible commercial value. Translate complex workforce data into clear strategic and financial insight for senior leaders, supporting better decisions across the enterprise. 
• Change, risk and employee experience: Lead the people impact of structural change, including organisational design, implementation, communications, employee relations and change management. Oversee employee relations, employment compliance, health and safety, remuneration, reward and people risk across Australia and THE ICONIC’s extended workforce. 
• Culture, reward and global alignment: Champion THE ICONIC’s progressive culture and B Corp commitments through inclusive, equitable and commercially sustainable people practices. Partner with GFG leaders and regional stakeholders to align local business needs with global frameworks, including executive reward, company bonus programmes and long-term incentives.

What you’ll bring

You are a commercially minded enterprise leader with a clear point of view on how people, capability and organisation design create business value. You are equally comfortable shaping a future-state operating model, challenging constructively at the executive table and leading through complex change with sound judgement and genuine care.

You will bring:

• Leadership experience in technology, e-commerce, a scale-up or another fast-paced, digitally enabled environment.
• A track record as a trusted adviser and peer to CEOs and senior leaders, with the confidence to influence, challenge and simplify complexity.
• Experience leading organisation design, transformation, structural change, commercial scaling or new operating models.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen, including the ability to connect workforce decisions and investment to productivity, retention, growth and the P&L.
• Deep expertise across workforce planning, leadership capability, performance, reward and people governance.
• Demonstrable fluency in AI, automation, people analytics and digital tools that improve operating effectiveness.
• Hands-on experience in Australian employee relations, employment law, workplace health and safety, people risk and Modern Awards.
• A proven ability to build high-performing People & Capability teams and elevate the function from transactional delivery to strategic business partnership.

Why THE ICONIC?

This is an incredible opportunity to do more than lead a P&C function. You will help architect how one of ANZ’s most recognised digital businesses organises, leads, develops and enables its people for the future.

You will have:

• A  seat at the Senior Leadership Team table and direct access to the CEO.
• Enterprise-wide scope and the mandate to influence strategy, transformation and commercial performance.
• The opportunity to build a future-ready, AI-enabled workforce for a business undergoing its most significant transformation.
• A leadership role spanning Australia and an extended international workforce.
• The opportunity to lead in a progressive, purpose-driven B Corp business committed to sustainable commercial success. 

At THE ICONIC, we are an in-person culture with a flexible mindset. Solving complex platform challenges and breaking down functional silos requires our leaders to be physically present and engaged. We expect a consistent physical presence across our offices in Barangaroo and Yennora to actively lead, mentor, and execute alongside our teams every day.