Designing the Future Engineering Talent Hub Onboarding Experience

A leading Australian retail banking client needed to attract, develop, and retain top engineering talent in a highly competitive market, while ensuring new hires could contribute quickly to real business outcomes. Traditional onboarding felt too slow and disconnected, with new engineers taking months to build confidence and add value. The challenge was to design a unique program that would stand out in the market, accelerate capability uplift, and create a strong engineering culture anchored in their Engineering Hub.

• Co-designed the Onboarding Program, a 4-set immersive journey blending onboarding, innovation labs, technical practice, and real-world delivery.
• Created a differentiated hub experience, drawing on the local environment and culture as a metaphor for growth, resilience, and momentum.
• Defined clear expectations for buddies, coaches, and leaders, ensuring participants were fully supported and mentored.
• Embedded practical, hands-on learning from day one — candidates coded in their first week, engaged with AI tools, and solved real business problems.
• Built in showcases to the Executive Leadership Team to demonstrate progress, prototypes, and value along the

• A market-leading capability program that positioned the hub as a destination for top talent.
• Faster integration of engineers, with participants contributing to real outcomes in weeks, not months.
• Stronger engagement and collaboration across cohorts, mentors, and leaders.
• A clear link between program outcomes and business value, proving the return on investment.
• An alumni network to sustain capability growth, support future waves, and embed long-term cultural impact.