Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has significantly increased its technology graduate program intake, including 75 new data scientists, as it focuses on an AI-first approach. The bank has expressed its desire to develop its own data science “grandmasters” and sees its partnership with no-code machine learning platform H2O.ai as a key factor in attracting the data scientists. The bank’s technology resourcing has also increased, leading to specific intakes of cyber security, engineering, and data science. CBA’s technology graduates are now based in multiple locations, including Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane, with 38% based outside of the Sydney head office. These graduates are participating in an 18-month learning and development program that includes intensive training, modelling activities, mentorship, and rotations.
CBA boosts technology graduate program with first sizeable intake of data scientists
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has increased its technology graduate program intake to 219 hires this year, which includes a significant number of data scientists. CBA took on 75 data scientists, 124 engineers, and 20 cyber security graduates, with 10 of the latter focusing on security engineering. Executive General Manager of HR for Operations and Technology Jane Adams said this intake marks the “first very sizable cohort of data scientists we’ve bought on.”
CBA has typically targeted “more generic data and analytics graduates,” but this time it prioritized specific data science graduates to reflect the broader data science push within the organization. These data science graduates will work with H2O.ai tooling, a no-code machine learning platform that CBA has partnered with closely.
The bank has expressed its desire to develop its own data science “grandmasters,” a term used in the Kaggle data science community, to support its AI-first approach to operations. Adams saw CBA’s relationship with H2O.ai as a factor in attracting the data scientists, giving them a cutting-edge experience while they work with CBA.
Adams confirmed that there was “sharp interest” in CBA’s graduate program and that the intake of 219 graduates (compared to 120 last year) would be maintained for the 2024 intake as well. This is due to the “big increase” the bank has seen from last year, and it wants to make sure it can provide a good experience to them and roll them off into excellent roles.
The 2025 intake is expected to be even larger than 219 as the bank continues to boost its technology resourcing. Adams stated that “graduate technology resources needed to increase as well,” and after reviewing its graduate program, it was clear that specific intakes of cyber security, engineering, and data science were necessary to support the three significant growth areas across the bank.
Technology is a critical part of CBA’s overall bank strategy, and it is “the builder and enabler of customer experiences, products, and channel experiences digitally,” said Adams. Cybersecurity is also crucial in ensuring that customer data and information are secure.
CBA’s technology graduates based in multiple locations
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has revealed that 38% of its technology graduates are based outside of the Sydney head office, including in Perth and CBA’s tech hubs in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Brisbane. These graduates are now participating in an 18-month learning and development program that includes intensive training, modelling activities, mentorship, and rotations.
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