Purpose: The present study investigates the predicting role of institutional leadership competencies (namely, achieving goals and outcomes, leadership and leading change, and integrity and justice) in influencing job performance. It also seeks to examine whether proactive personality moderates the purported relationship. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from 103 institutional leaders in various higher education institutions in Malaysia. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) technique via Smart PLS 2.0 was used to analyze the data and test the hypotheses. Findings: The findings indicate that competencies of leadership and leading change and integrity and justice significantly and positively influenced job performance. Proactive personality was found to significantly moderate the relationship between leadership and leading change dimension and job performance. Research limitations/implications: This study contributes to the literature by assessing leadership competencies as the predictors of job performance. The moderating role of proactive personality is also substantiated in the leadership and leading change dimension and job performance linkage. Practical implications: The significant and positive impact of leadership and leading change as well as integrity and justice on job performance suggests the importance of these leadership competencies in promoting high level of job performance among institutional leaders. Furthermore, in ensuring high job performance among institutional leaders, proactive personality is a crucial attribute that is worth to be given attention by higher education institution (HEI) administrators. Originality/value: This study aims to provide additional empirical evidence in the leadership competencies domain. The research framework of this study managed to substantiate empirical evidence in partial support on the importance of leadership competencies and proactive personality in predicting job performance.