TMO Governance & Strategy Manager - Banking - UAEn

Governance & Strategy Manager
Industry: Banking / Financial Services

Our client, a leading UAE-based financial institution offering comprehensive retail, corporate, and investment banking services, recognized for its strong regional presence and focus on digital innovation, is seeking a Governance and Strategy Manager position.

Job Purpose
The Governance & Strategy Manager will support the Head of the Technology Management Office (TMO) in driving the execution of CIO priorities through robust governance, strategic tracking, and cross-functional coordination across Technology units. The role is responsible for managing and tracking action items emerging from key governance forums such as MBO, SteerCo, and Governance Day, ensuring timely closure and visibility to leadership.

A key focus will be the design and maintenance the CIO Dashboard, consolidating inputs from all Technology units to track KPIs and provide a comprehensive view of performance, strategic alignment, and delivery progress. The role will also work closely with the Transformation Office to maintain visibility over all Technology projects, ensuring alignment with strategic goals and timely reporting of progress, risks, and dependencies.

Additionally, the incumbent will coordinate with HR to ensure organizational structures across Technology are accurate, current, and supportive of strategic workforce planning, while preparing high-quality executive reports and presentations for senior leadership and governance bodies.

1. Governance Forum Action Management

• Own end-to-end tracking of action items arising from key governance forums including MBO, SteerCo, and Governance Day.
• Ensure timely follow-up, closure, and escalation of actions, maintaining a centralized and auditable repository.
• Provide regular updates and summaries for leadership visibility.

2. CIO Dashboard Development & Maintenance

• Design and maintain a dynamic CIO Dashboard that consolidates strategic priorities, KPIs, initiative statuses, and governance metrics.
• Ensure real-time accuracy by coordinating with Technology units and support functions.

3. Technology KPI Consolidation & Reporting

• Collect, validate and report unit-level KPIs across all Technology domains.
• Ensure alignment with CIO objectives and strategic scorecards, highlighting performance trends and gaps.

4. Project Portfolio Oversight

• Partner with the Transformation Office to maintain an up-to-date view of all Technology projects.
• Track project milestones, health, risks and dependencies to support strategic reporting.

5. Organizational Structure Governance

• Liaise with HR and Technology leads to ensure organizational structures accurately reflect reporting lines and responsibilities.
• Support reviews and restructuring aligned with strategic workforce planning.

6. Executive-Level Reporting & Communication

• Prepare high-quality reports, presentations and briefing materials for the Head of TMO and senior leadership.
• Ensure communications are concise, consistent and strategically aligned.

7. Stakeholder Engagement & Coordination

• Act as a central coordination point across Technology units, HR and other support functions.
• Facilitate seamless communication and alignment on governance and strategic initiatives.

8. Governance Process Optimization

• Continuously assess and enhance governance tracking, reporting and dashboarding processes.
• Introduce automation and standardization to improve efficiency and reduce manual effort.

9. Risk & Issue Monitoring

• Identify and track governance-related risks and issues across strategic initiatives.
• Support mitigation planning and timely escalation to leadership.

10. Knowledge Management & Documentation

• Maintain structured documentation of governance decisions, frameworks and organizational changes.
• Ensure accessibility, version control and compliance with internal standards.

• Minimum 5 years of experience in technology governance, strategy execution, or performance management within a large enterprise or financial institution.
• Proven experience managing governance forums and action tracking for senior-level committees (e.g., MBO, SteerCo, Executive Boards).
• Strong understanding of technology strategy, transformation programs, and performance frameworks.
• Ability to translate strategic objectives into measurable KPIs and visual dashboards.
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams including Technology, HR, Transformation and Finance.
• Advanced proficiency in dashboarding and reporting tools (PowerPoint, Excel, Power BI or similar).
• Strong grasp of organizational design principles and experience maintaining up-to-date org structures.
• Excellent analytical, communication and presentation skills with high attention to detail.
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Experience with risk and issue tracking across strategic or technology programs.
• Familiarity with portfolio and project lifecycle management, ideally within a PMO or GRC framework.