Job PurposeSenior Transformation Office Portfolio Leader is responsible for governing the technology projects portfolio of change across agreed ’s groups.

• Own and govern the technology change portfolio for one or more assigned Groups, acting as the senior Transformation Office partner to Group leadership across investment planning, delivery governance, portfolio performance, value realization and forward forecasting.
• Provide an accurate, decision-oriented view of the portfolio from demand and budget formulation through initiation, execution, closure and benefits realization, maintaining a single source of truth and ensuring adherence to project Methods.
• Act as a trusted advisor to Group Heads and senior stakeholders, proactively identifying portfolio risks, dependencies, delivery constraints and value leakage; drive resolution and escalate material concerns through the appropriate governance forums.
• Provide Project Quality Assurance across the assigned portfolio and strengthen project-management capability by assuring PM competence and Method compliance, coaching and training project managers, and directly leading selected critical projects where required.
• Works with the respective Owners within Groups to ensure that all transformation initiatives are aligned with 's strategic goals and objectives, by providing active support and coordination during the budgeting, initiation and planning cycles,
• Fosters close collaboration with senior leadership to ensure buy-in support, and effective decision-making throughout the transformation journeys.
• Agrees, establishes and applies prioritization criteria to the transformation initiatives to support the execution of the overall bank strategy and growth aspirations, leveraging on synergies where possible, ensuring a balanced focus on achieving short-term improvements while building long-term value for sustainable growth,
• Acts as Initiation Lead, either directly or by identifying resources to hold this role, and coordinate the activities related to initiation, planning, estimations, articulations of the benefits and business case to be included in the request for budgets in the form of the Executive Summary.
• Review Executive Summaries, make best effort to check for completeness of the estimates and be one of the mandatory signatories,
• Monitors and reports on the transformation initiatives roadmap at the and Group levels, and escalates concerns as necessary,
• Ensures transparency and access to accurate information by maintaining the single source of truth on the transformation initiatives,
• Defines and implements a communication strategy to regularly disseminate and communicate progress updates and outcomes of transformation initiatives to the right stakeholders, ensuring transparency,
• Works with key stakeholders to optimize allocation of resources, including talent, technology, and finances, for efficient utilization toward delivery excellence.
• Leads projects managers in the management of projects within the Portfolio. Assures that the execution of projects is done in accordance with ’s Methods.
• Provides training and knowledge transfer as required on TO approved ways of working.
• Contributes to the development of ’s Delivery Methods.
• Work towards continuously improving ’s delivery capabilities thus maximizing the opportunities for business value creation from transformation initiatives.

Key Result Areas: --

A. Portfolio Strategy, Demand & Investment Planning

• Partner with assigned Groups to translate strategic priorities and change demand into an integrated technology portfolio and multi-year roadmap.
• Lead/support annual and in-year budget formulation for CAPEX and OPEX projects, challenging scope, estimates, sequencing, dependencies, resource needs, benefits and delivery readiness.
• Coordinate initiation, planning, estimations, benefits articulation and business-case / Executive Summary preparation; review submissions for completeness, quality and decision readiness and provide required Transformation Office sign-off.
• Apply agreed prioritization criteria and advise Group leadership on investment trade-offs, capacity constraints, synergies and sequencing.

B. Portfolio Execution, Control & Reporting

• Maintain an accurate portfolio inventory and single source of truth, clearly distinguishing projects not yet initiated, initiated/in planning, in execution, live/delivered, on hold and closed.
• Track projects against approved scope, schedule, cost, milestones, resourcing, risks, dependencies and benefits baselines; identify variance and require credible recovery actions.
• Produce concise, evidence-based Group portfolio reporting highlighting performance, exceptions, decisions required and forward outlook.
• Provide timely and accurate inputs into bank-wide Technology Projects reporting, ensuring consistent definitions, data quality and traceability across Groups.

• Forecast portfolio performance, delivery milestones, financial utilization, emerging risks and likely year-end outcomes; identify potential slippage, under-utilization or value leakage early.

  C. Delivery Assurance & Methods
• Act as Project Quality Assurance lead for assigned Groups, performing structured health checks against project Methods, governance standards, mandatory artefacts and control gates.
• Assess whether project plans and baselines are credible, governance is operating effectively, RAID items and dependencies are actively managed, and executive decisions are captured and actioned.
• Escalate material non-compliance, delivery risk and control weakness, and track agreed remediation to closure.
• Assure that onboarded Project Managers understand and apply Methods; provide coaching, training and targeted knowledge transfer.
• Where specifically required, act directly as Project Manager / recovery lead for selected critical or complex initiatives without diluting independent assurance across the wider portfolio.

• Contribute lessons learned and practical enhancements to delivery Methods and Transformation Office standards.

  D. Issue Resolution, Stakeholder Leadership & Advisory

• Work with Group Heads, project sponsors, business/technology owners and Project Managers to remove delivery blockers and resolve cross-project or cross-functional issues.
• Serve as trusted advisor on change demand, portfolio composition, prioritization, execution choices, dependencies, delivery risk and value creation.
• Create fact-based escalation paths for issues requiring senior leadership intervention, with clear options, impact and recommended action.

• Build effective working relationships across Technology, Business, Functions, Finance, Procurement, Technology GRC, ISG, ORM, Internal Audit, Compliance and other relevant functions.

  E. Benefits & Value Realization
• Work with accountable business owners to define measurable financial and non-financial benefits, establish baselines, ownership and realization timelines.
• Ensure approved benefits are recorded, tracked and periodically validated through the delivery lifecycle and after go-live where applicable.
• Challenge gaps between investment cases, delivered capabilities, adoption and realized outcomes; escalate material benefit shortfalls and agree corrective actions.

F. Project Manager Leadership & Capability

• Provide functional leadership to Project Managers supporting assigned portfolios, setting expectations for delivery discipline, transparency and escalation.
• Assess PM onboarding/readiness, coach performance and reinforce consistent application of Methods and reporting standards.
• Support assignment of appropriately skilled Project Managers to initiatives based on complexity, risk and criticality, and identify capability or capacity gaps

Knowledge, Skills and Experience

• 15+ years of relevant professional experience, with substantial experience in banking / financial services technology transformation, portfolio, program and project delivery.
• Demonstrated ownership/governance of large, complex portfolios comprising 100+ projects and aggregate investment of AED 100m+ (or equivalent).
• Strong command of CAPEX/OPEX portfolio planning, budgeting, financial forecasting, investment prioritization and delivery-performance management.
• Deep practical experience in portfolio/program/project governance, baseline management, RAID and dependency management, executive reporting, quality assurance and recovery of challenged initiatives.
• Strong understanding of benefits management and value realization, including definition of measurable outcomes, ownership, baselining and tracking.
• Proven ability to advise and influence Group Heads / C-level stakeholders, constructively challenge senior leaders and drive decisions across organizational boundaries.
• Experience leading, coaching and assuring Project Managers and building consistent adherence to enterprise delivery methods.
• Strong analytical skills and ability to convert complex portfolio data into forward-looking executive insight and actionable recommendations.
• Master’s degree preferred (Bachelor’s degree required) in technology, business, engineering, finance or a related discipline.
• Recognized project/program/portfolio management certification (e.g., PMP, PRINCE2, MSP or equivalent) preferred; equivalent demonstrable experience may be considered.