Consulting Manager - Digital and Strategy

About the Job
The company is a world leader in payments technology, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions, and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Join the company and do work that matters – to you, to your community, and to the world. Progress starts with you.

Team Description
The company Consulting and Analytics (VCA) is the consulting arm of the company and drives tangible, impactful results for clients. Drawing on our expertise in consulting, data analytics, technology, payments, and economics, VCA solves the most strategic problems for our clients. The core client segments of VCA include issuers, acquirers, merchants, fintechs, payment enablers, and governments.

Role Description
The Consulting Manager for Digital, Strategy, and AI leads the end-to-end delivery of digital transformation, strategy, and artificial intelligence (AI) engagements across the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region. The role is based in the company office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The Digital, Strategy and AI Consulting Practice is a team of experts specializing in strategy and digital transformation topics, including but not limited to:

• Ideation: Supporting the innovation agenda of clients through foresight, strategic trends research, and co-creation activities.
• Strategy: Defining business, segment, channel, and functional strategies, such as digital banking, affluent banking, loyalty, open finance, stablecoins, and artificial intelligence.
• Value proposition design: Developing holistic offerings, including products, services, and customer experience, for strategic consumer, business, and corporate customer segments.
• Customer experience and engagement: Developing best-in-class digital customer journeys and engagement strategies, including digital onboarding, end-to-end digital journey transformation, digital channel benchmarking, and user interface and user experience enhancement.
• Performance analytics: Improving client performance by deploying digital and AI tools, such as answer engine optimization (AEO), search engine optimization (SEO), and process efficiency improvement.
• Digital delivery: Supporting clients with the implementation of digital strategies, including the design and development of digital channels, generative AI (GenAI) use cases, and proofs of concept.

Key Responsibilities
As a Manager, you will combine hands-on involvement in client deliverables with day-to-day leadership of project teams. Beyond client delivery, you will contribute to business development and thought leadership, and help build the capabilities of junior team members through mentoring and knowledge sharing:

• Lead the delivery of digital, strategy, and AI projects across the GCC, from scoping through to final recommendations and implementation support.
• Manage day-to-day client relationships and act as the main point of contact for client project teams.
• Own the end-to-end problem-solving process, including problem definition and scoping, structuring analytical frameworks and workstreams, and developing actionable, insight-driven recommendations.
• Develop compelling value propositions for digital banking and fintech platforms.
• Facilitate client workshops and stakeholder sessions with business, digital, technology, and other teams to align on findings, solutions, and recommendations.
• Translate strategic recommendations into actionable roadmaps and capability build-out plans.
• Manage project plans, timelines, budgets, and risks to ensure timely delivery of high-quality outputs that meet client expectations.
• Oversee VCA external partners and vendors, such as technology vendors and digital design agencies, throughout the project delivery lifecycle.
• Manage, coach, and develop analysts and junior consultants, ensuring the quality of all client deliverables.
• Collaborate with the company Account Executives and the Product, Value-Added Services (VAS), Marketing, and other internal teams to deliver integrated solutions as One company.
• Support practice business development through proposals and responses to requests for proposal (RFPs), and contribute to practice thought leadership, points of view, and case studies.

Travel Requirements
The position requires flexibility to travel to client sites as engagements demand. Travel of approximately 25 percent should be expected.
This is a hybrid position. Expectation of days in the office will be confirmed by your Hiring Manager.

Qualifications
Basic Qualifications

• 4 to 6 years of work experience in management consulting, with a focus on financial services strategy, payments, digital, or AI projects.
• Degree from a leading university or business school.
• Professional proficiency in English.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience delivering consulting projects in the GCC region.
• Proven track record of leading digital transformation projects from strategy through execution.
• Demonstrated experience in AI and GenAI strategy and implementation.
• Experience in and passion for fintech, payments, generative AI, and agentic AI.
• Proficiency in Arabic.

What You Will Need To Be Successful

• Proven ability to lead projects and workstreams involving senior client stakeholders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Track record of delivering projects on time, within budget, and to the highest quality.
• Experience leading technology delivery teams with diverse resources and skill sets.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with demonstrated practical and responsible use of GenAI tools.
• Strong commercial acumen, with experience building business and value cases that demonstrate return on investment (ROI).
• Excellent client engagement and relationship management skills.
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills.
• A collaborative, diplomatic, and flexible working style, with the ability to work effectively in a matrixed organization.
• A commitment to coaching and developing colleagues.
• High attention to detail and motivation to deliver the best client outcomes.
• Self-motivated and results-oriented, with the ability to manage multiple priorities at the same time.

Additional Information
The company is an EEO Employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status. The company will also consider for employment qualified applicants with criminal histories in a manner consistent with EEOC guidelines and applicable local law.