About the Role
This role owns the PMO's operating model across the strategic programme portfolio, including governance forums, reporting, action tracking, change control, document control, and regulatory evidence. The Manager oversees the portfolio's day-to-day governance rhythm, ensuring accuracy and timeliness, allowing the Senior Project Manager to focus on delivery leadership, the critical path, and strategic initiatives. The Manager is responsible for PMO processes, standards, and daily tracking and can lead selected workstreams from start to finish. Key responsibilities such as portfolio priorities, scope and timeline re-baselining, and escalations to executives typically remain with the Senior Project Manager.
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Key Responsibilities
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PMO Governance and Standards
- Own the PMO governance framework: project lifecycle, stage gates, RACI, templates, and reporting standards.
- Ensure all programmes adhere to the framework and address gaps with program and squad leads.
- Maintain a consolidated view of the portfolio, including UAEPay, Acquiring, Card Issuance, IO Backbone, Onboarding, AaNI, Compliance, Merchant Reconciliation, and new programmes.
- Continuously improve PMO processes and tools and recommend changes to the Senior Project Manager.
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Governance Forums and Reporting
- Manage the governance calendar: programme meetings, workshops, the weekly Group CEO update, and bi-weekly SteerCos for various programmes.
- Own the preparation of weekly Group CEO updates and SteerCo packs from data collection to readiness for review by the Senior Project Manager.
- Ensure timely issuance of agendas, pre-reads, minutes, and action logs for every forum.
- Maintain PMO dashboards (milestones, actions, risks, and change requests) and prepare ad-hoc analyses and board pack inputs.
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Action, Risk, and Dependency Management
- Manage the portfolio action tracker and drive the closure of open actions with internal teams and external partners, including banks, acquirers, card schemes, and government entities.
- Maintain the RAID log (risks, assumptions, issues, and dependencies) for each programme and propose RAG ratings and mitigations to the Senior Project Manager.
- Track cross-programme dependencies and identify any critical path slippage early, outlining impact and options.
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Change Control and Document Control
- Oversee the change control process, including intake, logging, first-pass impact assessment, and maintenance of the change register.
- Prepare change request analysis regarding contract basis, scope, effort, and timeline impact for Senior Project Manager decisions.
- Manage document control, including versioning, filing, and access for project documents, specifications, contracts, and sign-offs.
- Track NOC, contract, and counterparty onboarding submissions through to approval.
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Regulatory and Audit Readiness
- Maintain the evidence tracker for CBUAE outsourcing and partnership findings remediation and assemble the evidence pack for review.
- Coordinate document packs for audits, compliance, and scheme certification requests with Compliance, Risk, and programme teams.
- Collect and track onboarding documents from counterparties.
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Workstream Delivery and Agile Support
- Lead selected workstreams or smaller projects from end to end as assigned by the Senior Project Manager.
- Support the integration of squads into a unified Agile/Scrum rhythm, including sprint ceremonies and backlog management.
- Track sprint metrics such as velocity and epic delivery, and report trends against the quarterly roadmap.
Requirements
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Education
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Information Technology, Engineering, Finance, or a related field.
- PMP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, or Agile certification (e.g., PSM I) is a strong advantage.
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Experience
- 5–7 years in project, programme, or PMO management, with at least 3 years managing PMO governance or reporting for a portfolio.
- Experience running governance forums and executive reporting for multiple programmes simultaneously.
- Proven experience leading projects or workstreams end to end with internal teams and external vendors.
- Background in banking, payments, or fintech is highly advantageous.
- Familiarity with UAE regulators or government entities is a strong plus.
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Technical and Domain Knowledge
- Understanding of programme governance: stage gates, RAID management, change control, RACI, milestone, and dependency tracking.
- Knowledge of Agile/Scrum delivery: ceremonies, backlog management, and delivery metrics.
- Proficient in project and collaboration tools such as Jira, Confluence, MS Project, and SharePoint, with advanced skills in Excel and PowerPoint.
- Experience in payments and fintech delivery including cards, acquiring, wallets, bank, and government integrations.
- Knowledge of CBUAE regulatory context, particularly outsourcing and audit requirements, is beneficial.
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Skills
- Structured and rigorous approach that promotes adherence to governance.
- Ability to lead through influence, delivering results from various teams without direct management.
- Strong executive writing and presentation skills; able to distill status data into concise updates for leadership.
- Confident interaction with senior stakeholders and external parties, knowing when to escalate issues.
- High degree of discretion with sensitive, regulatory, and commercial information.
- Fluency in English; proficiency in Arabic is an advantage.
