About the Role
The Unit Head - Program & Project Management Delivery is responsible for leading the Program & Project Management Delivery function within Technology Transformation & Portfolio Management. This role ensures the end-to-end oversight of technology program and project execution, delivering initiatives within the approved scope, schedule, budget, quality, and governance requirements. The Unit Head will effectively manage risks, dependencies, resources, vendors, and stakeholders, while building a sustainable delivery organization through disciplined workforce planning and UAE National development.
Ready to apply for roles like this?
Unlock the company name and direct application link. Subscribers get instant access to fresh jobs across Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Riyadh, many with visa support.
Unlock employer & apply directly
Key Accountabilities of the Role
-
Program & Project Delivery Leadership
- Lead the planning and execution of the assigned technology program and project portfolio.
- Ensure approved initiatives are delivered within scope, schedule, budget, quality, and governance expectations.
- Set delivery priorities, accountabilities, milestones, and recovery actions across project teams.
- Provide timely oversight and intervention for material delivery risks, delays, and constraints.
-
Delivery Planning & Controls
- Ensure robust integrated plans, baselines, resource plans, financial forecasts, and delivery schedules are maintained.
- Monitor milestones, critical paths, dependencies, changes, risks, issues, and decisions throughout the lifecycle.
- Maintain delivery discipline through accurate status reporting, evidence-based forecasting, and corrective action tracking.
- Ensure project closure, handover, lessons learned, and benefits transition are completed effectively.
-
Stakeholder & Business Outcome Management
- Partner with project sponsors, business and technology stakeholders to confirm outcomes, priorities, and acceptance criteria.
- Maintain clear stakeholder communication, decision logs, escalation routes, and governance updates.
- Ensure delivery outcomes support approved business cases, strategic objectives, and measurable benefits.
- Manage competing priorities and facilitate resolution of cross-functional dependencies.
-
Vendor & Financial Delivery Management
- Oversee vendor and strategic partner performance against contractual commitments, milestones, quality, and service expectations.
- Monitor project financials, forecasts, commitments, variances, and corrective actions within approved budgets.
- Work with Procurement, Finance, and Legal stakeholders on commercial, contractual, and delivery matters.
- Promote value for money, delivery accountability, and effective use of internal and external resources.
-
Governance, Risk & Quality
- Ensure programs and projects comply with PM governance standards, stage gates, controls, and reporting requirements.
- Maintain effective management of delivery, operational, technology, regulatory, and third-party risks.
- Support project assurance reviews, audits, and remediation activities, ensuring actions are closed on time.
- Embed quality management, testing readiness, implementation governance, and post-implementation review practices.
-
Workforce, FTE & Capacity Management
- Develop and maintain the PM Delivery workforce and FTE plan aligned with portfolio demand, budget, and approved structure.
- Forecast delivery resource demand and balance permanent FTE, UAE National talent, contractors, and strategic partners.
- Monitor vacancies, recruitment, allocation, utilization, productivity, skills gaps, and succession risks.
- Provide capacity insights and recommendations to senior leadership.
-
UAE National & Staff Development
- Create and maintain individual development plans for UAE Nationals and other staff in the PM Delivery function.
- Provide role-based pathways for project management, program management, stakeholder leadership, financial control, and delivery governance.
- Coordinate mentoring, coaching, job rotations, stretch assignments, knowledge transfer, and professional certifications.
- Review progress regularly, evidence capability growth and build succession readiness for critical delivery roles.
-
Leadership & Continuous Improvement
- Lead, coach, and develop program managers, project managers, and project management associates.
- Set clear performance objectives, delivery standards, and accountability across the function.
- Use lessons learned and performance trends to improve delivery methods, tools, and ways of working.
- Champion organizational values, customer focus, ethics, ownership, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
-
Role Complexity and Decision-Making
- Lead delivery across a large and complex portfolio comprising numerous concurrent technology projects and programs.
- Manage significant financial exposure, regulatory criticality, delivery risk, and cross-functional dependencies across business and technology.
- Make and recommend time-sensitive delivery, sequencing, resource, and recovery decisions.
- Balance strategic priorities, operational constraints, risk appetite, customer impact, architecture direction, and regulatory commitments.
-
Organizational Scope and Stakeholder Interfaces
- Report to senior leadership.
- Manage delivery and project management capacity including program managers, project managers, project management associates, and partner resources.
- Work closely with stakeholders including Transformation, Digital, PM Governance, IT Governance, Architecture, Cybersecurity, Risk, Compliance, Finance, and Operations.
- Clarify accountabilities between portfolio governance and delivery execution.
- Technology and SDLC Delivery Ownership
- Ensure adherence to the approved technology delivery lifecycle and SDLC requirements.
- Ensure architecture alignment, cybersecurity, and control readiness are addressed at appropriate delivery stages.
- Oversee testing readiness and completion, release planning, cutover governance, hypercare, and operational acceptance.
- Benefits Realization and Change Leadership
- Lead/support tracking of outcomes from approved business cases.
- Define measures, baselines, ownership, and validation arrangements for expected outcomes.
- Oversee change readiness, stakeholder adoption, and embedding of new practices.
- Escalate material gaps and ensure agreed corrective actions are tracked.
- Delivery Continuity and Resilience
- Establish succession and continuity arrangements for critical programs and delivery roles.
- Identify and mitigate key-person dependencies.
- Ensure critical project knowledge, plans, decisions, and delivery evidence remain accessible.
- Delivery Performance Measures
- Monitor delivery KPIs including milestone predictability, budget variance, and closure quality.
- Use trends and leading indicators to prioritize interventions and resource decisions.
- Provide transparent KPI reporting and commentary to leadership and governance forums.
Specialist Skills / Technical Knowledge Required for This Role
- Enterprise program and project delivery management
- Agile, Waterfall, and hybrid delivery methodologies
- Integrated planning, scheduling, dependency and critical path management
- Project financial management, forecasting, and budget control
- Risk, issue, change, quality, and benefits management
- PMO governance, stage gates, project assurance, and audit readiness
- Executive reporting, stakeholder engagement, and escalation management
- Vendor, commercial, and strategic partner delivery management
- FTE planning, workforce analytics, and resource capacity management
- UAE National development, succession planning, mentoring, and capability frameworks
- Leadership, coaching, negotiation, decision-making, and continuous improvement
Additional Delivery Leadership Capabilities
- SDLC governance, architecture alignment, cybersecurity, and control readiness
- Testing governance, release management, cutover, and operational acceptance
- Benefits realization, post-implementation validation, and change adoption
- Portfolio delivery KPIs, milestone predictability, budget variance, and closure quality
- Delivery continuity, key-person risk, vendor transition, and exit planning
- Influencing and decision-making across complex stakeholder groups.
