Compliance Manager - UAE

Role Overview

Compliance Manager – UAE at Clifford Chance, based in the United Arab Emirates, covering both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices.

Company Overview

Clifford Chance is one of the largest international law firms in the world, with over 30 offices across the globe. The firm provides high-quality legal advice and insight that combines global standards with in-depth local expertise. The firm serves clients in commercial and industrial sectors, the financial investor community, governments, regulators, trade bodies, and not-for-profit organisations.

Role Purpose

The Local Compliance Manager is the senior in-country lead for the Firm's compliance in the UAE, responsible for ensuring that global compliance objectives are implemented locally in a way that meets UAE legal and regulatory requirements. The role reports to the Head of Compliance, ME Markets and Türkiye, the designated Office Managing Partner, and supports the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, Money Laundering Reporting Officer, Global Compliance Team and local management. The Local Compliance Manager acts as a trusted adviser to partners, lawyers and business professionals while challenging decisions, escalating issues where necessary, and maintaining oversight where compliance risks exist.

Key Responsibilities

Local Compliance Leadership and Governance

• Lead the implementation, operation and continuous development of compliance in the UAE, considering global compliance relevant topics and objectives, local laws and regulations, regulatory expectations and the Firm's strategy.
• Own day-to-day local delivery of the Compliance Framework in the UAE, with clear accountability and escalation to senior management where required.
• Act as the local representative for Compliance in the UAE and promote a positive compliance culture across partners, lawyers and business professionals.
• Maintain effective working relationships with local management and key stakeholders so that local and global compliance responses are coordinated and consistent.
• Develop and maintain a Technology and AI Risk Framework, aligned to legal sector regulatory expectations and industry best practice.
• Advise senior stakeholders including CIO, CTO, Innovation teams, and partners on risk, regulatory and reputational implications of technology adoption.
• Collaborate closely with key stakeholders to ensure that AI Risk oversight complements and supports the firm's information security, data privacy and enterprise risk management frameworks.
• Ensure alignment with firm-wide risk appetite and governance standards.

Risk Assessment, Horizon Scanning and Controls

• Identify, assess and document UAE compliance-relevant risks and compliance-relevant concerns, including risks arising from changes in law, regulation, regulator expectations, client requirements, Firm systems, local business activities or global policy developments.
• Lead local input into the Compliance Risk Assessment, the UAE risk register, UAE risk assessments and any Compliance Plan for new or changing compliance requirements.
• Design, implement and improve proportionate local controls and preventive monitoring mechanisms for compliance objectives, working with the Head of Compliance ME Markets and Türkiye, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, Global Compliance Team and relevant subject matter experts.
• Monitor legal, regulatory and market developments in the UAE that may affect the Firm's compliance obligations or controls and advise the Office Managing Partner, Head of Compliance ME Markets and Türkiye and other stakeholders on impact, required action and timing.
• Identify incidences, trends or indicators of non-compliance, determine appropriate remedial steps with the relevant stakeholders and monitor completion of agreed actions.

Policies, Processes, Training and Communications

• Lead local implementation of global compliance policies, processes and guidelines and ensure local awareness, understanding and adoption across the UAE offices.
• Design, document, approve and communicate local approaches where local requirements are more stringent, different or require a documented deviation from the global minimum, working with the Global Compliance Team.
• Contribute UAE input to new or amended global compliance policies and processes, ensuring that local requirements and practical implementation issues are identified early.
• Lead the development, implementation and monitoring of mandatory risk and compliance training programmes, including local training needs, completion tracking, issue escalation and follow-up for non-completion or poor performance.
• Develop and deliver effective communications on compliance topics for the UAE, including new requirements, policy changes, regulatory developments, lessons learned from incidents and expectations for compliant conduct.

Monitoring, Assurance, Reporting and Escalation

• Monitor compliance performance locally against agreed requirements, controls and indicators, including through reporting packs, file reviews, self-assessments, sample testing and issue tracking as appropriate.
• Prepare clear and timely reports for management and other relevant stakeholders on compliance activities, compliance performance, incidents, breaches, material risks and remediation status.
• Report serious compliance violations promptly to management and propose practical action aimed at preventing recurrence.
• Provide compliance related responses to internal audit, compliance assurance and regulator-facing review activity relating to the UAE offices, including scoping, evidence gathering, management responses and remediation tracking.
• Maintain appropriate records evidencing local compliance activity, decisions, approvals, risk assessments, controls, training, monitoring, reports and remediation.
• Report every six months to management on UAE compliance activities, compliance performance, compliance violations and material remediation activity, in the format and timing stipulated by the Head of Compliance ME Markets and Türkiye.
• Report annually to the Head of Compliance ME Markets and Türkiye on the assessment of UAE compliance risks that could lead to compliance violations or otherwise impair compliance objectives, including changes in law, regulation, business activity or control effectiveness.

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing

• Support the Money Laundering Reporting Officer in discharging UAE AML, counter-terrorist financing, and counter-proliferation financing responsibilities, including suspicious transaction reporting, appropriate regulatory and filing processes and regulator-facing engagement.
• Lead coordination and preparation of UAE AML and related regulatory filings for the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices, including annual AML returns, annual information returns and responses to thematic or supervisory reviews.
• Prepare and maintain the UAE Business Risk Assessment, ensuring alignment with relevant UAE national risk assessments, regulatory expectations, local business activities, the Firm's controls and the Client Acceptance Team's policies and procedures.
• Advise the Client Acceptance Team to ensure UAE KYC, screening and sanctions requirements are properly documented, including screening against the UAE Local Terrorist List and UN sanctions lists and coordinating any required reporting.
• Conduct or coordinate local file reviews, quality control activity and annual self-assessments of UAE AML compliance, including the annual Abu Dhabi file audit and related remediation tracking.
• Attend and cascade mandatory training or briefings issued by relevant UAE authorities and regulators.

Data Privacy and Information Governance

• Act as the main point of contact for data privacy matters in the UAE, working closely with the firm's data privacy team and helping raise awareness of data privacy requirements and supporting the consistent application of the firm's data privacy policies, procedures, and controls across the office.
• Coordinate UAE data privacy compliance, including local regulatory requirements and annual registration processes for the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices.
• Engage with the data privacy team regarding the implementation of global data privacy requirements with extraterritorial effect, including GDPR where relevant.
• Work with central compliance, data privacy and information governance stakeholders to escalate incidents, advise on queries and manage process changes affecting the UAE offices.

Other Compliance Topics and Local Regulatory Support

• Provide advice and guidance to partners, lawyers and business professionals on a range of compliance matters, including anti-bribery and corruption, gifts and hospitality, personal conflicts of interest, whistleblowing, market conduct and insider trading.
• Support the business in understanding and complying with the firm's broader compliance framework and regulatory obligations.
• Advise local management as required in relation to maintaining the Firm's UAE licences and related regulatory filings, while recognising the allocation of responsibilities between Compliance, Legal, Finance, HR, IT, Procurement and other functions under the Compliance Framework.
• Act as a first point of contact for UAE compliance questions, incidents, breaches or concerns and route matters to the appropriate global or local owner where another function has primary responsibility.

Qualifications & Experience

• Significant experience in compliance, risk, regulatory, legal or a closely related function, with demonstrable responsibility for implementing policies, controls, monitoring, reporting and remediation.
• Good understanding of the regulatory environment for legal consultancy firms and international law firms operating in the UAE, including Dubai, DIFC, Abu Dhabi and ADGM contexts as relevant to the Firm.
• Good working knowledge of UAE AML, counter-terrorist financing, sanctions, counter-proliferation financing, anti-bribery and corruption, data privacy and market conduct requirements, including how these interact with global law firm policies and controls.
• Professional compliance, legal, or regulatory qualifications are desirable.

Skills & Competencies

• Ability to translate legal and regulatory requirements into practical, proportionate controls, processes, training and communications for partners, lawyers and business professionals.
• Strong judgment, independence and confidence to challenge appropriately, escalate serious issues and advise senior stakeholders on risk, impact and remediation.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to build