Program Manager, CB, PB & Marketing

Role Overview

Program Manager, Corporate Banking (CB), Personal Banking (PB) & Marketing at First Abu Dhabi Bank, located in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Company Overview

First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) is the largest bank in the UAE and one of the world's largest and safest financial institutions. It offers a comprehensive range of personal and private banking services, including credit cards, Islamic banking, investments, loans, and mortgages. The organization is committed to excellence and innovation, providing top-tier financial solutions to clients globally. FAB operates a performance-based culture that emphasizes customer focus, daily living of organizational values, celebration of achievements, and empowerment of employees to deliver leading solutions.

Role Purpose

The Program Manager ensures the organization invests in the right projects, delivers them effectively, and realizes intended strategic value. The role manages the Business & Function CPMO Project Portfolio Managers, focusing on value, alignment, and enterprise-level decision making. It provides governance and oversight of function-wide portfolio(s) ensuring delivery on time and within budget, while collaborating across Change, Value & Reporting, Integration & Governance, Delivery Teams, and Business functions to define and operate execution governance.

Key Responsibilities

Governance & Strategic Alignment

• Own governance oversight of the portfolio.
• Align the project portfolio to corporate strategy.
• Execute governance of the portfolio.
• Hold accountability for adherence of portfolio to the bank's governance, including processes, reporting, and governance committees.
• Establish governance frameworks that ensure disciplined execution and controlled change.

Portfolio Planning & Demand Management

• Engage with Business, Technology, Enablement & Control teams to understand portfolio's strategic objectives.
• Ensure portfolio projects are aligned to the bank's strategy and provide quantifiable business value.
• Engage with Business, Technology, Enablement & Control teams to initiate the annual demand process.
• Participate in demand prioritization with the Value & Reporting team and provide support in consolidating all requirements.
• Plan the portfolio and define master resource plans to understand required skills and headcount.
• Review portfolio financials with the 360 Value team.

Governance Committee & Reporting

• Prepare and run the monthly Portfolio Governance Committee.
• Report portfolio status and health, highlighting key issues requiring management attention.
• Provide value-add insights and recommendations to executive level.
• Prepare portfolio-level status reports and participate in portfolio-level governance forums.
• Define portfolio dashboards, KPIs, and reporting structures.
• Process large amounts of data points and refine them into clear, concise reports for executive level with recommendations, options, and insights.
• Create and present reports and packs for senior management up to and including executive level.

Risk, Issues & Dependencies

• Monitor risks and issues at portfolio level and provide timely, clear visibility where support is required to senior management and executive committees.
• Identify risks early across the entire change agenda.
• Maintain clarity on dependencies, timelines, and impacts.
• Identify interdependencies and engage with Business, Technology, Enablement & Control teams to ensure alignment and swift action on dependencies.
• Work closely with program managers to resolve issues and handle escalations.
• Handle multiple programs with interdependencies and proactively resolve issues.

Benefits & Value Realization

• Ensure benefits are defined upfront and embedded in business cases.
• Track benefits realization after projects go live.
• Monitor system adoption and benefits realization tracking.
• Upon project closure within a portfolio, ensure the project transitions to the Value & Reporting team for value tracking and realization.

Resource & Delivery Management

• Optimize investment and resource allocation.
• Define a master resource plan to understand what skills and number of people are required to run the portfolio successfully, and review it with the Change Team.
• Proactively engage with the Change team to ensure staffing is available for current and future projects.
• Measure and track the team's productivity.
• Steer delivery teams toward outcomes, not just deliverables.
• Build a culture of accountability, transparency, and strategic focus.

Stakeholder Engagement & Development

• Provide value-add insights and recommendations at portfolio level to senior management up to and including executive committee level on an ongoing basis.
• Provide information in a concise and clear manner to executives, both verbally and written.
• Engage with executives, providing management-level insights and accountability.
• Coach executives and delivery teams on portfolio thinking.
• Develop project and portfolio management maturity.
• Educate and provide support to Business, Technology, Enablement & Control teams on PMO processes and templates.
• Supervise, coach, and develop junior team members.
• Propose best practices on how to ensure efficient management principles, processes, tools, and templates are continuously maintained.
• Work with the Integration & Governance team to develop a master plan for the portfolio of projects.
• Provide relevant data requests and updates to the Integration & Governance team as required on an ad hoc basis.

Qualifications & Experience

• University degree in Technology, Management, or equivalent.
• 15+ years of total experience.
• Minimum 10 years of experience in managing portfolios, project governance, and delivery.
• Minimum 5 years with oversight of or running large programs of work.
• Experience of working with Banking IT or PMO.
• Experience in managing a team size of 5–10 people.
• Previous experience in providing reporting for and presenting to executive level.
• Previous experience engaging directly with SVP level in reviews of challenges with ability to guide and challenge as required.
• PMP or PRINCE2 (or equivalent) certification.
• SAFe certification or other agile certification.

Preferred Qualifications

• MBA or equivalent master's degree.

Skills & Competencies

• Expertise in portfolio management and portfolio planning.
• Experience in managing various project management delivery methodologies (Agile, Waterfall, Hybrid).
• Experience in oversight and managing more than 5 projects and programs concurrently.
• Ability to work with a cross-functional team.
• Good stakeholder management capability and working with senior management.
• Excellent presentation and communication skills.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office Applications, including PowerPoint and Excel.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment, multi-task, and deliver within tight deadlines.
• Willing to learn, collaborate, go the extra-mile, and demonstrate a high level of integrity.
• Ability to handle highly confidential information appropriately.
• Demonstrates high level of integrity.

Additional Information

First Abu Dhabi Bank offers unique career choices, a chance to innovate, and craft solutions for the future. The organization provides a range of learning and development initiatives to support all employees through training and skill development. FAB has structured plans for the recruitment and career progression of Emirati talent to enable them to make a mark in the financial and banking sector both regionally and globally, with rewards for hard work and dedication.