UAE In-Country Services Technology Lead and MENAP Cluster Lead

Role Overview

UAE In-Country Services Technology Lead and MENAP Cluster Lead at Citi, based in the United Arab Emirates. This pivotal leadership role orchestrates end-to-end technology delivery, governance, and operational resilience across the UAE and the broader Middle East and Pakistan (MENAP) cluster.

Role Purpose

Act as the primary technology executive facing in-country business heads, product leaders, regulatory bodies, internal audit, and regional governance committees. Provide integrated execution accountability across multiple business franchises including Institutional Clients Group, Treasury and Trade Solutions, Markets, Corporate Banking, and Commercial Banking, while combining strong leadership and governance capabilities with hands-on technology development expertise.

Key Responsibilities

Cross-Franchise Technology Initiatives & Delivery Orchestration

• Lead and direct multi-franchise technology programs, aligning global and regional technology delivery roadmaps with local country priorities.
• Proactively identify, track, and remediate technical, operational, and organizational dependencies across distributed global delivery teams, local technology partners, and third-party vendors.
• Establish robust program governance metrics, KPIs, milestones, risk registers, and executive steering committees to ensure transparent delivery reporting and on-time execution.

Regulatory Engagement, Audits & Governance Forums

• Lead technology engagements with local and regional regulators including the Central Bank of the UAE, DFSA, FSRA, and regional authorities across the MENAP footprint.
• Drive internal and external technology audits, regulatory inspections, peer reviews, and Continuous Comprehensive Compliance (CCC) and Regulatory Control Framework (RCF) forums.
• Maintain rigorous oversight over Corrective Action Plans (CAPs) and audit remediation items, ensuring timely, verifiable, and sustainable closure.
• Coordinate and supervise mandatory regulatory vulnerability assessments, penetration tests, and disaster recovery and business continuity testing.

Product & Business Stakeholder Engagement

• Act as the trusted technology partner and advisor to in-country and cluster Business Executive Officers, Product Managers, and Operations Heads.
• Bridge business strategy with technology capabilities, translating commercial objectives into prioritized technology demand and actionable backlogs.
• Evaluate emerging market trends and identify technology opportunities to enhance client experience, process efficiency, and digital capabilities.

Local Regulatory & Market Mandates

• Drive architecture and infrastructure localization initiatives to satisfy national data privacy, residency, and onshoring regulations across UAE and MENAP.
• Ensure technology platforms comply with local clearing systems, central bank reporting pipelines, tax and invoicing standards, and local-language (including Arabic) UX/UI requirements.
• Ensure all localized adaptations comply with strict institutional security, cryptographic, and access-control policies.

Local Technology & Business Application Ownership

• Assume end-to-end Business Application Ownership (BAO) and technology ownership for local applications and integration layers.
• Serve as the senior escalation point for local critical (P1/P2) production incidents, orchestrating rapid triage, root-cause resolution, and stakeholder updates.
• Act as the in-country subject matter expert for local processing workflows, integration architectures, core banking connectivity, and middleware.
• Conduct deep-dive architecture reviews, assess onshoring and localization code-level feasibility, evaluate regulatory technical controls, and accelerate production incident root-cause investigations.

Qualifications & Experience

Education & Background

• Bachelor's or Master's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or related discipline.
• 8+ years of progressive technology leadership experience within global banking and financial services environments.
• Proven experience operating within UAE and MENA banking environments and navigating regional regulatory frameworks including CBUAE, DFSA, FSRA, and SAMA.

Technical & Engineering Competencies

• Solid foundation in modern programming languages and frameworks including Java, Spring Boot, Python, .NET, and Go.
• Knowledge of microservices, REST/SOAP APIs, enterprise service buses (ESB), and message queues such as Kafka and MQ.
• Knowledge of relational and NoSQL databases.
• Good understanding of data protection principles, encryption in transit and at rest, secure SDLC, OWASP standards, and disaster recovery strategies.

Leadership & Managerial Attributes

• Exceptional track record of executive-level communication and relationship building with business heads, regulators, and audit committees.
• Demonstrated ability to remain composed, structured, and decisive during high-severity production incidents and regulatory audits.
• Proven ability to influence and lead cross-functional, distributed teams across multiple geographies and cultural environments.
• Fluency in English is mandatory; professional Arabic language proficiency is a distinct advantage.

Additional Information

• Job Family Group: Technology
• Job Family: Applications Development
• Time Type: Full time
• Citi is an equal opportunity employer and qualified candidates will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other characteristic protected by law.