Associate Director - Enterprise Project Management - Banking

Emirates Investment Bank pjsc; Dubai; On-site; AED 300,000 - 400,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading financial institution in Dubai is seeking an Associate Director for Business Project Management. The ideal candidate will manage strategic initiatives within Private Banking, ensuring the alignment of business priorities with IT solutions. With 15+ years in the financial sector, expertise in CRM and digital transformation is essential. The role requires strong leadership, stakeholder management, and a proven track record in project delivery. This position offers a dynamic environment to drive innovation in banking services.

Qualifications

• Minimum 15 years of experience in Financial Services, with at least 10 years in Private Banking.
• Professional certification preferred: PMP, PRINCE2, Agile/Scrum, or equivalent.
• Proven track record in delivering projects in Wealth management and digital transformation.

Responsibilities

• Gather, prioritize, and define business needs for project delivery.
• Manage projects across core banking platforms and ensure timely delivery.
• Drive digitization and digital strategy projects for enhanced customer experience.

Skills

Strategic planning

Program and project execution

Collaboration

Risk management

Data-driven decision making

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or Project Management

Tools

CRM platforms

Banking systems like Finacle, Temenos

Job description

Role Overview

The Associate Director (AD) - Business Project Management plays a critical role in shaping and executing strategic initiatives across Private Banking at EIB. This role is accountable for aligning business priorities with IT-powered initiatives, ensuring that solutions are designed, delivered, and maintained to meet regulatory standards while driving innovation and efficiency. By leveraging artificial intelligence, process optimization, and data-driven decision-making, the AD ensures that the bank remains competitive and well-positioned in a rapidly evolving private banking landscape.

The position demands expertise in strategic planning, program and project execution, innovation, collaboration, and ongoing support to business units. The AD serves as the central link between Business, Product, Operations, Technology, Risk, and external partners to enable seamless delivery of projects and superior outcomes for clients. The role also requires regular reporting to senior management, highlighting project progress, key risks, and mitigation strategies, while ensuring transparency and alignment with organizational priorities.

The AD oversees the end-to-end management of critical systems and project deliveries, providing strategic oversight, governance, and support to ensure efficient and effective execution. The role is to deliver innovative business solutions while driving disciplined program management practices, ensuring alignment with the bank’s growth and transformation objectives.

Key Responsibilities

• Partner with stakeholders across Private Banking at EIB to gather, prioritize, and define business needs, ensuring delivery of programs that align with strategic and client objectives.
• Manage projects across core banking platforms, lending, deposit products, payments, and card systems for business and enterprise, ensuring timely and effective delivery.
• Drive digitization, digital strategy, and transformation projects to enhance efficiency, customer experience, and scalability for business enterprise.
• Oversee implementation and optimization of CRM platforms and automation solutions to support sales, client servicing, and operational processes.
• Research and evaluate artificial intelligence (AI) applications for Private Banking, creating practical use cases in areas such as client personalization, risk management, process automation, and fraud detection.
• Collaborate with teams from Product, Front office, Investments, Controls, Asset Management and Technology to design and implement solutions that address evolving private banking needs.
• Ensure all system solutions meet risk, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
• Identify, assess, and escalate key risks associated with projects and processes, and ensure effective mitigation plans are in place.
• Provide oversight for testing, implementation, and adoption of new systems, applications, and process flows.
• Partner with IT and external vendors to define requirements, manage service delivery, and assess performance.
• Drive process optimization and cost efficiency through automation and system enhancements.
• Coordinate and enable system training and support to business units, ensuring successful adoption of new processes and systems.
• Deliver periodic reports to senior management on project status, delivery timelines, risks, and budget adherence.
• Provide regular updates to management committees and governance bodies to ensure transparency and alignment.

Qualifications & Experience

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, Business Administration, or Project Management (or related field).
• Professional certification preferred: PMP, PRINCE2, Agile/Scrum, or equivalent.
• Minimum 15 years of experience in Financial Services, with at least 10 years in Private Banking, Wealth Management, or Core Banking delivery.
• Proven track record in delivering projects in Wealth management, Lombard lending, Trading solutions, CRM, automation, and digital transformation.
• Sound Knowledge of banking systems like Finacle, Temenos etc and payments systems and its ancillary functions like operations, products etc.
• Experience in evaluating and developing Artificial Intelligence use cases within financial services or private banking.
• Strong knowledge of Agile delivery methodologies and experience in managing cross-functional teams.
• Solid understanding of risk, compliance, and regulatory frameworks in financial services.
• Exceptional leadership, stakeholder management, and vendor management skills.
• Ability to translate strategic objectives into executable programs while ensuring measurable business value.