Manager Special Projects & Performance - MENA

Talabat; Dubai; On-site; AED 350,000 - 520,000; Full time

Job summary

Talabat is seeking a Manager Special Projects & Performance to join the regional Chief Operating Office. The role drives strategic initiatives, performance management, and cross-functional execution to support growth and sharper organizational outcomes.

You will own full visibility of COO KPIs across functions and markets, surface risks early, lead OKR and budgeting cycles, and ensure alignment between strategy and financial allocations.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in strategy, consulting, operations, or performance management.
• Ability to drive innovation and impact as a thought leader.
• Analytical mindset and data-driven decision making.
• Strong stakeholder management and cross-functional collaboration.
• Experience with financial modelling and P&L analysis preferred.
• Experience using SQL, BigQuery, Looker, Tableau preferred.

Responsibilities

• Own COO functional KPIs visibility across functions and markets.
• Surface risks early and drive turnaround when metrics deviate.
• Lead OKR & budgeting cycles; analyze variances and provide insights to leadership.
• Drive governance, planning timelines, and process improvements for financial planning.
• Own integrated business planning from strategy to budget to OKRs to roadmaps.
• Lead cross-functional strategic high-stakes projects across regions and functions.
• Lead AI adoption efforts to replace manual reporting and accelerate analysis.

Skills

Strategic planning

Performance management

Analytics

Stakeholder management

Cross-functional leadership

Data-driven decisions

Problem solving

Tools

SQL

BigQuery

Looker

Tableau

Job description

About the opportunity

Job Description

The Manager Special Projects & Performance role is part of the regional Chief Operating Office organizational structure. The role will play a key pillar in driving strategic initiatives, business performance management, and cross-functional execution across the organization. Reporting into the Chief Operating Office structure, this role combines strategy, analytics, project management, and operational execution to support business growth, making sure priorities translate into outcomes and improving organizational performance.

What's On Your Plate?

Reporting Business Performance

Own full visibility of COO functional KPIs across functions & markets. Surface risks and opportunities early — before they escalated. Drive turnaround when metrics deviate, with speed and precision. Build and maintain performance reporting frameworks that are insight-driven, not just data consolidations. Present findings to senior leadership in formats that are actionable, not decorative.

OKR & Budget PMO

Lead OKR & budgeting cycles, ensuring alignment across functions and markets. Track OKR/budget performance, analyze variances, flag risks well in advance to course-correct and provide insights to leadership. Drive governance, planning timelines, and process improvements for financial planning. Ensure alignment between strategic priorities and financial allocations.

COO Strategy & Planning

Strategy Development: Translate vision into executable plans; lead annual/multi-year strategic planning cycles and competitive analysis.

Planning & Execution — Own integrated business planning (strategy → budget → OKRs → P&T roadmaps); drive operating cadence (plan with owners, timeline & clear accountability plan, offsites, reviews)

Performance & Alignment — Define company KPIs, monitor strategic initiative progress, align business units, and support COO with board/executive reporting

Cross-Functional Special Projects

Lead cross-functional strategic high-stakes projects requiring heavy coordination across Regional, Local, P&T. Manage stakeholder complexity across markets and functions without losing pace. Drive alignment from senior leadership to ground-level execution — and hold the thread across all of it.

AI & Productivity

Lead AI adoption efforts within the functional performance teams. Identify where AI tools can replace manual reporting, accelerate analysis, and enhance the team's output quality. Push the team toward smarter, faster ways of working.

What you need to be successful

What Did We Order?

• 3+ years in strategy, consulting, operations, or performance management — ideally in tech or a fast-paced consumer business
• Thought Leadership ability to drive innovation and impact
• Analytical Mindset & strong problem-solving skills with a focus on data-driven decisions
• Stakeholder Management, Cross-functional collaboration, Structured communicator — can compress complexity into clear, actionable output
• Experience with financial modelling and PnL analysis strongly preferred
• Experience using SQL, BigQuery, Looker, Tableau strongly preferred

Who we are

Talabat is part of the Delivery Hero Group, the world’s pioneering local delivery platform, our mission is to deliver an amazing experience—fast, easy, and to your door. We operate in around 65 countries worldwide. Headquartered in Berlin, Germany. Delivery Hero has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2017 and is part of the MDAX stock market index.