Program Manager – International Banking Expansion

La Fosse; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 600,000 - 1,000,000; Full time

Job summary

La Fosse is seeking a senior Program Manager to lead international expansion initiatives for banking operations across multiple countries. You will design and execute market-entry strategies, establish branches, subsidiaries, and representative offices, and navigate regulatory and governance complexities with senior executives.

You must have 15+ years in banking transformation, hands-on leadership, and strong stakeholder management with regulators, Legal, Compliance, Risk, Operations &

Qualifications

• Must come from the banking industry.
• Proven international expansion / market-entry experience.
• Experience establishing branches, subsidiaries and/or representative offices across multiple jurisdictions/ countries.
• Strong exposure to multi-jurisdiction regulatory environments.
• Experience managing regulatory licensing, approvals and supervisory requirements.
• Strong understanding of international regulatory compliance, risk and control frameworks.
• Experience working across the Three Lines of Defence.
• Track record of successfully engaging regulators and navigating audits.
• Experience leading complex multi-country transformation programmes.
• Strong stakeholder management across Legal, Compliance, Risk, Operations & Technology.
• Ability to operate and influence at ExCo / senior executive level.
• 15+ years’ experience delivering large-scale banking transformation.

Responsibilities

• Lead international expansion initiatives including market-entry and branch establishment across multiple countries.
• Deliver complex multi-country banking transformation programmes balancing growth, regulatory, risk and governance.
• Engage regulators and manage regulatory licensing and supervisory requirements across jurisdictions.

Skills

International expansion

Banking industry experience

Regulatory compliance

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Program management

Multi-country transformation

Three Lines of Defence

Job description

Program Manager – International Expansion

We’re looking for a senior Program Manager MUST HAVE proven experience delivering international expansion / global market-entry / branch establishments of banking operations across multiple countries and regulatory jurisdictions!

This role requires someone who has genuinely led the establishment and scaling of banking operations across new countries — including Representative Offices, Branches and Subsidiaries — and understands the regulatory, operational and governance complexity involved.

What we’re looking for

• MUST come form banking industry
• Proven international expansion / market-entry experience
• Experience establishing branches, subsidiaries and/or representative offices across multiple jurisdictions/ countries
• Strong exposure to multi-jurisdiction regulatory environments
• Experience managing regulatory licensing, approvals and supervisory requirements
• Strong understanding of international regulatory compliance, risk and control frameworks
• Experience working across the Three Lines of Defence
• Track record of successfully engaging regulators and navigating audits
• Experience leading complex multi-country transformation programmes
• Strong stakeholder management across Legal, Compliance, Risk, Operations & Technology
• Ability to operate and influence at ExCo / senior executive level
• 15+ years’ experience delivering large-scale banking transformation

This is a senior, hands-on role with responsibility for delivering international expansion while balancing growth, regulatory requirements, risk, governance and capital considerations.

If you’ve successfully taken a bank into new countries/jurisdictions and managed the regulatory journey from strategy through to establishment, we’d love to hear from you.