Senior Manager – Budget Strategy and Policies

Department of Finance - Abu Dhabi; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 300,000 - 460,000; Full time

Job summary

The Department of Finance - Abu Dhabi seeks a senior leader to head the Government Budget Sector’s Centre of Excellence and Transformation PMO. You will benchmark against international peers, assess governance maturity, and align with OECD Principles of Budgetary Governance.

You will drive the enhancement agenda, manage multi-year action plans, oversee project governance, report on benefits, and advise senior leadership on reform options and risks.

Qualifications

• Minimum 8–12 years of relevant experience, incl. ≥3 years in a managerial/supervisory role.
• Proven experience in public financial management, budgeting and policy development.
• Experience benchmarking, PMO leadership, reform initiatives and performance analysis is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Government Budget Sector’s Centre of Excellence with benchmarking and best-practice research.
• Drive transformation by acting as PMO for sector-wide projects and governance improvements.
• Develop and maintain multi-year enhancement action plans and KPI-driven performance management.
• Advise senior management on reform options, risks, and international precedents.
• Maintain policy frameworks, internal strategic plans and sector governance documents.
• Monitor risk, issues and dependencies across divisions and external partners.

Skills

Public Financial Management

Government budgeting

Budget policy development

Public sector strategy

Transformation management

PMO leadership

Benchmarking & best-practices

Expenditure analysis

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Economics/Finance/Public Policy

Master’s degree preferred

CMA/ACCA/CA/CFA or equivalent

PMO or project management certification

Job description

Lead the Government Budget Sector’s Centre of Excellence, responsible for benchmarking, best-practice research, alignment with the OECD Principles of Budgetary Governance and comparable international standards, maturity and gap assessments, and the development of the sector’s enhancement action plan.

Drive the execution of the enhancement agenda by acting as the Project Management Office (PMO) for transformational projects across the Government Budget Sector, and govern the sector through the development of budget policies, the internal strategic plan, and an institutionalized performance management system.

Budget Sector Centre of Excellence

• Lead benchmarking studies against leading government budgeting institutions and comparable international peers, and translate findings into applicable recommendations for the Government Budget Sector.
• Research, evaluate and disseminate leading practices in public financial management, including medium-term fiscal frameworks, performance-based budgeting, spending reviews, capital budgeting and fiscal transparency.
• Assess the sector’s alignment with the OECD Principles of Budgetary Governance and other recognized international standards, and maintain a documented position on the level of adherence.
• Conduct periodic maturity and gap assessments across budget processes, governance arrangements, tools, capabilities and operating model, and quantify the impact and root causes of identified gaps.
• Develop, obtain approval for and maintain the sector’s multi-year enhancement action plan, sequencing initiatives by impact, feasibility, cost and interdependency.
• Act as the sector’s technical reference point and trusted advisor to senior management on reform options, trade-offs, implementation risks and international precedents.

Transformation Management Office (PMO)

• Manage the transformational projects within the Government Budget Sector, including governance structure, stage gates, decision forums and escalation protocols.
• Convert approved enhancement actions into structured projects with defined scope, deliverables, timelines, owners, resource requirements and success criteria.
• Monitor project execution, track milestone achievement and benefit realisation, and report deviations together with corrective action recommendations.
• Maintain project risk, issue and dependency registers, and coordinate interfaces across divisions, government entities and enabling functions.
• Lead the stakeholder engagement, communication and change management activities required for the adoption of approved reforms.
• Manage external consultants and service providers supporting transformation projects, including scope definition, technical evaluation, deliverable review and performance oversight.

Sector Governance, Policies and Strategic Planning

• Develop, review and maintain the policies, frameworks, manuals, methodologies and procedures governing the Government Budget Sector, ensuring internal consistency, clarity and enforceability.
• Develop the sector’s internal strategic plan, translating the Department’s strategic objectives into sector objectives, initiatives, targets and resource requirements.
• Design, implement and maintain the sector’s performance management system, including the KPI architecture, measurement definitions, data sources, targets, review cadence and reporting mechanism.
• Maintain the sector’s policy and governance repository as the single authoritative reference for internal and external stakeholders.

Fiscal Analysis, Optimization and Financial Risk Management

• Build and maintain a comprehensive analytical view of historical government spending patterns across entities, sectors, economic classifications, programmes and cost drivers.
• Analyze expenditure trends, growth drivers, cost structures and efficiency indicators to explain historical performance and inform future resource allocation.
• Develop and maintain the financial risk management plan for the budget, covering risk identification, assessment, mitigation measures, ownership and monitoring indicators.
• Provide analytical evidence to support fiscal policy positions and resource allocation decisions taken by senior management and executive leadership.

Sector Management Reporting and Institutional Excellence

• Design, produce and maintain the management reporting framework of the Government Budget Sector, covering strategy execution, project delivery, policy compliance and operational performance.
• Develop executive dashboards, scorecards and periodic reporting packs for senior management and executive leadership.
• Consolidate performance information across divisions and ensure the accuracy, timeliness, completeness and consistency of reported data.
• Embed a culture of continuous improvement, structured documentation and institutional knowledge retention across the sector.

Experience and Qualifications:

• 8 to 12 years of relevant experience, including at least 3 years in a managerial or supervisory capacity.
• Proven experience in Public Financial Management, government budgeting, budget policy development, or public sector strategy and transformation.
• Demonstrated experience in benchmarking and best-practice studies, PMO leadership, institutional excellence, or fiscal and expenditure analysis is preferred.
• Bachelor’s degree or higher in Economics, Finance, Public Policy, Public Administration or an equivalent field; a Master’s degree is preferred.
• A professional qualification such as CMA, ACCA, CA, CFA or equivalent.
• A recognised project management or excellence certification (e.g. PMP, MSP, MoP, EFQM) is an advantage.