Head of Advisory

Braxtone Group; Manama; On-site; BHD 56,000 - 79,000; Full time

Job summary

Braxtone Advisory in Bahrain seeks a senior leader to define and execute the advisory practice strategy across the GCC insurance sector. You will own the P&L, shape growth, and develop high-value offerings while building relationships with boards, CEOs, regulators and investors.

You will originate business, lead complex engagements, ensure delivery excellence, and build scalable capabilities, including offshore delivery where appropriate.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, insurance, engineering or a related discipline.
• Master’s degree or MBA preferred.
• 15+ years in professional experience with senior leadership in management consulting or advisory.
• Strong knowledge of GCC insurance markets and regulatory environments.
• Proven ability to originate and grow advisory engagements with board/C-suite exposure.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the Advisory business strategy, annual plan and three-year growth roadmap.
• Own the practice P&L, including revenue, gross margin, utilization, headcount and costs.
• Lead client origination, proposals, pricing, negotiation and contracting.
• Grow key accounts through structured relationship plans and cross-selling.
• Lead delivery excellence and governance for engagements, ensuring client value.

Skills

Executive presence

Strategic thinking

GCC market knowledge

Client relationship management

Negotiation and deal-making

Education

Bachelor’s degree in business/finance/economics/insurance/engineering

MBA or master’s degree preferred

Tools

ACII/FCII/CPCU

CFA/CPA/CA

PMP

Job description

To establish Braxtone Advisory as a trusted, high-growth regional partner to insurance-sector boards, executive teams, regulators and investors by developing commercially relevant propositions, winning and expanding strategic client relationships, and consistently delivering measurable outcomes.

Job Description

A. Business Strategy, P&L and Growth

• Define and execute the Advisory business strategy, annual business plan and three-year growth roadmap in alignment with the Group’s priorities.
• Own the practice P&L, including revenue, gross margin, utilization, headcount, operating costs, working capital and collections.
• Build a focused portfolio of repeatable, high-value offerings and determine where Braxtone should lead, partner or use external specialists.
• Translate market opportunities into a disciplined pipeline, account plans and achievable sales and delivery forecasts.
• Prepare regular performance reports and recommendations for the Group CEO and Executive Committee.

B. Business Development and Client Origination

• Originate and convert new assignments through personal market credibility, executive relationships, referrals, partnerships and targeted campaigns.
• Develop trusted relationships with board members, CEOs, C-suite executives, regulators, investors and other senior stakeholders across the GCC.
• Lead client discovery, opportunity qualification, proposal development, commercial structuring, pricing, negotiation and contracting.
• Grow key accounts through structured relationship plans, cross-selling and the identification of follow-on opportunities.
• Maintain clear pipeline discipline, including probability-weighted forecasting, next actions, ownership and conversion analysis.

C. Client Leadership and Delivery Excellence

• Act as executive sponsor for strategic engagements and remain accountable for outcomes, quality, client confidence and commercial performance.
• Convert complex client issues into clear hypotheses, workplans, governance arrangements, decision papers and implementable recommendations.
• Establish rigorous engagement controls covering scope, milestones, budget, resourcing, risks, dependencies, change requests and billing.
• Ensure that deliverables meet leading consulting standards and are practical, evidence-based and tailored to the GCC insurance environment.
• Intervene early where engagements are at risk, resolve escalations professionally and capture lessons learned

D. Service Portfolio and Intellectual Capital

• Develop and lead offerings across insurance strategy and growth, operating-model and performance transformation, claims and profitability improvement, regulatory and licensing advisory, governance and risk, digital and AI-enabled transformation, M&A and post-merger integration, restructuring and run-off, and feasibility and business planning.
• Create methodologies, diagnostic tools, proposal assets, case studies and quality standards that improve differentiation and delivery efficiency.
• Produce relevant thought leadership and represent Braxtone at selected industry forums, roundtables, webinars and media opportunities.
• Maintain current knowledge of insurance-market developments, regulatory change, emerging technologies and competitor activity across the region.

E. People, Capability and Culture

• Design the target organization and resource model for the practice, balancing senior client leadership, core delivery capability and specialist expertise.
• Recruit, coach and retain a high-performing team with clear objectives, development plans, succession coverage and performance accountability.
• Build scalable delivery capacity, including effective use of India-based or other offshore resources where appropriate, while protecting quality and client confidentiality.
• Create a collaborative, inclusive and high-integrity culture that combines commercial ambition with professional judgement and accountability.
• Ensure appropriate utilization, workload management, knowledge sharing and continuing professional development

F. Governance, Risk and Group Collaboration

• Apply robust engagement acceptance, conflict, independence, confidentiality, data-protection, subcontractor and quality-review controls.
• Ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulatory requirements, Group policies and contractual obligations in each market.
• Work closely with Braxtone’s Insurance, Claims, Assistance and Digital businesses to create integrated solutions without compromising advisory objectivity.
• Build and manage a reliable network of subject-matter experts, alliance partners and subcontractors, with clear accountability for quality and economics.

Priority Advisory Domains

Corporate and business-unit strategy, market entry, distribution, product and portfolio strategy, customer value propositions

Transformation

Target operating models, process redesign, cost and performance improvement, change management and implementation support

Claims & technical

Claims transformation, leakage and recovery reviews, loss-ratio improvement, underwriting and technical operations

Transactions

Commercial and operational due diligence, M&A support, post-merger integration, restructuring, run-off and market exit

Regulatory & governance

Licensing, regulatory remediation, governance, risk, compliance and board/executive advisory

Digital & analytics

Digital strategy, automation, data and analytics, AI use cases, InsurTech partnerships and technology-enabled operating change

Performance Expectations

Detailed annual targets will be agreed with the Group CEO and Executive Committee. Performance will be assessed through a balanced scorecard covering the following outcomes:

Dimension

Illustrative measures

Commercial performance

Revenue, gross margin, collections, utilization and performance against approved budget

Qualified pipeline, proposal conversion, new strategic accounts, account expansion and strength of senior relationships

Client satisfaction, repeat business, referenceability, measurable engagement outcomes and effective escalation management

Milestone and budget performance, quality-review results, scope control and risk management

Business building

Priority offerings launched, reusable intellectual capital, alliances and market visibility

People leadership

Critical hires, retention, capability development, succession, engagement and productive deployment of the team

Governance

Compliance with engagement acceptance, conflict, confidentiality, contracting, data-protection and quality requirements

First-12 Months Priorities

• Complete a fact-based review of the existing Advisory portfolio, pipeline, delivery model, capabilities and economics; agree the strategic priorities and operating model.
• Present and secure approval for a three-year practice plan, annual budget, market and account priorities, service portfolio, talent plan and delivery model.
• Build a qualified opportunity pipeline and establish a consistent cadence for account management, proposals, forecasting and collections.
• Strengthen governance and quality controls across all active engagements and implement a clear project and portfolio reporting framework.
• Win and successfully mobilize priority assignments that demonstrate Braxtone’s differentiated insurance expertise and create referenceable outcomes.
• Recruit or deploy the critical leadership and delivery capabilities required to execute the approved plan, including scalable offshore support where appropriate.

Qualifications and Experience

Education

• Bachelor’s degree in business, finance, economics, insurance, engineering or another relevant discipline; a master’s degree or MBA is preferred.
• Relevant professional credentials—such as ACII, FCII, CPCU, actuarial qualifications, CFA, CPA/CA, CISA, PMP or recognised change/transformation certification—are advantageous where relevant to the candidate’s specialism.

Professional Experience

• Typically 15+ years of relevant professional experience, including substantial experience in management consulting or advisory and at least five years in senior leadership roles.
• Current or recent experience at Director, Executive Director or equivalent level in a Big Four firm, recognized management consultancy, specialist insurance advisory business or comparable professional-services organization is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated insurance-sector depth across one or more of general insurance, life and health, takaful, reinsurance, broking or claims, supported by a broad understanding of the insurance value chain.
• Strong knowledge of GCC insurance markets and regulatory environments; a credible regional executive network and prior GCC/MENA consulting experience are highly desirable.
• Proven record of personally originating and converting material advisory engagements, growing key accounts and managing a profitable portfolio or practice.
• Track record of leading complex, multi-workstream engagements from diagnosis through implementation, with board and C-suite exposure.
• Experience building teams, deploying mixed onshore/offshore delivery models and managing specialist partners or subcontractors.

Leadership Capabilities

• Entrepreneurial practice builder with strong commercial judgement and the discipline to convert strategy into results.
• Credible executive presence and the ability to advise, influence and challenge boards, regulators and senior management constructively.
• Excellent problem structuring, analytical thinking, storytelling, proposal writing and presentation skills.
• Hands‑on leadership style: equally comfortable originating work, shaping a solution, reviewing deliverables and resolving delivery issues.
• High standards of integrity, independence, discretion and professional judgement.
• Collaborative and culturally aware, with the resilience and adaptability required in a growing regional business.

Fluent business English is essential; Arabic is advantageous. The successful candidate must be willing to be based in Bahrain and travel regularly across the GCC.