Unit Head - Program & Project Management Delivery

About the role

ADIB Group is looking for a Unit Head to lead its Program & Project Management Delivery function within Technology Transformation & Portfolio Management in Abu Dhabi. The role provides end-to-end oversight of technology program and project execution, ensuring delivery within approved scope, schedule, budget, quality and governance, and builds a sustainable delivery organization through disciplined FTE and capacity planning, UAE National development and succession planning.

Key responsibilities

• Lead planning and execution of the technology program and project portfolio, set priorities, milestones and recovery actions, and intervene on material risks and delays.
• Maintain integrated plans, baselines, resource plans, financial forecasts and schedules, and track milestones, critical paths, risks, issues and changes.
• Work with sponsors and Business and Technology stakeholders to confirm outcomes, priorities and acceptance criteria, and manage competing priorities and cross-functional dependencies.
• Oversee vendor and partner performance, project financials and variances, and work with Procurement, Finance and Legal on commercial and contractual matters.
• Ensure compliance with PM governance, stage gates and reporting, and support assurance reviews, audits and remediation.
• Build and manage the PM delivery workforce and FTE plan, forecast resource demand and balance permanent FTE, UAE Nationals, contractors and partners, and monitor vacancies, utilization and succession risks.
• Create individual development plans for UAE Nationals, coordinate mentoring, coaching, job rotations and certifications, and champion ADIB values.
• Lead and coach program and project managers, set performance objectives and use lessons learned to improve delivery methods.
• Ensure adherence to the approved technology delivery lifecycle and SDLC, including architecture alignment, cybersecurity, testing readiness, release planning, cutover governance and hypercare.
• Track benefits realization from business case through handover and post-implementation validation, and oversee change readiness and adoption.
• Set up succession and continuity arrangements, mitigate key-person dependencies and plan vendor transitions and exits.
• Monitor portfolio KPIs such as milestone predictability, budget variance, dependency ageing and benefits realization, and report to Technology Leadership and governance forums.

Required profile

• Reports to the Head of Technology Transformation & Portfolio Management and manages program managers, project managers, project management associates and PM Partner resources.
• Works closely with Transformation, Digital, IT Governance, Architecture, Cybersecurity, Risk, Compliance, Finance, Procurement, Operations and Business functions.
• Handles a large, complex portfolio with significant financial exposure, regulatory criticality and cross-functional dependencies, making time-sensitive delivery, sequencing and recovery decisions.

Required skills

• Enterprise program and project delivery management, Agile, Waterfall and hybrid methodologies.
• Integrated planning, scheduling, dependency and critical path management.
• Project financial management, forecasting and budget control.
• Risk, issue, change, quality and benefits management; PMO governance, stage gates and project assurance.
• FTE planning, workforce analytics and resource capacity management.
• UAE National development, succession planning and mentoring frameworks.
• SDLC governance, testing governance, release management, cutover and hypercare.