Country Technology Manager (Saudi national preferred)

Job Description

Job Summary

• Responsible for the availability, performance and security of Applications in the production environment for business and other functions.
• Responsible for implementation and maintenance of all in-country data centers and infrastructure such as servers, Networks, storage devices, external connectivity gateways, Telephony systems etc.
• Engage with various teams on new initiatives/rollouts/problem resolutions.
• Participate in all forums requiring technology presence. Be an interface between business/operations stakeholders and all other technology domains.
  
  

Key Responsibilities

• Country technology budget management
• Enable support for key Technology initiatives/risks in the Country
• Drive the country agenda Technology product launches, system enhancements, problem/risk resolutions etc.
• Coordinate with Vendors and other parties as essential to ensure the local systems and infrastructure are kept updated.
• Conduct service review meetings with ITSC, PSS and other domains as and when needed.
• Advise on potential technology risk areas and work out action plans to address them.
• Own and implement the Service Improvement initiatives for systems performance and stability
• Be the single management point of contact for high severity incidents and ensure issues are resolved promptly. Coordinate with ITSC, PSS networks as appropriate.
• Ensure root cause analysis is completed for all high severity incidents and preventative actions are defined and implemented.
• Review change requests made by business and approve and progress them with appropriate teams.
• Review and manage implementation of all changes to ensure no risk to stability of systems / infrastructure.
• Participate in PSCs, ICS forums, risk forums etc as applicable and required
• Comply with the Policies and Risk guidelines as applicable in Technology.
• Be the central point of contact for any Audits surrounding technology / systems to ensure they are facilitated well and are satisfactory.
  
  

Strategy

• Maintain stability and capacity of local IT systems and infrastructure and addressing obsolescence. Pursue with application / infrastructure teams to address instability / obsolescence issues.
• Tighten controls on production changes and improve change quality which will help to reduce severity incidents caused by changes
• Availability, performance, and security of Applications in the production environment for business and other functions.
• Maintenance of all in-country data centres and infrastructure such as servers, Networks, storage devices, external connectivity gateways, Telephony systems etc.
• Engage with various teams on new initiatives/rollouts/problem resolutions.
• Participate in all forums requiring technology presence. Be an interface between business/operations stakeholders and all other technology domains.
• Engage with TSM/PSS/TechOps/ITSC and other IT streams to better manage incidents and escalate to appropriate levels for faster resolution.
• Follow up on RCAs for high severity incidents.
• Reduce recovery time for HIGH and CRITICAL incidents.
• Pursue Cloud transformation opportunities.
• Manage service levels with business and Ops units for critical services.
• Participate in resolutions of high severity incidents and ensure issues are resolved promptly to mitigate adverse impacts.
• Provide first line support to in country users.
• Provide advice and suggest action points to address issues and provide solutions to Business and Ops teams.
• Review and approve critical system changes and enhancements to make sure they are implemented with no risks to stability of production systems.
• Review and approve Service Request Management raised by business and approve / progress them with appropriate teams.
• Participate effectively in service review meetings.
• Commitment to be fully digital eliminating the use of papers across different workflows, including customer communications like statements, advices, ..etc.
• Hybrid working that enables a reduction in real estate, energy, and personal travel, both intra and inter country.
• Participate in cloud providers’ carbon reduction commitments, offering standard solutions to clients.
  
  

Business

• Will help in providing service to users according to the current technology standards.
• This relationship reduces the gap between business and technology, by understanding business requirements and providing them within the agreed timelines.
• This will help the project team to manage the users effectively for UAT, production release etc
• This relationship with the vendor helps the bank to get the services quickly and efficiently.
• Help business to follow up on their requests and incidents making sure they are delivered satisfactorily.
• Keep Business / stakeholders updated on the scheduled / unscheduled service down times.
• Support technology/business projects, initiatives, products and services. Provide suggestions and ideas to achieve project objectives.
• Help Business and Operations to maximize on digitization and simplification of processes.
  
  

Processes

• Successful running of IT services for Saudi Arabia
• Monitor and manage IT risks efficiently.
• Service quality focus for business and customers
• Administrative support for local technology domains
  
  

People & Talent

• Lead through example and build the appropriate culture and values. Set appropriate tone and expectations from their team and work in collaboration with risk and control partners.
• Ensure the provision of ongoing training and development of people and ensure that holders of all critical functions are suitably skilled and qualified for their roles ensuring that they have effective supervision in place to mitigate any risks.
• Learning on the job / by experience / from others / social: Learn from other IT teams (regional and global) on the best technical solutions that will help to cut cost while providing practical solutions.
• Learn from other departments for example CMO, Retail Ops, Cash Products, to better serve them.
• Help IT team to gain necessary knowledge on key systems vs cash, clearing, core banking.
• Help IT team to practice on handling complex situations through active participation in meetings and business discussions.
  
  

Risk Management

• Comply with the Policies and Risk guidelines as applicable in Technology.
• Comply with applicable laws and regulations, Groups policies, procedures, and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Proactive identification, escalation, mitigation of risk and compliance matters.
• Timely completion of all mandatory risk and compliance training.
• Enhance Risk management and ICS controls.
• Help ITO Risk Manager to speed up closure of risk items and give correct updates.
• Mitigate risks that could lead to customer/reputational impact.
• Provide regular/accurate updates to Risk Forums as and when required.
• No unsatisfactory audit ratings.
• Thorough and quick assessment of risks that could lead to customer/reputational impact.
• Guide and help Business to implement solutions for identified risks due to manual processes/ obsolescence.
• Review new risks identified by Business and Ops teams and provide suggestions / coordination to mitigate these risks.
• Assist in reviewing and providing responses to Audit finding as and when required.
  
  

Governance

• Enable support for key Technology initiatives/risks in the Country.
• Conduct service review meetings with Vendors, ITSC, PSS and other domains as and when needed.
• Advise on potential technology risk areas and work out action plans to address them.
  
  

Regulatory & Business Conduct

• Display exemplary conduct and live by the Group’s Values and Code of Conduct.
• Take personal responsibility for embedding the highest standards of ethics, including regulatory and business conduct, across Standard Chartered Bank. This includes understanding and ensuring compliance with, in letter and spirit, all applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and the Group Code of Conduct.
• Effectively and collaboratively identify, escalate, mitigate, and resolve risk, conduct and compliance matters.
• Adhere to the rule, regulation and policies of all the regulators and provide utmost support on the project which is managed by them.
  
  

Key stakeholders

Internal

• Country CTOO.
• Liaison with Business and operations on Technology Service delivery, risks and projects and initiatives.
• Liaison with Product/Project heads, support projects and product releases and adhere to Change Management discipline.
• Various technology domains across the group
  
  

External

• Liaison with vendors on matters related to external support,
• Liaison with the regulators on matters related to regulatory systems
  
  

Other Responsibilities

• Enable support for key Technology initiatives/risks in the Country.
• Conduct service review meetings with Vendors, ITSC, PSS and other domains as and when needed.
• Advise on potential technology risk areas and work out action plans to address them.
• Coordinate with PSS for Service Improvement initiatives for systems performance
• Be the SPOC for high severity incidents and ensure issues are resolved promptly. Coordinate with ITSC, PSS networks as appropriate.
• Ensure root cause analysis is completed for all high severity incidents and preventative actions are defined and implemented.
• Review change requests made by business and approved and progress them with appropriate teams.
• Review and manage implementation of all changes to ensure no risk to stability of systems / infrastructure.
• Comply with the Policies and Risk guidelines as applicable in Technology.
• The role is to co-ordinate IT Service Delivery in Saudi
• The job spans various business and support functions in Saudi and will require sound knowledge of infrastructure, applications, and end user systems such as MS Office.
• The jobholder needs initiative, diplomacy, patience, and a pragmatic approach to problems.
• Judgement is called for when operational issues are likely to impact the business and effective decision-making skills are called for especially in case of major failures and contingencies.
• Help Business and Operations to avoid operational losses caused by system changes / enhancements.
• Help CTOO with managing the costs as per approved IT budget.
• Help Business and Operations to save cost by guiding business to avoid unnecessary spends on technology enhancements, rather providing smarter ways of handling business requirements.
• Support regulatory projects.
• Projects and initiatives to be implemented as per agreed timelines, costs, and deliverables.
• Coordinate and arrange for getting in users for User Acceptance Test and User Verification Test for system releases as and when required.
• Review Business requirements / Business Requirement Documents to make sure they are sound and can be progressed.
• Coordinate with local Country Systems Support for in country projects including testing and user engagement.
• Provide technical guidance and directions to approved projects.
  
  

Skills and Experience

• Sound understanding of IT Infrastructure and Banking systems
• Manage Conduct
• Manage Risk
• People Management
• Time Management
  
  

Qualifications

• Education - Preferable Master Degree in the field of Technology
• Training - Leadership Programs
• Certifications - Project Management
• Languages - English and Arabic
• Good technology background and experience.
• Effective English communication skills, both spoken and written.
• Strong analytical ability including comprehensive ability to analyse data, draw conclusions and forecast required changes.
• Strong networking and relationship building across the organisation.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Adaptability as evidenced by the ability to handle day to day work challenges confidently.
• Strong sense of accountability when resolving issues
• Sound changes management skills
• Sound project management capabilities
• Sound financial and budgeting skills.
  
  

About Standard Chartered

We're an international bank, nimble enough to act, big enough for impact. For more than 170 years, we've worked to make a positive difference for our clients, communities, and each other. We question the status quo, love a challenge and enjoy finding new opportunities to grow and do better than before. If you're looking for a career with purpose and you want to work for a bank making a difference, we want to hear from you. You can count on us to celebrate your unique talents and we can't wait to see the talents you can bring us.

Our purpose, to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity, together with our brand promise, to be here for good are achieved by how we each live our valued behaviours. When you work with us, you'll see how we value difference and advocate inclusion.

Together We

• Do the right thing and are assertive, challenge one another, and live with integrity, while putting the client at the heart of what we do
• Never settle, continuously striving to improve and innovate, keeping things simple and learning from doing well, and not so well
• Are better together, we can be ourselves, be inclusive, see more good in others, and work collectively to build for the long term
  
  

What we offer

In line with our Fair Pay Charter, we offer a competitive salary and benefits to support your mental, physical, financial and social wellbeing.

• Core bank funding for retirement savings, medical and life insurance, with flexible and voluntary benefits available in some locations.
• Time-off including annual leave, parental/maternity (20 weeks), sabbatical (12 months maximum) and volunteering leave (3 days), along with minimum global standards for annual and public holiday, which is combined to 30 days minimum.
• Flexible working options based around home and office locations, with flexible working patterns.
• Proactive wellbeing support through Unmind, a market-leading digital wellbeing platform, development courses for resilience and other human skills, global Employee Assistance Programme, sick leave, mental health first-aiders and all sorts of self-help toolkits
• A continuous learning culture to support your growth, with opportunities to reskill and upskill and access to physical, virtual and digital learning.
• Being part of an inclusive and values driven organisation, one that embraces and celebrates our unique diversity, across our teams, business functions and geographies - everyone feels respected and can realise their full potential.
  
  

Profile Description

Standard Chartered Bank