Head of Home Finance Operations

Role: Head of Home Finance Operations
Location:Dubai

Role Purpose:

Head of Home Finance Operations is accountable for the end‑to‑end leadership, governance, and execution of Home Finance operations two offices across Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The role ensures operational excellence, regulatory and Shari'a compliance, and effective control of a high‑value portfolio with monthly volumes of approximately AED 1.5 billion. Operating at a senior management level, the role enables market‑leading sales performance through robust risk management, scalable operating models, and digital transformation. The role leads a multi‑location team of 42 staff, ensuring audit readiness, customer experience excellence, and operational resilience. Close partnership with Business, Risk, Shari'a, Compliance, and Technology is critical to delivering sustainable growth within the Bank's risk appetite.

Key Accountabilities of the role

Operations & Governance

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for Home Finance Operations across dual locations, ensuring consistency, control, and risk alignment.
• Own the end-to-end operational lifecycle including booking, disbursement, post-disbursement servicing, collections support, and account maintenance.
• Ensure full compliance with CBUAE regulations, internal policies, and Shari'a Board directives, always maintaining audit-ready operations.
• Design and maintain robust SOPs, control frameworks, KRIs, and escalation mechanisms to minimize losses, errors, and customer complaints.
• Act as the primary operations owner during audits, regulatory reviews, and Shari'a inspections, ensuring timely closure of observations.

Digital Transformation & Process Excellence

• Lead automation and digital transformation initiatives across the Home Finance lifecycle in line with global banking best practices.
• Identify process inefficiencies and control gaps implement sustainable, scalable solutions reducing TAT, manual intervention, and operational risk.
• Partner with IT, Digital, and Data teams on system enhancements, UATs, integrations, and workflow optimization.
• Drive straight-through processing (STP), digital documentation, and data integrity initiatives.

Customer Experience & Service Quality

• Champion a customer-centric operating model ensuring transparent, timely, and compliant customer journeys.
• Reduce friction points and complaints through process simplification, proactive communication, and service quality monitoring.
• Embed service SLAs, quality assurance, and root-cause analysis frameworks.

Portfolio & Business Enablement

• Support one of the largest Home Finance portfolios in the UAE, enabling high sales volumes through strong operational capacity planning.
• Ensure operational readiness for new products, regulatory changes, and strategic business initiatives.
• Provide data-driven operational insights to senior management and governance forums.

Stakeholder & Governance Management

• Serve as a key operational partner to Business, Credit, Risk, Compliance, Shari'a, Legal, IT, Finance, and External Vendors.
• Lead cross-functional forums ensuring alignment between business growth, risk appetite, and operational capability.
• Prepare and present operational MI, risk dashboards, and performance metrics.

People Leadership & Capability Development

• Lead, develop, and inspire high-performing, multi-location teams with clear accountability and ownership.
• Drive performance management, succession planning, and capability development aligned with future skill requirements.
• Foster a culture of integrity, continuous improvement, compliance, and accountability.
  

Specialist Skills / Technical Knowledge Required for this role:

• Executive-level leadership across multi-location operations
• Deep expertise in Islamic Home Finance operations and Shari'a compliance
• Strong operational risk, control framework, and governance experience
• Digital transformation and automation leadership
• Advanced stakeholder and senior management communication skills
• Customer-centric mindset with focus on service excellence
• Ability to manage complex, high-volume and high-value portfolios

Qualifications & Experience

• 10-15+ years of progressive experience in banking operations, with strong exposure to Home Finance Operations.
• Proven background in Islamic Banking and Shari'a-compliant products and operations.
• Demonstrated experience managing large operational teams and complex portfolios in the UAE market.
• Track record of leading digital transformation and large-scale operational change programmers.