Head of Project Management Office | Al Futtaim Automotive | Finance

Job Requisition ID: 156538

Established in the 1930s as a trading business, Al-Futtaim Group today is one of the most diversified and progressive, privately held regional businesses headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Structured into five operating divisions; automotive, financial services, real estate, retail and healthcare; employing more than 35,000 employees across more than 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, Al-Futtaim Group partners with over 200 of the world’s most admired and innovative brands. Al-Futtaim Group’s entrepreneurship and relentless customer focus enables the organization to continue to grow and expand; responding to the changing needs of our customers within the societies in which we operate.

By upholding our values of respect, excellence, collaboration and integrity; Al-Futtaim Group continues to enrich the lives and aspirations of our customers each and every day

Overview of the role:
Al Futtaim Automotive are at an exciting transformational journey of going from good to great. In collaboration with the core business units, centres of excellence and enabling functions, and different finance departments you will support the finance transformation.
The successful candidate will be expected to drive Finance projects, provide effective program and project office services, including best practice guidance and standards, and effective assurance to project and programme delivery. Deep Finance and SAP understanding is expected.

What you will do:

• Deliver projects on time, cost and to quality
• Create, manage and monitor breakdown of deliverables to activities and tasks
• Set-up and effectively manage scrum board
• Create, manage and maintain project folder in MS Teams and ensure all mandatory artefacts are uploaded and updated
• Ensure all deliverables are aligned and mapped to project milestones & objectives
• Effective resource planning and reporting (no delays to project caused by insufficient resources)
• Adherance to Project Management methodology (Agile/ Waterfall/ Hybrid)
• Up to date RAIDD (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies & Decisions) log
• Flagging / escalating risks and issues proactively / on time (no unforeseen delays caused by poor management)
• Ensuring credible mitigation plans and get to green plans for all risks and issues
• Develops new project portfolio governance models, project management methodologies, reporting and performance management frameworks and dashboards, and project management tools and templates:
• Contribution to the initiation and design of methodologies, frameworks and tools
• Serves as primary interface for product owners, sponsors, leading planning and executing their projects, is intimately familiar with progress of all initiatives and proactively assists the team in preventing compromises to project scope, budget & deadlines:
• Effective stakeholder management (engagement & escalation matrix)
• Retrospective & lessons learnt after key deliverables (evidence to be submitted as part of artefacts)
• Prepares reports to all relevant stakeholders on the status and progress of the company’s portfolio of projects, insights as to key risk areas and mitigants, to ensure timely escalation and support:
• Adherance to project reporting governance, templates and guidelines

Required skills to be successful:

• Project management experience in finance
• Managed SAP project
• Automotive experience
• Strategic thinker & team player

About the team:
In this position you will be working in a fast paced and diverse environment. You will be reporting directly to the Auto CFO.

What equips you for the role:

• Bachelor’s degree (post graduate education preferred)
• Prior experience with project management (both Agile & Waterfall) as well as development/roll out, governance adherence to frameworks
• Understanding of the automotive industry
• Self-starter, accountable and results-oriented: takes initiative, is able to commit to and meet established deadlines and objectives, is able to work independently as well as a team player
• Fast learner, agile, keen and capable of handling new and changing assignments, strong organizational skills are a must
• Analytical and curious: Ability to understand and interpret business contexts and complex/new scenarios/topics
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and strong interpersonal skills: able to present to and interact with management level and larger audiences, resolve/anticipate conflict, train and coach people
• Commitment to excellence and attention to detail
• Must be proficient in Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Project and Visio)
• SAP knowledge is an advantage