Senior Vice President, Middle East & Africa - Payments Controls and Regulatory Management Risk Manager - Services

DUBAI, United Arab EmiratesPosted Aug 4, 2026

Are you looking for a career move that will put you at the heart of a global financial institution? Then bring your skills in analysis, credit, problem solving and communication to the Controls and Regulatory Management (C&RM) team.

By Joining Citi, you will become part of a global organisation whose mission is to serve as a trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing financial services that enable growth and economic progress.

Team/Role Overview:

This is an exciting opportunity to be the part of an established team in Citi’s Services’ Controls and Regulatory Management (C&RM) organization based in United Arab Emirates with senior responsibilities across the Middle East and Africa Cluster for Payments business (part of Services).

The Controls and Regulatory Management (C&RM) function is part of Services’ 1st line of defense, and the MEA Payments Cluster team manages risk in alignment to this, as well as within the wider Middle East and Africa (MEA) Franchise given the unique Regulatory regimes that are at play.

The Payments Controls and Regulatory Management Risk Lead is a High impact leadership role within MEA Payments business, reports directly to the Global Head of Payments C&RM (Managing Director) and will be part of the Global Payments C&RM Leadership team, with a mandate to manage the MEA Payments Risk & Controls team, embed a strong risk and control culture, support the local Payments business risk agenda and drive execution to make sure a robust framework exists to manage and mitigate operational, compliance and regulatory risks across the business.

The Cluster role for Payments leads the identification of opportunities to enhance our Regulatory and Controls environment for key risks relevant to the MEA cluster (operational, regulatory, and enterprise-level risks) and provides Risk SME support across the cluster to the Payments business, as required.

The role works closely with key stakeholders across Services (Cluster peers, Product, Operations and Technology) and partners with other teams across Citi for execution.

What you’ll do:

Lead a team of MEA based Business Risk managers, who are currently dedicated to risk management within the MEA countries, Governance and Regulatory agendas.
Act as key point of contact for Payment’s business (including Operations) across MEA Services and support all initiatives and agendas that are within Services remit, as required.
Identify enhancements to documentation, controls and / or processes in place to comply with local Risk requirements and any associated regulation.
Lead escalation for MEA Payments Senior Management in Citi in line with firmwide guidelines.
Act as a key resource for MEA Cluster to advise and support on the effective design and implementation of key controls and processes across relevant Operational Risk stripes.
Serve as a key contributor to relevant Payments and Services Cluster forums.
Responsible for the coordination and comprehensive management of issues with key stakeholders
Oversee the operations of Citi's governance committees, including chair meetings, managing agendas, and ensuring follow-up on action items.

This role sits within the Cluster Payments C&RM team that has various duties in the oversight and management of the following matters for Payments business, including:

Prudential and Regulatory Risk (includes Reg Change, Reg Implementation and Reg Reporting, and any BAU, ad-hoc, or escalated Reg interactions)
Business Risk Governance (incudes Issue Management and Oversight)
Operational and Processing Risk (includes Operational Risk Events, Control reviews)
MCA - Manager Control Assessment (both BAU oversight and executing transformation deliverables)
Escalations (Operational events, Tech events, internal business escalations)
Third Party Management (Vendors, FMIs (market utilities) and Agent Banks; support of due diligence reviews and various attestations)
Ops Resiliency

This role will have specific duties initially focused on Prudential and Regulatory Risk, with the heightened focus and increased number of regulations across the markets. It will also have backup and coverage duties across the other Risk and Control functions mentioned above.

This is a team lead role, at a senior level, that requires requisite skills, experience in regulatory environment for Payments preferred, with the ability to build, drive, implement and influence to implement change and remediate gaps in current Payments Controls program for MEA Cluster.

The role works closely with Compliance, Legal, Product Managers and Business Heads, Controls teams, partners in Operations and Technology, and second line/functional partners in Risk, Operational Risk Management, Fraud Risk Management and Legal.

What we’ll need from you:

Sound Knowledge of the Payments business and products (Clearing, Real Time Payments, Cross Border Payments etc..)
Minimum ten years in the Financial Services industry
Experience with Controls
Committed to delivering results with exceptional execution skills
Experience with Enterprise Risk Management, Risk Frameworks
Ability to lead and drive controls the products and functions
Ability to manage through influence
Risk-based thinking and analytical mindset
Exhibits high level of accountability and ownership ensuring timely issue resolution and continuous process improvement.
Strong leadership, decision-making, and problem-solving skills to drive performance and accountability across cross-functional teams.
Ability to interact and communicate effectively with Senior leaders, Cluster and Product managers and wider partner areas; ability to engage and inspire across stakeholder groups
Strong track record of effectively assessing and managing competing priorities to deliver high quality and timely output.
Ability to work on virtual projects and across virtual teams to get work done
Strategy and execution skills to prioritize areas of focus while also driving implementation in a large, global, and matrixed environment
Ability to see the big pictures with high attention to critical details.
Comfortable navigating complex, highly matrixed organizations.
Excellent written, verbal, and analytical skills.
Excellent Microsoft Office skills and be an advanced user of MS PowerPoint, Excel, SharePoint, and Project.
Planning and scheduling skills sufficient to be effective in prioritizing and meeting deadlines.
Requires an ability to provide challenge and make recommendation for risk and controls remediation.
Bachelor’s/University degree or equivalent experience

What we can offer you:

Opportunity to be part of Services, a strategically critical business within Citi, central to enabling client growth and global cash management solutions.
The chance to be part of a flexible team that values its people, encourages ownership of work, wants to hear your ideas, values diversity and where you can feel confident that you can bring your whole self to work.
Leadership role with high visibility and impact across the Payments business and wider Citi franchise.
The role is Cluster in nature and will entail developing relationships and working with senior stakeholders across multiple countries, products, and control functions in MEA cluster as well as globally.
The opportunity to shape risk and control culture along with monitoring Citi’s compliance with regulatory requirements across multiple financial products and countries in MEA.

We work hard to have a positive financial and social impact on the communities we serve. In turn, we put our employees first and provide the best-in-class benefits they need to be well, live well, and save well.

Citi is committed to ensuring our workplace is where everyone feels comfortable coming to work as their whole self every day. We want the best talent around the world to be energized to join us, motivated to stay, and empowered to thrive.

Sounds like Citi has everything you need? Then apply to discover the true extent of your capabilities.

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Job Family Group:

Risk Management

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Job Family:

In-Business Risk

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Time Type:

Full time

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Most Relevant Skills

Analytical Thinking, Controls Lifecycle, Credible Challenge, Governance, Policy, Procedure, and Regulation, Risk Management Lifecycle.

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Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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