Unit Head - Cloud Governance and Compliance

Role: Unit Head - Cloud Governance and Compliance

Location: Abu Dhabi

Role Purpose:

• Monitor cloud strategy, roadmaps, policies, standards, and target cloud services alignment with the implementation plan and linkage to the bank strategy.
• Lead all Control and financial activities related to the Cloud Center of Excellence (CCOE) and manage its scope of work and functions.
• Ensure alignment of cloud solutions with business objectives, assess current cloud usage, and develop an overall best practice roadmap.
• Oversee the establishment of enterprise architecture controls, standards, and patterns specifically for cloud environments.
• Adopt cloud best practices in cost efficiency, architecture, cybersecurity, compliance, and risk management.
• Lead Cloud Financial Operations (FinOps) activities, including informing, optimizing, and managing the financial lifecycle of cloud services.
• Collaborate with IT, business, and data management teams to understand data control needs and develop appropriate cloud control safeguards.
• Monitor cloud platform utilization, stability, security, and compliance posture to maintain a robust cloud infrastructure.
• Guardrail cloud operations by championing CCOE initiatives and enforcing established controls.

Key Accountabilities of the role:

Cloud Strategy and Roadmaps:

• Will be responsible for monitoring the cloud strategy, roadmaps, and target cloud services alignment with the implementation plan and bank strategy.
• This involves aligning cloud initiatives with business objectives and ensuring that the organization is leveraging cloud technology effectively to meet its goals.

Cloud Financial Operations (FinOps):

• Lead the FinOps journey three iterative phases Inform, Optimize and Operate mandates provide financial visibility on allocation, budgeting, and forecasting.
• Optimize the cloud capacity rightsizing. Develop dashboards and key metrics in line with values and demand.

Cloud Center of Excellence (CCoE):

• Lead all controls and financial activities related to the Cloud Center of Excellence, which serves as a central hub for cloud governance.
• This includes defining the scope of work, establishing functional management, and driving collaboration across teams to ensure consistent and standardized cloud practices.

Collaboration and Data Management controls:

• Working closely with IT, business, and data management teams is crucial to understand data needs and develop appropriate cloud control solutions.
• Collaboration with various stakeholders will help ensure that cloud services are aligned with business requirements and data management practices.

Oversee Cloud Architecture Controls, and Security Policies:

• Oversee the developing a comprehensive cloud architecture, controls, and security strategy, along with the related standards and policies, is essential.
• Working with cloud service providers (CSPs) to manage control and security responsibilities is also a critical aspect.

Leverage Cloud for Competitive Advantage:

• Utilizing the cloud to improve business agility and respond to market changes is important for maintaining a competitive advantage.
• Leveraging the flexibility of the cloud for fast, global, and simple internet-facing application deployments is crucial.

Monitor Application, Network, and Security Performance:

• Overseeing application and network monitoring activities to ensure the security and resilience of cloud implementations is critical.
• Continually evolving and enhancing the visibility of virtual cloud services is essential.

Manage Cloud Vendor Relationships and oversee the CSP'S SLA:

• Managing cloud service provider (CSP) services acquisition and costing, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of CSPs, and negotiating the best volume deals are important for optimizing cloud services.
• Oversee CSP'S SLA.

Manage Cloud Compliance:

• Developing and enforcing cloud applicable policies and compliance mandatest regularly auditing cloud vendors, and ensuring compliance with regulations such as NESA, PCI, and IS0270X are important for maintaining a secure and compliant cloud environment.

Investigate Cloud Vendor Incidents and Network Outages:

• Coordinating with cloud control stakeholders to investigate cloud incidents, minimize risks, and take necessary legal actions are critical to ensure the integrity and resilience of cloud services.

Monitor Cloud Services Adoption:

• Monitor cloud services adoption, in line with cloud strategy, projects planning and controls alignment.

Specialist Skills / Technical Knowledge, Technical Competencies Required for this role:

• A Bachelor university degree in Technology Management, Business Management, and/or equivalent experience,
• Commanding knowledge of IT industry standards and best practices as they relate to IT Strategy and Governance, such as ITIL, COBIT, ISO standards etc.
• Hold managerial and professional certificates such as CISSP, CISA, etc.
• Should have strong understanding of Azure Cloud. Experience in other Cloud platforms such as AWS/GCP is a plus.
• Should hold certification related to Azure Cloud
• Should have strong understanding in setting up Cloud Center of Excellence
• Cloud governance, cost management and operations
• Previous experience in large scale Cloud transformation and migration including Lift & Shift and modernization.
• Good understanding of financial modelling, CAPEX, OPEX
• Cloud solution design and architectures, including Cloud Landing Zones/Foundation Application and its related technologies, CI/CD Pipeline, DevOps, etc.
• Good understanding of Cloud service management
• Proficient in Cloud Security in the area of Data, IDAM, Network & Application

Previous experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in information Technology
• 5 years management experience in IT Governance and Control domain.
• Familiarity with digital and cloud control strategies
• Exceptional project management and organizational skills