Jobs

Head of IT Applications

Job Description

1. To lead the development and IT operations of innovative and novel card, loan, and other financial
products.
2. To maintain a highly resilient and scalable IT software infrastructure to support the business
operations of companies that make use of services.
3. To ensure steady expansion and retention of our core business through proper business IT operations
support.
4. To adhere to strict SLAs with each business partner.
5. To ensure the smooth running of all software systems, core applications, business applications and IT
operations.
6. To ensure that risks are identified, documented, and minimized.
7. To ensure business requirements analysis and project management is done properly on any new
project.
8. To ensure that secure software development and other security practices are followed and adhered
9. To ensure that the software development teams are Agile and following scrum methodology.
10. To ensure adherence to industry best practices in terms of compliance and disaster recovery.


Key Accountabilities Generic Accountabilities Managerial
• Lead and innovate within the business.
• Demonstrate operational functional excellence (better/faster/more cost effective) through the
development of quality Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) with all
internal and external clients, and ensure they are achieved.
• Ensure that infrastructure and software are resilient, thereby minimizing downtime of systems to
ensure the smooth running of internal and external business operations.
• Supervise technical personnel, which include work allocation, training, and problem resolution;
evaluates performance and makes recommendations for personnel actions; motivates employees to
achieve peak productivity and performance.
• Stay current with new technologies, trends and related practices in the industry, and recommend and
implement appropriate technologies with the business’ long-term vision in mind.
• Ensure that bespoke developed systems adhere to strict guidelines in terms of design and security (for
example proper transactional audit trials and OWASP), thereby minimising the possibility of fraud and
unexpected downtime.
• Oversee the protection of data as required by industry compliance guidelines, including data backups
and disaster recovery.
• Enforce a transparent vendor selection and procurement process
• Have an effective and supportive working relationship with the senior management team
and UCFS, and key accounts.
• Prepare and give presentations to senior management.
• Serve in a capacity or in such other capacity as the CIO may from time to time reasonably determine
and in connection with the business.
• Assist in yearly budgeting activities. Job-Specific Accountabilities •
Analyse user project proposals, identifies omissions and errors in requirements, and conducts feasibility
studies; recommends optimum approach and develops systems and/or applications design for approved
projects.
• Serve on a project prioritisation committee, ensuring that the implementation pipeline is prioritised so
that current business requirements are addressed effectively.
• Guide users in formulating requirements; advise on alternatives and on the implications of new or
revised infrastructure systems and applications technology.
• Oversee the reconfiguration of the data centre hardware systems, with the main aim of minimising the
physical size of the data centre and hardware footprint.
• Oversee vulnerability and threat assessments as required by industry compliance and the CISO. •
Ensure proper expansion and renewal of IT infrastructure to align with business growth.
• Plan and coordinate the analysis, design, programming, timely implementation, and testing of IT
projects.
• Oversee the development of new, and the maintenance of existing complex systems and subsystems
such as call centre, payroll, reporting, and financial systems in which transactions are automatically
processed, and ensure the reliability of cross-country applications.
• Review design documentation, requirements analysis, and code for quality and adherence to industry
standards.
• Informally arbitrates between system users when conflicts arise.
• May serve as lead analyst in a design subgroup, directing and integrating the work of analysts, each
responsible for several programs.
• Possess skills to build and maintain solutions on contact centre solutions
• Implement new off the shelf software solutions using the group IT strategy as a guideline.
• Plan and execute the movement of software systems to a cloud provider where applicable.
• Replace off the shelf systems with Opensource systems where applicable in order to drive operational
and capital expenditure down.

Job Requirements
Minimum Qualification MSc in Computer Science or Engineering Experience 10+ years Competencies
Key Stakeholders (Relationship, Communication
This role requires:
• A clear understanding of the role and responsibilities associated with the IT applications development
function;
• A good understanding of the company’s business, the broader industry, and its regulatory
environment;
• The ability to manage multiple Agile teams on software development projects; and
• The relevant experience and qualifications to fulfil the above responsibilities. Technical Competencies
Knowledge of and experience in the following technologies, frameworks and methodologies:
• .NET framework, C#, Python, Kotlin, Swift
• Microservices
• Docker, Kubernetes
• Kafka • PostgreSQL
• Elasticsearch • CI/CD tools (for example Jenkins)
• Agile / Scrum
• Unit and integration testing Disclaimer This list of responsibilities, accountabilities, requirements and
working relationships (job stakeholders) 
 

Location: Bahrain

Nationalities preferred: Bahrain

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