PCM Strategic Initiatives Manager

Strategic Initiatives Manager (APAC & Middle East) | Barclays | Dubai

We are seeking a Strategic Initiatives Manager to help drive the bank’s “Build the Bank” transformation across Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

This role sits at the intersection of payments innovation, fintech partnerships, and regulatory engagement, supporting the development of next-generation payment capabilities and digital financial infrastructure across the region. The successful candidate will work closely with internal stakeholders, fintech partners, and regulators to launch innovative solutions, support market expansion, and strengthen the bank’s leadership in the evolving payments ecosystem.

The role will focus on building strategic partnerships, developing scalable payment and cash management capabilities, and engaging with central banks and regulators on emerging initiatives such as real-time payments, open banking, and digital currencies. It requires strong commercial judgement, deep payments expertise, and the ability to operate effectively across diverse markets and regulatory environments.

Key Responsibilities:

• Develop strategic partnerships with fintech firms, payment networks, and partner banks across APAC and the Middle East.
• Lead the development and launch of innovative payments and cash management solutions aligned with client needs and regulatory requirements.
• Engage with central banks and regulators on digital payments initiatives, including real-time payments and emerging infrastructure.
• Support market entry and expansion strategies across priority markets in APAC and the Middle East.
• Collaborate with internal teams across Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, and Operations to deliver strategic initiatives.

Essential Criteria:

• Extensive experience in payments, fintech, product management, or financial services, typically with 15+ years in relevant roles.
• Demonstrated track record delivering payments or fintech solutions at scale, ideally across multiple international markets.
• Strong understanding of payments infrastructure, including real-time payments, instant payment systems, SWIFT, card networks, and API-based ecosystems.
• Experience developing strategic partnerships with fintech companies, payment providers, or financial institutions.
• Ability to develop business cases and commercial frameworks for new products, partnerships, and market expansion.
• Experience engaging with regulators or central banks, including regulatory sandbox programs or innovation initiatives.
• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to work effectively across Technology, Risk, Compliance, Legal, Operations, and Business teams.
• Excellent strategic thinking, analytical capability, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong communication and influencing skills with the ability to present to senior leadership and executive stakeholders.
• Ability to operate effectively in complex, multi-market environments across APAC and the Middle East.
• Fluency in English (written and spoken) is essential.

Desirable Criteria:

• Experience launching payments or cash management products within corporate or transaction banking environments.
• Knowledge of emerging payment technologies including CBDCs, blockchain, distributed ledger technology, and open banking frameworks.
• Experience working directly with central banks or regulatory bodies on payment infrastructure initiatives.
• Familiarity with cross-border payments, treasury services, or corporate banking solutions.
• Experience establishing or managing payments networks or ecosystem partnerships.
• Understanding of ERP and treasury platforms, API integration, and digital channel technologies.
• Experience supporting market entry or expansion strategies across APAC or Middle East markets.
• MBA or postgraduate degree in Business, Finance, Engineering, or a related discipline.
• Additional language skills, particularly Arabic, are advantageous.

This role is based in Dubai

You may be assessed on the key critical skills relevant for success in role, such as risk and controls, change and transformation, business acumen strategic thinking and digital and technology, as well as job-specific technical skills.

Purpose of the role

Product Managers are responsible for the leading the strategic focus of the product(s), defining the product vision, market strategy, and competitive analysis. They think about the product's future and how it will evolve over time. They work with various teams, including marketing, engineering, operations, and sales, to ensure everyone is aligned on the product strategy.  They use data and market research to inform their decisions and prioritize product features.

Accountabilities

• Define Product Strategy: Accountable for defining a product strategy that aligns with business vision, managing capabilities, balancing short-term with long-term goals, ensuring that products meet market demands and drive growth.

• Cross functional alignment: Leadership of cross functional relationships, working with various cross-functional teams to ensure alignment of product strategy and goals.

• Risk and Control:  Accountable for overseeing product risk management, including identification of potential risks, development of strategies to mitigate those risks, and maintenance of alignment between the product management and control functions.

• Product Development Lifecycle: Own product development lifecycle, from concept to launch, ensuring efficient processes, on-time delivery, and alignment with E2E customer expectations and experience. – working with product owners to drive change objectives.

• Deliver Product Goals and Performance: Deliver clear objectives and key outcomes to steer the product vision and ensure alignment with company’s business goals, financial targets, and strategic vision, driving long-term business success. 

• Data driven decisions: Monitor product performance through data-driven analysis and insights,  regularly assessing progress against objectives and adjusting the strategies as needed to optimise outcomes and maximise value for both business and customer.

• Customer-Centric Focus: Drive a customer -first approach across the product vision, ensuring customer insights, feedback, behaviours, and pain points are at the core of the product strategy and decision-making process. 

• Business and financial acumen: Understanding pricing models, costs structures, and ROI to make financially grounded decisions regarding product development.

Vice President Expectations

• To contribute or set strategy, drive requirements and make recommendations for change. Plan resources, budgets, and policies; manage and maintain policies/ processes; deliver continuous improvements and escalate breaches of policies/procedures..

• If managing a team, they define jobs and responsibilities, planning for the department’s future needs and operations, counselling employees on performance and contributing to employee pay decisions/changes. They may also lead a number of specialists to influence the operations of a department, in alignment with strategic as well as tactical priorities, while balancing short and long term goals and ensuring that budgets and schedules meet corporate requirements..

• If the position has leadership responsibilities, People Leaders are expected to demonstrate a clear set of leadership behaviours to create an environment for colleagues to thrive and deliver to a consistently excellent standard. The four LEAD behaviours are: L – Listen and be authentic, E – Energise and inspire, A – Align across the enterprise, D – Develop others..

• OR for an individual contributor, they will be a subject matter expert within own discipline and will guide technical direction. They will lead collaborative, multi-year assignments and guide team members through structured assignments, identify the need for the inclusion of other areas of specialisation to complete assignments. They will train, guide and coach less experienced specialists and provide information affecting long term profits, organisational risks and strategic decisions..

• Advise key stakeholders, including functional leadership teams and senior management on functional and cross functional areas of impact and alignment.

• Manage and mitigate risks through assessment, in support of the control and governance agenda.

• Demonstrate leadership and accountability for managing risk and strengthening controls in relation to the work your team does.

• Demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the organisation functions to contribute to achieving the goals of the business.

• Collaborate with other areas of work, for business aligned support areas to keep up to speed with business activity and the business strategies.

• Create solutions based on sophisticated analytical thought comparing and selecting complex alternatives. In-depth analysis with interpretative thinking will be required to define problems and develop innovative solutions.

• Adopt and include the outcomes of extensive research in problem solving processes.

• Seek out, build and maintain trusting relationships and partnerships with internal and external stakeholders in order to accomplish key business objectives, using influencing and negotiating skills to achieve outcomes.

All colleagues will be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Values of Respect, Integrity, Service, Excellence and Stewardship – our moral compass, helping us do what we believe is right. They will also be expected to demonstrate the Barclays Mindset – to Empower, Challenge and Drive – the operating manual for how we behave.