Senior Director, Financial Services Digital & Technology Advisory

Role Overview

We are seeking an accomplished, techno-functional consulting leader to join our Financial Services Advisory practice as a Senior Director, working alongside the practice lead to build out the Financial Services Digital (FS Digital) proposition across the Middle East. This is a senior client-facing role built around establishing deep technical credibility with client CTOs, CIOs, and technology teams, and owning end-to-end technology delivery across core banking and digital channel engagements.

The successful candidate will bring practitioner-level command of core banking platforms and digital channel technology — able to sit directly with a client's technical leadership and engineering teams as a credible peer, while also operating at C‑suite level on strategy, investment, and transformation decisions. This is not an advisory‑only role: it requires ownership of technology delivery outcomes from architecture and platform selection through implementation and go‑live.

This role is ideal for a hands‑on digital banking / core banking technologist with strong consulting and client leadership credentials, looking to help build a market‑leading FS Digital practice in a fast‑paced, entrepreneurial environment.

• Build and maintain deep technical credibility with client CTOs, CIOs, and technology leadership teams, operating as a trusted peer rather than a generalist advisor.
• Engage directly and confidently with client engineering, architecture, and platform teams on core banking and digital channel technology matters.
• Act as the senior technical counterpart in client relationships where the primary stakeholder is technology leadership, complementing the practice's business‑facing advisory relationships.
• Represent the practice's technical point of view in client steering committees, architecture review boards, and technology governance forums.

• Own end‑to‑end delivery of core banking and digital channel technology engagements — from strategy and platform selection through architecture, implementation, integration, testing, and go‑live.
• Lead the technical and functional design of digital transformation and core banking engagements, from target operating model through solution architecture and implementation.
• Evaluate and advise clients on core banking platforms, digital banking stacks, payments infrastructure, and supporting fintech ecosystems.
• Oversee vendor selection, RFP processes, solution architecture reviews, and implementation planning for "Build the Bank / Transform the Bank" style mandates.
• Ensure full delivery accountability across the technology stack — core banking, digital/mobile channels, integration layers, and surrounding fintech ecosystem — on time, within budget, and to Ankura's quality standards.
• Present technical findings, architecture recommendations, and transformation roadmaps to client leadership with clarity and credibility.

• Lead complex client engagements from inception through to successful delivery, ensuring exceptional quality and client satisfaction.
• Act as the primary day‑to‑day point of contact for senior client stakeholders spanning both business and technology leadership, including C‑suite, CTO, and executive technical teams.
• Provide practical, technically grounded recommendations to financial institutions undertaking core banking replacement, digital channel build‑out, or technology‑enabled operational transformation.

• Lead and mentor technical and functional work streams within multidisciplinary consulting teams across concurrent engagements.
• Provide coaching and technical mentorship to Managers, Senior…