Business Operations Manager

Job Description

About The Role

• Remitly is hiring a Head of Operations overseeing our operations across the UAE region.
• Are you a strategic thinker with analytical rigour and strong attention to detail?
• Do you love digging into the data and putting in place playbooks for a scaling operation?
• Do you have an owner mentality, treating problems as solutions that are waiting to be discovered (by you)?
• The ideal candidate will be a strategic thinker with a proven track record of driving operational excellence, governing outsourcing arrangements, ensuring regulatory compliance, and implementing scalable processes to support business growth.
• This position will be based in Abu Dhabi, with a hybrid working model.
• The role is an authorized function holder position under the CBUAE's Fit and Proper requirements, so candidates must meet the minimum standards set by the Central Bank of the UAE before appointment.
• ****You Will:****
• Develop structures and mechanisms to oversee, monitor and assess the appropriateness and performance of the UAE entity's outsourcing framework, including all outsourcing arrangements and associated risks, in full compliance with the CBUAE Outsourcing Regulation.
• Maintain first-line ownership of the UAE outsourcing register, ensuring all arrangements are appropriately classified as material or non-critical in accordance with CBUAE requirements, and that the register is current, audit-ready, and reported to relevant governance committees and the Board.
• Work cross-functionally with Legal, Compliance, Risk and the broader Remitly leadership team to establish and maintain Intercompany Agreements (ICAs) governing all services delivered to the UAE licensed entity from group entities, ensuring clear records and audit logs in accordance with CBUAE outsourcing guidelines and Remitly's Outsourcing Policies, and that all service provider agreements meet the data protection standards required by applicable UAE law.
• Actively monitor the regulatory boundary on in-country vs. offshore outsourcing, identifying and escalating any tension between group operating models and CBUAE restrictions, and ensuring no material business activity is outsourced without appropriate CBUAE no-objection.
• Monitor and evaluate the performance of all outsourced service providers against agreed SLAs, conducting regular performance reviews and driving continuous improvement. Act as the primary point of escalation for issue resolution, working closely with service providers to address challenges promptly and effectively.
• Oversee incident management across the business, including assessment and triage of material incidents, ensuring timely escalation to Compliance and relevant stakeholders where regulatory reporting obligations may apply.
• Collect and analyse data related to outsourced activities across all areas, prepare comprehensive reports and dashboards for management, stakeholders, and various committees and Board meetings, including quarterly Board reports.
• Own governance and oversight for the First Line of Defence (1LOD) risk assessments and control inventories applicable to all outsourced functions and services delivered to the UAE entity, with particular focus on Customer Service Operations; Customer Complaints and Errors processes and procedures; performance of the Money Transfer Service; Compliance, Finance, Safeguarding, Treasury, Audit, Marketing, Facilities, HR, and IT Services.
• Maintain oversight of the customer complaints function, processes and procedures , ensuring performance is tracked, root causes are addressed, and reporting obligations are met.
• Develop and maintain the UAE entity's Business Continuity Plan, ensuring appropriate operational resilience is in place for all critical outsourced services and that resilience testing is conducted and documented regularly.
• Analyse current processes, identify inefficiencies, and design streamlined workflows that align with industry best practices and enable scalability.
• Design and facilitate the development of UAE entity-specific policies and procedures that align with the overall group strategy while meeting local regulatory obligations.
• Build strong relationships and work in close collaboration with the UAE CEO and broader regional executive team to support a culture of compliance and customer excellence, and to ensure all required policies and procedures are implemented in line with applicable law, regulations and licence obligations.
• Own and manage all regular and ad hoc regulatory reporting obligations to the CBUAE, ensuring submissions are accurate, timely and audit-ready, and serve as the primary point of contact for ongoing CBUAE engagement and supervisory meetings.
• Be customer obsessed and drive executional excellence on key initiatives to support Remitly Financial Services strategic agenda.
• Own operations KPIs and help drive sustainable growth across the region.
• ****You Have:****
• 7+ years of work experience in fast-paced operational environments; prior experience in tech/digital, consumer tech, eCommerce, FinTech, banking or financial services is strongly preferred
• Proven track record of managing outsourced services within a regulated environment, including ownership of outsourcing registers, vendor governance frameworks, and performance management against SLAs
• Full understanding of the CBUAE Outsourcing Regulation and how it applies to a licensed financial institution, including material vs. non-critical classification, no-objection requirements, and in-country outsourcing restrictions; candidates with FCA, EBA, SAMA, SCA, FSRA or DFSA outsourcing experience who can demonstrate a clear ability to apply that experience to the CBUAE framework will also be considered
• Familiarity with incident or operational programme management in a regulated financial services environment, with the confidence to coordinate cross-entity responses and engage effectively with engineering, compliance and risk stakeholders
• Strong grasp of the drivers and mechanics for high transaction volume businesses and ability to apply high judgement across competing operational priorities
• Strong experience in building and managing operations to scale
• Experienced and inspiring people leader, able to attract, engage and develop high-performing talent
• Experienced working in a global matrix organisation, comfortable navigating group structures where services are delivered cross-border into a locally licensed legal entity
• Proven success working in fast-growth international environments where regulatory frameworks and operating models are evolving simultaneously
• Extremely self-motivated and curious with a genuine desire to understand the Remitly customer and translate those learnings into operational strategies
• Strong alignment to our mission and values
• Embraces a test-and-learn culture and data-driven decision making; able to build queries and dashboards to support operational insight
• MBA or graduate degree in a quantitative discipline is preferred
• Candidates must be able to satisfy the CBUAE's Fit and Proper assessment requirements applicable to authorised function holders within a licensed financial institution. This is a condition of appointment

• Life Insurance & Income Protection

• Housing Allowance

• Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP)

• Commuter Reimbursement
• Mental Health & Family Forming benefits
• Learning & development benefits

Our Connected Work Culture: Driving Innovation, Together