COO

Our client, A leading Bank in Jordan, is looking for COO – Chief Operating Officer to be based in Amman Jordan and reports to CEO

Interested candidates who meet the criteria can apply online or by forwarding their CVs directly to the below email address and put in the subject (Banking - COO - Jordan ):

vacancies@jordan-impact.jo 

Chief Operating Officer – COO

Organization: Bank operating in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Location: Amman, Jordan
Reports to: Chief Executive Officer
Management level: Executive Management
Committee membership: Executive Management Committee and other management committees as assigned
Employment type: Full-time

Functions Under COO Oversight

The Chief Operating Officer provides executive leadership and oversight of:

1. Human Resources

2. Process Engineering and Operational Excellence

3. Information Technology

4. Central Operations

5. Business Services

6. Strategic Planning and Performance Management

7. Engineering and Facilities

8. Administration

9. Project Management

The final allocation of responsibilities will be governed by the bank’s approved organizational structure, delegation-of-authority framework and Central Bank of Jordan requirements.

Position Purpose

The Chief Operating Officer is responsible for translating the bank’s strategy into a secure, resilient, efficient and scalable operating model. The COO leads the bank’s people, technology, central operations, process transformation, strategic planning, project execution, premises, engineering, administration and shared-service functions. The position ensures that these functions collectively provide reliable, customer-focused and cost-effective services while maintaining strong operational controls and compliance with applicable laws, Central Bank of Jordan instructions, Board-approved policies and recognized banking standards.

The COO serves as a principal adviser to the Chief Executive Officer on operational performance, organizational capability, technology investment, business transformation, service quality, cost optimization and operational resilience.

Principal Accountabilities

1. Enterprise Operational Leadership

• Develop and execute the bank’s operating strategy in alignment with the Board-approved business strategy, risk appetite and financial plan.

• Translate strategic objectives into integrated operating plans, departmental targets, budgets, projects and performance measures.

• Establish an efficient and scalable operating model across all functions reporting to the COO.

• Ensure effective coordination between business lines, branches, central operations, technology and support functions.

• Maintain appropriate capacity, resources, systems, processes and infrastructure to support current operations and planned growth.

• Drive accountability for service quality, productivity, cost efficiency, operational discipline and timely delivery.

• Identify cross-functional dependencies, bottlenecks and control weaknesses and ensure timely corrective action.

• Present operational performance, major initiatives, risks and decisions to the CEO, executive committees and Board committees when required.

• Establish clear service-level agreements between operational, technology, business and support functions.

• Ensure that management decisions are supported by reliable operational and performance information.

2. Human Resources

• Provide executive oversight of the bank’s human-capital strategy and organizational-development agenda.

• Ensure that workforce planning is aligned with the bank’s strategy, approved structure, digital agenda and financial capacity.

• Oversee organization design, manpower planning, recruitment, succession planning, performance management, compensation, benefits, employee relations and learning and development.

• Ensure that critical banking, technology, cybersecurity, operations and leadership positions have appropriate succession and continuity plans.

• Promote a performance-driven, ethical, inclusive and customer-focused organizational culture.

• Ensure that job descriptions, authority levels, competency frameworks and performance measures are clearly defined.

• Monitor employee engagement, productivity, turnover, absenteeism and critical-skill gaps.

• Ensure compliance with Jordanian labor legislation, social-security requirements and applicable Central Bank of Jordan governance requirements.

• Oversee leadership-development and talent-retention programs.

• Ensure that disciplinary, grievance and employee-relations matters are handled consistently and confidentially.

• Support the Remuneration and Nomination Committee and other Board committees through the responsible executives, where applicable.

3. Process Engineering and Operational Excellence

• Lead the bank’s process-engineering, business-process-management and continuous-improvement agenda.

• Establish an enterprise process architecture covering front-office, middle-office, back-office and support processes.

• Standardize, document and periodically review critical banking processes.

• Apply Lean, Six Sigma, process reengineering, workflow automation and other improvement methodologies.

• Simplify customer journeys and eliminate unnecessary steps, duplication, delays, manual work and control weaknesses.

• Establish process ownership, service standards, control points and performance indicators.

• Ensure that new and redesigned processes address operational risk, regulatory compliance, customer protection, data privacy and segregation of duties.

• Coordinate with Risk, Compliance, Information Security and Internal Audit during material process changes.

• Develop measurable productivity, turnaround-time, error-rate and cost-improvement targets.

• Maintain a centralized repository of approved policies, procedures, process maps and operating manuals.

• Promote automation and straight-through processing where operationally and economically justified.

• Verify that process improvements deliver sustainable financial, customer and control benefits.

4. Information Technology

• Provide executive oversight of the bank’s technology strategy, architecture, infrastructure, applications and service-delivery model.

• Ensure that technology investments support the bank’s strategy, customer propositions, regulatory obligations and operational requirements.

• Oversee core banking systems, payment platforms, digital channels, integration, networks, databases, cloud services, data centers and end-user technology.

• Ensure high system availability, performance, scalability and recoverability.

• Govern technology demand, investment prioritization, budgeting and portfolio delivery.

• Oversee application development, acquisition, testing, implementation, maintenance and decommissioning.

• Ensure effective IT service management, incident management, problem management, change management and release management.

• Establish disciplined controls over user access, system changes, production environments, software licensing and technology assets.

• Oversee technology-vendor selection, contracting, performance and concentration risks.

• Ensure robust disaster-recovery capabilities and regular recovery testing.

• Cooperate with the independent Information Security/Cybersecurity function and promptly address identified technology-security weaknesses.

• Ensure alignment with applicable Central Bank of Jordan cybersecurity, outsourcing, cloud, data-protection and electronic-banking requirements.

• Maintain clear accountability between IT operations and the independent functions responsible for information-security oversight and assurance.

• Promote secure innovation, digital banking, automation, analytics and responsible use of emerging technologies.

5. Central Operations

• Lead the bank’s centralized operational-processing and back-office functions.

• Ensure that transactions are processed accurately, securely and within agreed service levels.

• Oversee functions that may include:

  • Account-opening and maintenance support

  • Domestic and international payments

  • Clearing and settlement

  • Fund transfers and remittances

  • Card operations

  • Loan and credit administration

  • Trade-finance operations

  • Treasury and investment operations

  • Customer static-data maintenance

  • Reconciliations and suspense-account follow-up

  • Securities and collateral documentation

  • Records and document management

  • Central archiving

  • Operational support to branches and business units

• Maintain effective maker-checker controls, approval authorities, segregation of duties and transaction limits.

• Ensure timely resolution of failed, rejected, unmatched or suspicious transactions.

• Monitor operational errors, losses, reversals, exceptions, backlogs and aged outstanding items.

• Ensure timely and accurate reconciliations between operational systems, payment systems, correspondent accounts and the general ledger.

• Improve transaction-processing efficiency through centralization, automation and straight-through processing.

• Maintain sufficient staffing, capacity and contingency arrangements for peak volumes and critical processing periods.

• Ensure adherence to sanctions, AML/CFT, customer-due-diligence and regulatory controls embedded in operational processes.

• Coordinate the correction of control deficiencies identified by Risk, Compliance, Internal Audit or external regulators.

6. Business Services

• Lead shared services that support the bank’s branches, departments and customer-facing functions.

• Define service catalogs, service standards and performance commitments for each business-service function.

• Ensure responsive and consistent operational support across the bank.

• Oversee centralized service requests, operational inquiries and internal case management.

• Ensure that business-service activities are appropriately documented, controlled and measured.

• Identify opportunities to consolidate fragmented support activities and reduce duplication.

• Improve coordination between branches, business lines, operations and technology.

• Monitor internal-customer satisfaction and resolve recurring service failures.

• Evaluate insourcing, outsourcing and shared-service alternatives using financial, operational, regulatory and risk criteria.

• Ensure that outsourced services remain subject to appropriate due diligence, contracts, controls, monitoring and exit planning.

7. Strategic Planning and Performance Management

• Lead the preparation and periodic review of the bank’s corporate strategy in coordination with the CEO and Executive Management.

• Translate approved strategic priorities into departmental objectives, initiatives, budgets and measurable outcomes.

• Coordinate the annual business-planning and performance-management cycle.

• Develop enterprise scorecards, strategic KPIs and management dashboards.

• Monitor financial and nonfinancial performance against strategy, budget and targets.

• Identify deviations, execution barriers and emerging risks and recommend corrective actions.

• Conduct market, competitor, customer, technology and operating-model analysis to support strategic decisions.

• Evaluate strategic initiatives, partnerships, new capabilities and transformation opportunities.

• Coordinate periodic strategy-review meetings and prepare reports for Executive Management and the Board.

• Ensure consistency between the strategic plan, technology roadmap, workforce plan, capital-investment plan and project portfolio.

• Establish clear benefits, ownership, milestones and measures for every major strategic initiative.

8. Engineering, Premises and Facilities

• Provide executive oversight of the bank’s buildings, branches, offices, data centers, engineering systems and physical infrastructure.

• Develop and implement facilities, premises and branch-infrastructure plans.

• Oversee construction, renovation, relocation, refurbishment and fit-out projects.

• Ensure preventive and corrective maintenance of electrical, mechanical, HVAC, power, fire-safety and other building systems.

• Ensure the reliability of critical infrastructure supporting data centers, payment operations and essential banking services.

• Maintain appropriate backup power, environmental controls and infrastructure-monitoring arrangements.

• Ensure compliance with relevant building, civil-defense, occupational-safety, environmental and accessibility requirements.

• Optimize branch and office utilization, lease arrangements, energy consumption and facilities costs.

• Maintain asset registers, maintenance schedules, warranties and technical documentation.

• Coordinate physical-security requirements with the bank’s responsible security function.

• Ensure that contractors working on bank premises meet approved safety, security and confidentiality requirements.

9. Administrative Services

• Lead the bank’s administrative and general-services functions.

• Oversee procurement support, office services, transportation, fleet, travel, utilities, supplies, mail, archiving and other assigned services.

• Establish transparent service standards and controls for administrative expenditure.

• Ensure appropriate tendering, vendor selection, contracting and performance-monitoring processes in coordination with Procurement, Finance and Legal.

• Maintain accurate records of fixed assets, furniture, equipment and assigned property.

• Optimize administrative costs while maintaining required service quality and control.

• Ensure effective management of leases, service contracts, insurance coordination and vendor obligations.

• Establish environmental, sustainability and resource-efficiency practices across premises and administrative operations.

• Ensure that sensitive documents, access cards, keys, seals and other controlled items are properly safeguarded.

10. Project Management Center

• Establish and maintain the bank’s enterprise project-management methodology, governance and reporting standards.

• Manage the portfolio of strategic, regulatory, technology, operational and infrastructure projects.

• Evaluate and prioritize proposed projects based on strategic value, regulatory urgency, customer benefit, risk, capacity and return on investment.

• Ensure that every approved project has a clear sponsor, business case, scope, budget, timeline, resource plan, risk assessment and benefits-realization plan.

• Monitor delivery milestones, dependencies, risks, issues, budgets and resource utilization.

• Establish stage-gate reviews and escalation procedures for delayed, over-budget or underperforming projects.

• Provide transparent portfolio reporting to the CEO, Executive Management and relevant Board committees.

• Coordinate business readiness, testing, training, data migration, change management and post-implementation review.

• Ensure that material system and process changes receive appropriate Risk, Compliance, Information Security, Finance and Internal Audit involvement.

• Track realized benefits after implementation and hold project owners accountable for results.

• Develop project-management capabilities across the bank.

11. Operational Risk and Internal Controls

• Operate within the bank’s approved risk appetite and three-lines governance model.

• Own and manage the operational risks arising from functions reporting to the COO.

• Ensure that appropriate preventive, detective and corrective controls are embedded in operations, technology and support processes.

• Maintain effective risk and control self-assessment, key-risk-indicator, incident and operational-loss processes.

• Promptly report significant incidents, control failures, service interruptions, fraud indicators and regulatory breaches.

• Ensure timely investigation and remediation of operational incidents and recurring errors.

• Maintain segregation of duties and effective authorization controls across all supervised functions.

• Cooperate fully with Risk Management, Compliance, AML/CFT, Information Security, Internal Audit, external auditors and regulators.

• Ensure timely closure of audit, compliance, risk and regulatory findings.

• Prevent management responsibility for operations from compromising the independence of assurance and control functions.

12. Business Continuity and Operational Resilience

• Sponsor the bank’s operational-resilience program in coordination with Risk Management, Information Security and business owners.

• Identify critical services, processes, systems, facilities, vendors and people.

• Ensure that business-impact assessments and business-continuity plans remain current and tested.

• Establish recovery priorities, service-impact tolerances and escalation arrangements.

• Ensure effective disaster-recovery, alternate-site, crisis-management and emergency-communication capabilities.

• Conduct regular business-continuity, disaster-recovery and crisis-simulation exercises.

• Ensure that weaknesses identified through tests or incidents are remediated promptly.

• Maintain contingency arrangements for staff shortages, facility disruption, technology failure, cyber incidents and third-party service interruption.

• Participate in the bank’s crisis-management committee and lead operational recovery when required.

13. Third-Party and Outsourcing Management

• Ensure effective governance of material vendors, outsourcing arrangements and service providers within the COO’s area.

• Require appropriate due diligence covering financial strength, capability, security, resilience, compliance and concentration risk.

• Ensure that contracts define service levels, audit rights, confidentiality, data protection, business continuity, regulatory access and termination obligations.

• Monitor vendor performance, incidents, risks and contractual compliance.

• Maintain viable contingency and exit plans for critical outsourced services.

• Obtain the required internal and regulatory approvals before entering into material outsourcing arrangements.

• Ensure that outsourcing does not reduce the bank’s accountability or ability to meet regulatory obligations.

14. Financial and Resource Management

• Prepare and manage the operating and capital budgets of the functions reporting to the COO.

• Establish disciplined workforce, technology, project, facilities and vendor cost controls.

• Identify sustainable efficiency and productivity opportunities without weakening customer service, resilience or internal control.

• Review major investments and contracts against approved business cases.

• Monitor the total cost of ownership and realized benefits of significant technology and infrastructure investments.

• Ensure efficient utilization of employees, premises, systems and other operational assets.

• Provide timely forecasts and explanations of material budget variances.

• Support the CEO and Chief Financial Officer in enterprise cost-management and investment-prioritization decisions.

15. Regulatory and Governance Responsibilities

• Ensure compliance with the Banking Law, Companies Law and all applicable Central Bank of Jordan regulations, instructions and circulars.

• Ensure that functions reporting to the COO operate within Board-approved policies and delegated authorities.

• Support accurate and timely regulatory reporting for matters under the COO’s responsibility.

• Maintain complete records and evidence demonstrating compliance with regulatory and internal requirements.

• Ensure prompt implementation of regulatory changes affecting operations, technology, employees, premises and outsourced services.

• Meet Central Bank of Jordan fitness, propriety and approval requirements applicable to senior executive management.

• Participate transparently in regulatory meetings, inspections and supervisory reviews.

• Escalate material regulatory, operational or governance concerns to the CEO and relevant governance bodies.

• Avoid taking responsibility for independent Risk Management, Compliance, AML/CFT or Internal Audit functions.

Key Decision Authorities

Subject to Board policies and the approved delegation-of-authority framework, the COO may:

• Approve operational procedures, service standards and process designs.

• Allocate resources and budgets within approved limits.

• Prioritize operational, technology and transformation initiatives.

• Approve corrective actions for service, control and performance failures.

• Escalate or suspend activities presenting unacceptable operational, technology, customer or regulatory risk.

• Recommend organizational restructuring and senior appointments within supervised functions.

• Approve vendors and contracts within delegated limits.

• Establish management committees and working groups for matters under the COO’s authority.

• Require business units to remediate process, documentation or service deficiencies.

Escalate unresolved conflicts or material exposures to the CEO and appropriate committees