I lead a team of 50+ project managers, business analysts and engineers in onshore, near shore and offshore locations, providing software solutions as the Regional Software Delivery Head of Channels Distribution & Wealth Management systems. Excellent programme, portfolio and project management skills, I’m responsible for the strategy, planning, development, delivery and support of Internet, Mobile, Tablet, (Digital), Contact Centre, ATM, Branch and Wealth Management banking solutions throughout the MENA region. Considerable experience in major financial services environments with a strong technical and business analysis background successfully delivering to business strategy in transformation programmes execution. Excellent stakeholder engagement and ability to easily build relationships across geographies with business leaders, technology teams and vendors.

Delivery Manager - IT @ Dual role, Regional Head of Distribution and Regional Head of Wealth Management with responsibility for the end to end delivery of all regional business IT system solutions Lead and direct a team of 50+ resources in multiple technology centres with department responsibilities, budget control and both line and functional management. Business acumen in financial services with strong technical focus on regulation, compliance and security within a multi-channel architecture environment. Develop Digital & Wealth management technology roadmap strategy and drive implementation to support the IT and business target operating model. Portfolio & Project planning, prioritization, scheduling, resource management, supply and demand management utilizing strong stakeholder management. Relationship Management with business, vendors, support functions and global teams at all levels of the organisation Escalation management for all issues relating to service, deployment and support Lead initiatives in IT process re-engineering, implementing sustainable cost saving initiatives and stream lining processes to increase productivity and efficiency in project delivery, driving ROI. Manage the consolidation and maximize infrastructure utilization through industry latest and best practice providing tangible benefits to solution and service improvements Merger, Acquisitions & Divestitures strategy execution in Technology Services From April 2011 to Present (4 years 7 months) DubaiProgramme Manager - IT @ Delivering both large scale global systems and country specific initiatives for business units, working closely with the infrastructure teams and the offshore development teams to deliver strategic solutions Responsible for and led the delivery of multiple projects with cost management of multi million dollars through the end to end software development lifecycle. Leadership and development of high performing solutions development project teams including coaching and mentoring both in the UK and for large diverse offshore development teams. Led a team of Project Managers, providing expert guidance through coaching and mentoring on the complete project lifecycle using PMP concepts to ensure focused delivery and productivity. Managing global support teams and vendors in project development, deployment and support Liaison with other departments and senior management Managed the scoping and delivery the programme of change, ensuring solutions are delivered on time, budget and realize business value by applying best practices and techniques Evaluate enterprise architecture design solutions of front end systems and determine system nonfunctional requirements in driving business performance. From August 2008 to March 2011 (2 years 8 months) DubaiProject Manager - IT @ Responsible for the end to end delivery of a portfolio of concurrent regional projects across multiple business units including and diverse as Global Markets, Corporate Banking, Consumer Banking, Lending & Risk and Payments. Project Management and delivery of business critical projects with relevant business process definition and improvement, training, regulatory, compliance, security, marketing and operational risk requirements addressed. Working with multiple stakeholders both business, operations and IT to control the project schedule, scope and costs, furthermore defined communication, reporting and governance structure for the project delivery. Responsible for leading a team off onsite and offshore resources to implement systems in a cost effective and timely manner to the customer. Overall control of cost management and budgetary reporting to project stakeholders including regular project status dashboards on overall project schedule, issues and risks. Resolution of issues, working with the project team to ensure risks and issues are managed towards an agreed resolution Led and implemented projects using vendor products and relationship management between all parties. From June 2006 to July 2008 (2 years 2 months) DubaiSenior Analyst Programmer @ Designed, developed and implemented transactional websites and web services in the consumer finance sector to new market technologies Led a development team of onshore and offshore resources From April 2003 to May 2006 (3 years 2 months) Windsor, UKAnalyst Programmer @ Responsible for systems analysis, design, development and implementation of new systems and enhancements to existing legacy core banking platforms Production Support duties both in and out of hours for core services From January 1999 to March 2003 (4 years 3 months) Windsor, UK

PMP @ Project Management InstituteBSc (Hons) Building Surveying, 2:1 @ University of the West of England From 1995 to 1998 Queens Mary’s College, Basingstoke From 1993 to 1995 Harriet Costello School From 1988 to 1993 Neil Wickens is skilled in: Project Delivery, Risk Management, Business Analysis, PMO, Stakeholder Management, Project Management, Program Management, Portfolio Management, PMP, Leadership, Budgets, Relationship Management, Vendor Management, People Development, Performance Management, Offshore Management, Change Management, IT Strategy, Digital Strategy, E-commerce, Wealth Management, Strategic Planning, Global Deployment, Software Development, System Deployment, Requirements Management, IT Transformation, Technology Management, Technology Integration, Solution Architecture, Middleware, Project Portfolio...