Job Description: Finance & Operations Manager (Middle East)
Role Overview
Department: Finance
Location: Dubai, UAE (with regional oversight across GCC and Philippines)
Reports to: Group Finance Director
Our client, an international design studio, is seeking a high-caliber Finance & Operations Manager to lead the finance function across their GCC and Philippines studios.
This is a pivotal role that blends financial leadership, operational rigour, and strategic business partnering. The successful candidate will navigate the unique commercial dynamics of a project-based design business-including WIP management, utilisation tracking, and resource-led revenue models-while ensuring regional compliance and driving operational excellence to support our continued growth.
Key Responsibilities
Financial Leadership & Reporting
- Team Management: Lead and mentor a 4-person Finance & Operations team, fostering a culture of high performance, professional development, and technical excellence.
- Management Accounts: Oversee the timely preparation of accurate monthly management accounts (P&L, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow), ensuring strong month-end controls and full IFRS compliance.
- Consolidation: Manage the consolidation of financial reporting across UAE and KSA entities, delivering actionable insights for Board-level reporting.
- Budgeting & Strategy: Lead the budgeting, forecasting, and rolling forecast processes, ensuring they are tightly aligned with pipeline activity and workforce planning.
- Commercial Analysis: Provide sophisticated financial modelling and commercial analysis to support strategic decision-making by the Group FD, CFO, and Principal.
Project & Operational Oversight
- Project Financials: Take full ownership of project-based financial management, including WIP, utilisation tracking, recovery rates, margin analysis, and revenue recognition.
- Commercial Partnering: Proactively support project review meetings to identify and mitigate financial risks, such as margin erosion, scope creep, and delayed billing.
- Operational Integrity: Ensure the accuracy of timesheets, cost allocations, and milestone-based invoicing in strict alignment with contract terms.
- Systems Optimization: Partner with the Group Finance Systems & Process Manager to drive the adoption, automation, and standardization of systems (including Deltek) across regional offices.
Compliance & Governance
- Regulatory Adherence: Lead statutory accounting, corporate tax, VAT, and Zakat compliance (including specific ZATCA requirements in KSA). Ensure adherence to FTA, FATCA, and other relevant regional regulations.
- Audit Management: Lead the annual audit process, acting as the primary point of contact for external auditors and tax advisors.
- Treasury & Payroll: Oversee regional payroll, pension schemes, and partner drawings; manage cash flow, treasury functions, and banking relationships to maintain strong AR performance.
Qualifications, Experience & Skills
- Professional Qualification: ACA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent international accounting qualification.
- Industry Experience: Proven experience in a project-based environment, ideally within architecture, design, engineering, or professional services.
- Technical Expertise: * Deep knowledge of statutory accounting, audit management, and regional tax compliance.
- Advanced proficiency in Excel and financial systems (experience with Deltek is highly preferred).
- Operational Mindset: Strong understanding of internal controls, with a "hands-on" approach to process improvement and systems automation.
- Leadership: Demonstrated experience in managing, mentoring, and developing small teams.
- Communication: Exceptional ability to communicate complex financial concepts to non-financial senior stakeholders and leadership teams.
- Personal Attributes: Proactive, solutions-oriented, and highly organized. Must be comfortable operating within a fast-paced, creative, and design-led studio environment.
