Director - Business Intelligence, Middle East and North Africa

at  Control Risks

The Director of Business Intelligence MENA will be part of its leadership team contributing to the day-to-day management of one of Control Risks’ business intelligence teams covering the region. You will lead a culturally and linguistically diverse team to ensure that we consistently and continually improve (a) the quality, relevance and execution of our business intelligence consulting; and (b) the recruitment, training and management of our colleagues.
The core deliverables you will be responsible for are: pre-investment due diligence; business intelligence around transactions and our clients’ competitive landscapes; bespoke compliance focused instructions; and disputes and litigation support.
The position’s core responsibilities are:
1. Playing a lead role designing and implementing our business intelligence strategy and innovating our services with other senior colleagues
2. Playing a lead role in growing our client base and winning business intelligence projects inside and outside of MENA
3. Managing the pipeline and delivery of the team’s business intelligence projects
4. Ensuring an inclusive, collaborative high performing team
5. Implementing high quality on-boarding of new recruits and training of existing team members
6. Monitoring and meeting the team’s compliance requirements
This position will appeal to an experienced business intelligence professional with a track record of working with law firms and in-house legal counsel and individuals with a legal background.
Role Purpose:

Client management and business development

• Closely manage a number of existing clients that are regular consumers of business intelligence and grow these relationships within business intelligence and other service.
• Identify and secure new client relationships through pro-active business development efforts with the support of senior business leaders.
• Represent Control Risks at events and other business development functions in coordination with other senior members of the team and broader regional management
• Collaborate with MENA team leaders and other regional business intelligence teams on global business development initiatives
• Ensure capability statements address our clients’ business intelligence requirements in MENA, and clearly demonstrate our experience and differentiators in different geographic markets

Case work

• Ensure proposals focus on our clients’ requirements and our ability to meet them, and that our proposals stay ahead of the market by incorporating clients’ feedback and service innovation
• Lead complicated business intelligence projects in MENA, and multi-jurisdictional projects that stretch outside MENA, with other senior colleagues
• Manage the team’s output to ensure consistently high standards of quality and client-relevance are met
• Collaborate with your peers in other business intelligence practices and adjacent service lines to ensure our clients’ requirements for integrated risk management consultancy are met.

Team management and culture

• Maintain an inclusive, collaborative environment in a culturally and linguistically diverse team, across BI MENA
• Improve, implement and periodically review on-boarding training for new BI MENA team members
• Identify skills gaps in the team and address this through recruitment and/ or training alongside other colleagues
• Set appropriate and consistent objectives for team members of different seniority
• Improve, implement and periodically review open-source research and human source management, intelligence skills and client management training for existing team member.
• Ensure that pricing, margins and value are understood in the team to ensure we capture lower and higher margin opportunities
• Ensure that the team’s legal and compliance requirements are understood and adhered to, including the implementation of associated training.

Business management

• Develop and implement the team’s strategy to achieve year-on-year profit growth alongside other senior members of the team and broader regional management
• Review and approve pricing to ensure that we capture lower and higher margin opportunities
• Ensure good cash flow management through timely invoicing and participation in the collection process
• Develop succession plans for the team to ensure continuity in delivery for our clients.

REQUIREMENTS

Knowledge and experience

The candidates invited to interview will demonstrate evidence of leading a team delivering business intelligence, with a particular emphasis on:

• Expert understanding of legal, economic and political trends across MENA
• Mentoring, developing and retaining high-performing team members
• Implementing consistently high standards in a team in different locations
• Integration and inclusion in recruitment, management and communication practices
• Developing a trusted advisor relationship with senior-decision makers within clients
• Independently identifying and growing new client relationships
• Delivering consulting income against revenue and/or profit targets.

Qualifications and specialist skills

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience.
• Excellent communication, listening and negotiation skills.
• Advanced analytical and report writing skills.
• Close attention to detail.
• Methodical approach and strong project management skills.
• Ability to multi-task and manage multiple commitments under time pressure.
• Demonstrable commercial acumen when planning and pricing projects in terms of time, resources and outcome
• Network of client contacts across MENA.

Competencies

• Innovates to create and deliver value to meet the needs of the organisation, its market and clients
• Is responsible and accountable for decision making within team or department
• Makes decisions that drive high performance and meet client needs
• Acts decisively and makes tough decisions even when under pressure
• Drives self and team to deliver against objectives and meet client needs
• Translates and creates practical actions from a strategic plan
• Leads by example – sets and generates commitment to goals, and leads team to meet/ exceed targets
• Demonstrates political awareness to build strong relationships and deliver business results
• Is a trusted expert and advisor
• Ensures sound commercial awareness applied to all solutions, harnessing margin improvement.

Please refer the Job description for details