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Whichever area of the business you join, you’ll become an integral part an innovative, diverse and ambitious team of people. Clifford Chance is a place where the brightest minds and the best of colleagues meet.

Job Description

The role

The Local Compliance Manager is the senior in-country lead for the Firm's compliance in the UAE, covering both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices. The role is responsible for ensuring that global compliance objectives are implemented in the UAE and that policies and processes are implemented locally in a way that meets UAE legal and regulatory requirements. The Local Compliance Manager is the senior in-country lead for the Firm's compliance in the UAE, covering both the Dubai and Abu Dhabi offices. The role is responsible for ensuring that global compliance objectives are implemented in the UAE and that policies and processes are implemented locally in a way that meets UAE legal and regulatory requirements.

Job purpose

The role reports to Head of Compliance, ME Markets and Türkiye ("HOC") and the designated Office Managing Partner ("OMP") and supporting the Chief Risk and Compliance Officer ("CR&CO"), the Money Laundering Reporting Officer ("MLRO"), the Global Compliance Team and local management, and relevant Business Professional leaders. The Local Compliance Manager is expected to act as a trusted adviser to partners, lawyers and business professionals, while also challenging decisions, escalating issues where necessary and maintaining oversight where there are compliance risks.

Key responsibilities

The Local Compliance Manager's accountabilities include the following areas. The allocation of responsibilities may evolve as the Compliance Policy, Compliance Framework, regulatory requirements and the Firm's business needs develop.

Local compliance leadership and governance

• Lead the implementation, operation and continuous development of compliance in the UAE, considering global compliance relevant topics and objectives, local laws and regulations, regulatory expectations and the Firm's strategy.
• Own day-to-day local delivery of the Compliance Framework in the UAE, with clear accountability and escalation to senior management where required.
• Act as the local representative for Compliance in the UAE and promote a positive compliance culture across partners, lawyers and business professionals.
• Maintain effective working relationships with local management and key stakeholders so that local and global compliance responses are coordinated and consistent.
• Develop and maintain a Technology and AI Risk Framework, aligned to legal sector regulatory expectations and industry best practice.
• Advise senior stakeholders (including CIO, CTO, Innovation teams, and partners) on risk, regulatory and reputational implications of technology adoption.
• Collaborate closely with key stakeholders to ensure that AI Risk oversight complements and supports the firm's information security, data privacy and enterprise risk management frameworks.
• Ensure alignment with firm-wide risk appetite and governance standards.

Risk assessment, horizon scanning and controls

• Identify, assess and document UAE compliance-relevant risks and compliance-relevant concerns, including risks arising from changes in law, regulation, regulator expectations, client requirements, Firm systems, local business activities or global policy developments.
• Lead local input into the Compliance Risk Assessment, the UAE risk register, UAE risk assessments and any Compliance Plan for new or changing compliance requirements.
• Design, implement and improve proportionate local controls and preventive monitoring mechanisms for compliance objectives, working with the HOC, CR&CO, Global Compliance Team and relevant subject matter experts.
• Monitor legal, regulatory and market developments in the UAE that may affect the Firm's compliance obligations or controls and advise the OMP, HOC and other stakeholders on impact, required action and timing.
• Identify incidences, trends or indicators of non-compliance, determine appropriate remedial steps with the relevant stakeholders and monitor completion of agreed actions.

Policies, processes, training and communications

• Lead local implementation of global compliance policies, processes and guidelines and ensure local awareness, understanding and adoption across the UAE offices.
• Where local requirements are more stringent, different or require a documented deviation from the global minimum, work with the Global Compliance Team to design, document, approve and communicate the local approach.
• Contribute UAE input to new or amended global compliance policies and processes, ensuring that local requirements and practical implementation issues are identified early.
• Lead the development, implementation and monitoring of mandatory risk and compliance training programmes, including local training needs, completion tracking, issue escalation and follow-up for non-completion or poor performance.
• Develop and deliver effective communications on compliance topics for the UAE, including new requirements, policy changes, regulatory developments, lessons learned from incidents and expectations for compliant conduct.

Monitoring, assurance, reporting and escalation

• Monitor compliance performance locally against agreed requirements, controls and indicators, including through reporting packs, file reviews, self-assessments, sample testing and issue tracking as appropriate.
• Prepare clear and timely reports for management, and other relevant stakeholders on compliance activities, compliance performance, incidents, breaches, material risks and remediation status.
• Report serious compliance violations promptly to management, and propose practical action aimed at preventing recurrence.
• Provide compliance related responses to internal audit, compliance assurance and regulator-facing review activity relating to the UAE offices, including scoping, evidence gathering, management responses and remediation tracking.
• Maintain appropriate records evidencing local compliance activity, decisions, approvals, risk assessments, controls, training, monitoring, reports and remediation.
• AML and counter-terrorist financing