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Gururaj PatilGP

Gururaj Patil

AI Program Manager

$500/day
Dubai, AE
8-15 years
Project Management
Scrum
SAFe
Agile method
Program Governance

Average response time: 1 hour

About Gururaj

Enterprise Program Manager with 16+ years of experience leading PMO Governance, Operating Model design, Agile Transformation, Financial Planning, Workforce Strategy, and Organizational Enablement across Banking, Analytics, Financial Services, and Technology organizations.

Proven track record of building governance and reporting frameworks, establishing scalable operating models, supporting executive leadership teams, and enabling cross-functional delivery excellence across 12+ squads, 20–50 strategic initiatives, AED 40M+ budget oversight, and 120+ staff operating ecosystem including the FTE & Contractors.
Banking and Financial Services

  • English

    Native or bilingual

Can work on-site
Dubai (up to 50km)

Experience

  • Emirates NBD,
    Advanced Analytics COE Program Manager
    July 2024 - April 2026 (1 year and 9 months)
    Dubai - United Arab Emirates
    Own end-to-end program delivery, financial governance, and portfolio oversight for the Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence — a 120+ person ecosystem of data scientists, engineers, technology, and business delivering AI / Analytics initiatives across the bank.

    Financial Planning & Governance
    • Lead annual budget planning, monthly forecasting, variance analysis, and resource allocation across AED 40M+ in operational spend supporting 20–50 concurrent AI / Analytics initiatives.
    • Oversee portfolio performance, utilisation, and KPI alignment, ensuring strategic priorities translate into measurable delivery outcomes.
    • Manage vendor commercial performance, SoW reviews, billing reviews, contract management, performance reviews
    • Build quarterly headcount plans, manage staffing trackers, and lead resource allocation aligned to delivery priorities.

    AI / Analytics Delivery & Strategy
    • Led delivery and productionisation of AI / Analytics use cases across Retail, SME, Corporate, Risk, and Compliance domains, partnering with engineers and data science teams
    • Identify innovative AI use cases and pilot projects with business units, converting strategic priorities into actionable initiatives based on feasibility, impact, and alignment
    • Stay updated of emerging trends in AI, data science, and analytics platforms, advising leadership on platform direction and capability investment.

    Stakeholder & Vendor Coordination
    • Coordinate IT, strategy, and external vendor teams for AI / data solution deployment, contractual delivery tracking, approval flows, and procurement engagement
    • Run executive communication cadence, monthly governance packs, SteerCo forums, leadership review decks, and decision-support frameworks.
    • Develop and govern interactive BI dashboards in Power BI and Jira, providing real-time visibility into project status, performance metrics, risks, dependencies, and budget utilisation
    • Cut platform onboarding and data access enablement from 4 weeks to 1 week
    Program Governance Project Management
  • Abu Dhabi Investment Authority,
    Transformation Lead — Operating Model (Consulting)
    May 2023 - July 2024 (1 year and 2 months)
    Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates
    Led operating model transformation across Research and Analytics functions at one of the world's largest sovereign wealthfunds.

    • Led transformation of delivery operating models across Research and Analytics, improving execution maturity, planning discipline, and delivery transparency.
    • Designed structured planning frameworks, quarterly planning, initiative tracking, delivery reviews, and governance cadences.
    • Set up executive communication models through weekly BI reporting, leadership review packs, and delivery dashboards.
    • Coached leaders on Agile leadership, Lean delivery, MVP thinking, and Evidence-Based Management.
    • Applied Value Stream Mapping and process optimisation to reduce delivery friction and improve throughput.
    Agile method SAFe
  • Emirates NBD,
    Senior Scrum Master / Agile Enablement Lead (Consulting)
    November 2021 - May 2023 (1 year and 6 months)
    Dubai - United Arab Emirates
    Foundational role establishing the Advanced Analytics Centre of Excellence —operating principles, governance, and execution frameworks for newlyformed squads.

    • Set up new analytics squads from scratch, team charters, operating agreements, governance rituals, scrum events.
    • Embedded engineering excellence including CI, unit testing, Checkmarx (SAST) integrated into the pipeline, peer review governance, and gated release controls.
    • Standardised Jira and Confluence operating practices across multiple analytics teams.
    • Coordinated with Logical Security and Data Security teams to speed up secure data access enablement.
    • Delivered weekly executive updates to CXO leadership on initiative progress, risks, and outcomes.
    Scrum Program Governance Agile method
Check out Gururaj's experience

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Education

  • Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)
    Scrum.org
    Professional Scrum Master I (PSM I)
  • Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II)
    Scrum.org
    Professional Scrum Master II (PSM II)
Check out Gururaj's education

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