Senior IT Governance Specialist

This is a fully remote position, open to applicants in Saudi Arabia.

📋 Description

• Develop and uphold IT governance policies, standards, and procedures that align with ITIL 4 and the SAMA IT Governance Framework.

• Conduct gap and maturity assessments against SAMA requirements and manage remediation plans until completion.

• Prepare documentation and coordinate both internal and external audits, as well as regulatory reviews of IT governance controls.

• Collaborate with Cybersecurity GRC, Risk, and Compliance on shared controls.

• Co-design, implement, and continually enhance ITSM processes for incident, problem, service requests, service levels, configuration and asset management, and knowledge management.

• Define and maintain the IT service catalogue, Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and Operational Level Agreements (OLAs).

• Monitor service levels of third-party vendors and escalate any breaches.

• Configure process workflows within the ITSM platform to promote adoption.

• Design and oversee the change management framework, including standards for change requests, risk and impact classification, Change Advisory Board (CAB) processes, standard and emergency changes, and post-implementation reviews.

• Identify and track IT risks and control gaps arising from technological changes, ensuring remediation actions are completed.

• Integrate change management processes into team tools and workflows.

• Serve as the process owner while individual change approvals remain with engineering, infrastructure, and security leads.

• Monitor adherence to production change protocols, which includes approval, testing, segregation, traceability, and rollback plans.

• Track the success rate of changes, including failed and unauthorized changes, and drive improvements.

• Oversee user access lifecycle processes, including activities for joiners, movers, and leavers.

• Define and coordinate regular user access reviews.

• Govern role-based access, least privilege, privileged access, and segregation of duties requirements.

• Monitor access exceptions, dormant accounts, excessive privileges, and unresolved access issues.

• Coordinate IAM governance and remediation efforts with IT, Engineering, Cybersecurity, HR, and system owners.

• Generate IT governance and service management KPIs/KRIs for management and committees.

• Track audit findings and regulatory action items, reporting status until closure.

⛳️ Requirements

• A minimum of 6 years of experience in IT governance, IT service management, or change management, preferably within the banking, payments, or another regulated financial services sector.

• ITIL 4 Foundation certification is mandatory.

• Demonstrated experience in designing and managing a change management process, including facilitating CAB, in a live production setting.

• Strong stakeholder management skills with the ability to promote adoption across engineering, infrastructure, and security teams without direct authority.

• Practical experience with ITSM platforms such as ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, or Freshservice.

• Familiarity with the SAMA IT Governance Framework and related frameworks.

• Capability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines, especially for audits and regulatory submissions.

• Excellent written and verbal English communication skills are essential.

• A Bachelor's degree in Information Technology, Computer Science, Information Systems, or a related field is required.

• ITIL 4 Managing Professional or Strategic Leader certification is preferred.

• Knowledge of COBIT 2019, ISO/IEC 20000, or CGEIT is preferred.

• Experience in a SAMA-regulated institution is preferred.

• Must be available during Saudi business hours, from Sunday to Thursday.

🏝️ Benefits

• Fully remote work environment.

• Flexible working hours when urgent incidents or audit deadlines necessitate it.