Director Experience and Operational Excellence

About the opportunity As the Director Experience and Operational Excellence you will lead talabat's end-to-end experience function across four pillars — Customer Experience, Partner Experience, Fraud Operations, and CX Insights — spanning 8 markets in MENA. You will be accountable for setting and executing multi-year strategies that drive customer and partner satisfaction, govern multi-million EUR budgets with direct P&L impact, and oversee the integrity of the platform through robust fraud governance. This is a high-impact senior leadership role requiring the ability to operate at both a strategic and executional level — influencing product and commercial roadmaps, shaping cross-functional policy, and developing a team of senior managers and specialists. You will serve as a key voice in the COO leadership team, championing data-driven decision-making, operational excellence, and a culture of continuous improvement. If you are passionate about building world-class experiences at scale, this role is for you. WHAT’S ON YOUR PLATE? Customer Experience Strategy & Leadership: - Own the end-to-end CX strategy across all verticals (Food, tMart, Local Shops, DineOut) and 8 MENA markets. - Define and govern cNPS, cSAT, and other north star metrics — setting targets, driving methodology, and leading cross-functional execution to move them. - Translate customer data, behavioral trends, and support signals into prioritized initiatives that improve retention, satisfaction, and order frequency. - Champion process automation, standardization, and digitalization of key CX workflows. Partner Experience & Budget Governance: - Oversee talabat's Partner Experience function, ensuring vendor satisfaction (vNPS/vSAT) is treated as a strategic competitive differentiator linked to commercial performance. - Maintain full accountability for the Functional budgets - customer and vendor compensation program — a multi-million EUR annual budget — including annual planning, policy design, market rollout sequencing, and ongoing financial governance. - Govern the complete portfolio of partner-facing policies and SOPs across all markets and verticals. Fraud Operations & Risk Governance: - Provide strategic oversight of talabat's Fraud Operations function, covering prevention, detection, and response frameworks across the ecosystem. - Ensure fraud governance is aligned with compliance, audit, and legal standards. - Drive cross-functional alignment between Fraud, Product, Finance, and Legal to balance risk mitigation with customer experience quality and platform growth. Insights & Analytics: - Oversee the Insights function, ensuring real-time visibility into performance across all markets through robust dashboards and structured reporting. - Champion a data-first culture across the department — ensuring insights translate into action. - Partner with BI, Data Science, and Product to build the data infrastructure that underpins reliable departmental performance visibility. - Run primary research, NPS programs to gather structured, well represented qualitative feedback - using these to inform local and regional priorities People Leadership & Organisational Development: - Lead and develop a team of middle managers and specialists and analysts. - Design the department's OKR framework, KPI architecture, and Business Review structure. - Set clear goals for the function and drive high performance and professional growth across all levels — fostering a culture of ownership, innovation, and customer-centricity. Senior Stakeholder Management & Cross-Functional Leadership: - Serve as the experience authority in senior leadership forums, influencing Product, Commercial, Finance, and Operations decisions. - Present strategic insights, budget performance, and departmental OKRs to COO and ExCo leadership. - Lead high-complexity, cross-functional programs assigned at department or company level with no existing playbook. What you need to be successful WHAT DID WE ORDER? Qualifications & Experience: - Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business Administration, Operations, CX, Data Analytics, or a related field. - 10+ years of experience in customer experience, operations, or strategy, preferably in e-commerce, food delivery, or a high-growth tech environment. - Proven track record of leading mid level managers and large team members across multiple functions in a matrixed organization. - P&L or budget accountability, experience ideally at a multi-million EUR scale. - Strong background in data analysis, performance management, and CX or operational strategy. - Experience working across multiple markets and geographies. Skills & Competencies: - Exceptional leadership skills — able to inspire, align, and develop high-performing teams. - Strategic mindset with strong execution discipline; comfortable operating at both the 30,000-foot and ground levels. - Data-driven decision-making, with the ability