Regional IT, Project Owner

Role Summary The Project Owner will lead the Asia Middle and Back Office (“MBO”) Re-engineering Project, a regional transformation initiative to establish a "One Asia” operating model across Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asia locations. The role will drive alignment across business, middle office, back office, technology and control functions, while ensuring appropriate communication and coordination with Japan headquarters. The purpose of the role is to modernize and standardize regional MBO processes, strengthen operational controls, improve scalability, and support the broader One Asia strategy. The Project Owner is accountable for project direction, business outcomes, stakeholder alignment, and management decision-making. Day-to-day project management, task tracking and administrative coordination may be supported by a Project Manager or PMO. Key Responsibilities: • Lead the overall direction, governance and delivery approach of the Asia MBO Re-engineering Project. • Promote the One Asia operating model by driving standardization, collaboration and regional integration across Asia locations. • Coordinate closely with regional senior management, business departments, middle and back-office functions, IT, Finance, Risk, Compliance and Operations. • Act as a bridge between Asia stakeholders and Japan headquarters on matters relating to investment, governance, technology architecture, operational resilience and risk management. • Oversee the design of the future Target Operating Model, including process, technology, data, governance, roles and responsibilities. • Drive process improvement and automation opportunities to reduce manual work, improve straight-through processing and strengthen operational controls. • Ensure that project decisions are supported by clear analysis, practical options, risk assessment and implementation planning. • Prepare steering committee materials, executive updates, decision papers and Japan headquarters communications as required. Key Deliverables • Project charter, governance structure and decision-making framework. • Current state assessment and As-Is process documentation. • Target Operating Model blueprint and To-Be process design. • Business requirements, functional requirements and implementation roadmap. • System evaluation approach and target architecture considerations. • Cost, benefit and KPI framework to track project value and benefits realization. • Steering committee materials, executive summaries and Japan headquarters update materials. • Implementation readiness criteria and post-go-live stabilization plan. Required Experience and Qualifications • Degree in Business or IT (or related discipline). • More than 15 years of experience in financial services, preferably in securities, capital markets, banking or related businesses. • Strong understanding of middle and back-office operations, post-trade processes, front-to-back workflows and operational control environments. • Proven experience leading or overseeing large-scale transformation, system implementation, process re-engineering or regional integration projects. • Experience managing cross-border stakeholders across Japan, Asia and/or Europe. • Strong technology governance experience, including project oversight, budget control, vendor coordination, system risk management, incident management and implementation readiness. • Ability to engage credibly with both business and technology stakeholders and communicate effectively with senior management. • Business-level English communication skills; Japanese communication capability is preferred for coordination with Japan headquarters.