Senior Manager – SME Cards Portfolio Growth, Customer Lifecycle & Engagement

Job Title : Senior Manager – SME Cards Portfolio Growth, Customer Lifecycle & Engagement

Employment type : Contract (On-site)

Contract length : 12 months

Location : Riyadh/ Jeddah, KSA

PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT

The Senior Manager – SME Cards Portfolio Growth, Customer Lifecycle & Engagement will be responsible for driving the performance and profitability of the SME Cards portfolio following card issuance and activation.

The role will own the end-to-end customer lifecycle strategy, focusing on increasing card activation, spend, engagement, enrolment, loyalty participation, customer retention, and portfolio profitability.

The individual will design and execute data-driven portfolio campaigns, customer engagement initiatives, spend stimulation programs, and cross-sell strategies to maximize customer lifetime value and wallet share.

Working closely with SME Banking, Product, Marketing, Digital, Analytics, Loyalty, Relationship Management, Operations, and Data teams, the role will be accountable for developing and executing initiatives that drive sustained portfolio growth and improved customer engagement across the SME segment.

Core Responsibilities and Accountabilities

• Portfolio Growth Strategy
• Develop and execute the SME Cards portfolio growth strategy aligned with the bank's SME and Cards business objectives.
• Define annual and quarterly growth targets covering spend, activation, engagement, loyalty, enrolment, retention, and profitability.
• Identify portfolio growth opportunities through data analysis, customer segmentation, and market intelligence.
• Establish strategies to drive higher customer engagement and increase product penetration within the SME customer base.
• Customer Lifecycle Management
• Own the end-to-end SME Cards customer lifecycle framework, covering.
• Develop customer journey strategies based on behavioural, transactional, and portfolio insights.
• Create trigger-based campaigns to increase engagement and improve customer experience.
• Design and implement retention programs to minimize customer attrition and increase cardholder activity.
• Develop next-best-action frameworks to improve customer engagement and wallet share.
• Spend Stimulation & Portfolio Utilization
• Develop and execute initiatives to increase card spend across domestic, e-commerce, and international transactions.
• Drive spends activation programs targeting newly activated cardholders.
• Identify opportunities to increase average spend per active card and transaction frequency.
• Design targeted offers, promotions, and merchant-funded campaigns to stimulate portfolio growth.
• Monitor spending trends and develop corrective actions to address declining engagement or utilization.
• e-Commerce Growth & Digital Engagement
• Develop programs to accelerate e-commerce and digital payment adoption among SME customers.
• Increase e-commerce penetration and transaction volumes through targeted campaigns and customer education initiatives.
• Collaborate with Digital Banking teams to improve the online customer journey and promote digital card usage.
• Identify opportunities to shift payment behaviour from traditional payment methods to card-based transactions.
• Monitor digital engagement performance and optimize campaigns to maximize digital spend growth.
• Loyalty, Rewards & Customer Engagement
• Manage and optimize the SME Cards loyalty and rewards proposition.
• Design loyalty campaigns that drive spend growth, activation, customer retention, and portfolio profitability.
• Develop partnerships and reward propositions to strengthen customer engagement and differentiation.
• Monitor loyalty participation, redemption trends, and customer satisfaction levels.
• Recommend enhancements to loyalty programs based on market trends and customer insights.
• Cross-Sell & Portfolio Deepening
• Develop, execute targeted cross-sell, and upsell campaigns to increase product penetration within the SME customer base.
• Partner with SME Banking, Business Banking, and Product teams to identify opportunities to promote: SME Lending Products, Business Accounts, Merchant Acquiring Solutions, Payroll Services, Trade and Working Capital Solutions, Insurance Products, Digital Banking Services, Additional Card Products.
• Develop customer segmentation models to identify high-potential cross-sell opportunities.
• Measure and track cross-sell campaign effectiveness and portfolio expansion performance.
• Implement strategies to increase customer lifetime value and overall relationship profitability.
• CRM Campaign Management
• Develop and manage CRM-driven campaigns across multiple customer touchpoints.
• Design personalized customer engagement campaigns using behavioural and transactional insights.
• Execute targeted portfolio campaigns focused on: Activation, Spend Growth, EMOB, Loyalty Participation, Reactivation, Retention, Cross-Sell.
• Track campaign performance and continuously optimize targeting and customer journeys.
• Partner with Marketing and Analytics teams to improve campaign effectiveness and return on investment.
• Portfolio Analytics & SQL-Based Customer Insights
• Utilize SQL and analytical tools to perform customer segmentation, campaign targeting, portfolio performance analysis, and reporting.
• Analyze customer spend behaviour, engagement levels, profitability, transaction trends, and loyalty participation.
• Build and manage portfolio dashboards and reports to support decision-making.
• Develop actionable insights to improve portfolio performance and customer engagement.
• Work closely with Data, CRM, and Analytics teams to develop predictive models and targeted customer strategies.
• Stakeholder & Vendor Management
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders including SME Banking, Product, Marketing, Operations, Loyalty, Digital Banking, Analytics, and Technology teams.
• Manage relationships with external loyalty providers, campaign partners, merchant partners, and marketing agencies.
• Ensure timely and effective delivery of portfolio growth initiatives.
• Support the development of strategic partnerships that enhance customer value propositions.

Knowledge and Experience

• Bachelor's Degree in Business, Finance, Marketing, Economics, Statistics, Data Analytics, or a related field. MBA or relevant postgraduate qualification preferred.
• Minimum 10+ years of banking experience.
• Proven experience managing spend stimulation, activation, retention, reactivation, and customer engagement programs.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing cross-sell and upsell strategies within banking environments.
• Strong understanding of card economics, customer profitability, loyalty ecosystems, and customer journey management.
• Experience working with CRM platforms and campaign management tools.
• GCC banking experience. KSA banking experience is strongly preferred.
• Strong proficiency in SQL for customer segmentation, campaign targeting, portfolio analysis, and performance reporting.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving capabilities. Including advanced Microsoft Excel skills.
• Experience with Power BI, Tableau, SAS, CRM platforms, or similar analytics tools is preferred.
• Strong understanding of customer data models and portfolio reporting frameworks.

Mandatory Skills

• Previous experience within Banking, Digital Payment & Card solutions, or the FinTech industry.
• Regional experience, including working in a faced-paced matrix organisation.
• Excellent communication skills in English (written, verbal, and presentation); Arabic preferred.

Preferred Skills

• The ability to troubleshoot payment issues, optimize processes, and make data-driven decisions.
• Good understanding of payment systems, digital platforms, system workflows, security basics, and industry technologies.
• An understanding of regional regulations across financial services or payment networks.