Associate Director, Priority Banking

Standard Chartered is looking to add an Associate Director, Priority Banking to its Dubai team. The bank operates with about 25,000 colleagues across 35 countries and emphasises transformation and agile ways of working to keep the client at the centre. The focus here is on serving affluent and emerging affluent clients with a mix of traditional banking, investment products, and wealth planning solutions. This role suits someone who wants to lead strategic client relationships and grow a regional book while collaborating with colleagues in wealth and retail banking.

The role is geared toward building new relationships and onboarding fresh clients, while also caring for an established portfolio through clear communication, solid negotiation and dependable service. It’s an onsite opportunity in Dubai, ideal for a relationship manager who enjoys driving revenue, coordinating with product and risk functions, and delivering professional client service across the full range of banking and investment offerings. The team expects you to set the standard for client interaction and partnership with risk and control colleagues.

Within Wealth and Retail Banking, the company serves more than 11 million clients across fast-growing markets, spanning Mass Retail to high-net-worth clients who access Private Bank services. The strategy blends digital channels with a personalised touch to offer deposits, payments, financing, wealth management and customised advisory services, while also supporting small business banking needs.

What the day can look like for a Priority Banking lead

You’ll be shaping revenue plans and business growth strategies while advancing the digital agenda, with a focus on bringing in new business and expanding product mix. In practice, this means setting targets for customer numbers, volumes and revenue, and driving activity that elevates both active and passive balance growth and transaction levels. You’ll oversee the onboarding of all new to the bank clients brought in by branches and the direct sales team, and you’ll craft sales call plans to attract large prospective customers through referrals. It’s essential to keep Sales MIS up to date, including indicators like calls, prospects and business won. A core part of the role involves meeting customers’ expectations, handling complaints to maintain high satisfaction and retention, and modelling leadership that promotes a values-driven culture in partnership with risk and control colleagues. Compliance and risk awareness run through everything, from KYC/AML updates to zero-error documentation and the ability to detect suspicious activity. The position also requires you to obtain a Security & Commodity Authority (SCA) license and meet the CPD requirement after licensing, underscoring a sustained commitment to professional development and regulatory adherence.

Your must-have capabilities and the pluses you bring

The bank is after a seasoned sales and relationship professional with broad banking and investment product experience, strong communication and negotiation skills, and a track record of influencing outcomes. You should be adept at coordinating across departments to deliver on shared objectives, and you’ll need solid interpersonal skills and leadership ability to energise a team and build a collaborative culture. A deep understanding of the UAE business environment is preferred, especially with direct connections to the local high-net-worth community, and you should be comfortable adapting to a multicultural setting. A solid grasp of capital markets and financial planning rounds out the profile, and being SCA certified is a must.

• Proven track record as a sales and relationship manager in banking and investment products, with strong persuasion and negotiation skills
• Ability to build and manage relationships across internal departments to deliver on complex objectives
• Leadership presence and people skills that foster energy and teamwork
• Solid understanding of the UAE market, ideally with established links to the local HNI community
• Capacity to adapt to a multicultural work environment
• Knowledge of capital markets and financial planning concepts
• SCA certified

What the employer offers and practical details you should know

Standard Chartered positions itself as an inclusive, values-driven organisation that recognises diversity. The compensation is described as competitive, with benefits designed to support mental, physical, financial and social well-being. The package includes core retirement savings funding and medical and life insurance, with optional flexible benefits in some locations. Time off totals a minimum of 30 days per year, including 20 weeks of parental or maternity leave, a 12-month sabbatical and three days of volunteering leave, in addition to standard global holiday entitlements. Flexible working is available, balancing home and office needs, and the firm provides wellbeing support through Unmind, resilience and soft skills development, and an employee assistance programme. There is also a commitment to continuous learning, with access to physical, virtual and digital training to support career growth. The role is onsite in Dubai and comes with the opportunity to engage with the bank’s broad wealth management capabilities across Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Tips for making your application strong

Lead with a clear spotlight on your UAE relationship-building track record and your experience handling banking and investment products for affluent clients. Your resume should open with evidence of direct impact on revenue or client growth in Priority Banking or equivalent roles, and highlight your SCA certification right up front. Quantify achievements wherever possible, mention how many NTB clients were onboarded, target metrics you hit for liabilities, revenue or product mix, and examples of large-prospect acquisitions via referrals.

When you prepare for interviews, bring concrete stories that demonstrate how you led sales planning, created targeted call plans for big prospects and managed end-to-end onboarding. Show how you’ve worked with risk and compliance teams to keep KYC/AML up to date and how you’ve maintained a high standard of documentation with zero errors. Be ready to discuss how you balance growth with risk controls in a Priority Banking context and how you keep customers satisfied and loyal over time.

For a thoughtful interview question, ask how the bank balances growth in Priority Banking with risk management, and what ongoing CPD steps look like after licensing as part of maintaining professional standards. You might also inquire about how the team collaborates with digital initiatives to deepen client engagement and improve cross-sell opportunities without compromising compliance.