Director, Experience and Operational Excellence

About the Company

Talabat operates as part of the Delivery Hero Group, a global local delivery platform serving customers in about 65 countries. Delivery Hero is based in Berlin, Germany, has been publicly listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2017, and is included in the MDAX index.

Role Overview

As Director, Experience and Operational Excellence, you will own the full experience organization across four core areas: Customer Experience, Partner Experience, Fraud Operations, and CX Insights. The scope covers 8 markets across MENA. In this senior leadership position, you will define and execute long-range strategies that improve customer and partner satisfaction, manage multi-million-euro budgets with direct profit-and-loss responsibility, and strengthen platform trust through effective fraud governance.

The role operates at both strategic and hands-on levels. You will help shape product and commercial direction, influence policy across functions, and lead a team of senior managers, specialists, and analysts. As a member of the COO leadership group, you will promote fact-based decision-making, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.

If you are motivated by building exceptional experiences at scale, this opportunity is designed for you.

Key Accountabilities

• Set and drive the end-to-end customer experience strategy across Food, tMart, Local Shops, and DineOut in 8 MENA markets.
• Own the definition, tracking, and improvement of core metrics such as cNPS, cSAT, and related north-star indicators.
• Convert customer behavior, support trends, and performance data into prioritized initiatives that strengthen retention, satisfaction, and order frequency.
• Advance automation, standardization, and digital transformation within major customer experience workflows.
• Lead the partner experience agenda and position vendor satisfaction metrics such as vNPS and vSAT as a strategic lever for commercial performance.
• Hold full ownership of customer and vendor compensation budget planning and governance, including annual budgeting, policy design, market rollout sequencing, and ongoing financial control for a multi-million EUR budget.
• Oversee partner-facing policies and standard operating procedures across all markets and verticals.
• Provide strategic direction for fraud operations, including prevention, detection, and response frameworks across the ecosystem.
• Ensure fraud governance meets compliance, audit, and legal requirements.
• Work closely with Product, Finance, and Legal to balance fraud risk, customer experience quality, and business growth.
• Lead the insights function to ensure timely visibility into performance through strong dashboards and structured reporting.
• Build a data-driven culture by turning insights into concrete action.
• Partner with BI, Data Science, and Product teams to strengthen data infrastructure for reliable performance reporting.
• Run primary research and NPS programs to capture well-represented qualitative feedback and inform local and regional priorities.
• Manage, develop, and coach middle managers, specialists, and analysts.
• Design the department’s OKR framework, KPI structure, and business review cadence.
• Set clear goals and build a high-performance culture grounded in ownership, innovation, and customer focus.
• Represent the function in senior leadership discussions and influence decisions across Product, Commercial, Finance, and Operations.
• Present strategic insights, budget performance, and departmental OKRs to COO and ExCo leadership.
• Lead complex cross-functional initiatives at department or company level, including work with no existing playbook.

Experience and Qualifications

• A bachelor’s or master’s degree in Business Administration, Operations, CX, Data Analytics, or a similar discipline is required.
• You should bring more than 10 years of experience in customer experience, operations, or strategy, ideally within e-commerce, food delivery, or another high-growth technology setting.
• Experience leading mid-level managers and large teams across several functions in a matrix organization is expected.
• Prior ownership of P&L or large-scale budget responsibility, preferably at a multi-million EUR level, is important.
• A strong track record in data analysis, performance management, and CX or operational strategy is necessary.
• Experience working across multiple countries or markets is required.

Skills and Competencies

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to inspire, align, and grow high-performing teams.
• Strategic thinking combined with disciplined execution.
• Comfort working from executive-level strategy down to operational detail.
• Advanced data interpretation and decision-making skills.
• Excellent executive communication and stakeholder influence abilities.
• High customer and partner empathy.
• Strong collaboration skills across Product, Finance, Legal, and Operations.
• Ability to lead effectively in ambiguous, fast-changing environments.
• Comfort using automation and AI-enabled tools to improve scale and efficiency.

Work Environment

This is a full-time onsite leadership position based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.