AVP - Operational Team Lead

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Shape your Career with Citi

We’re currently looking for a high caliber professional to join our team as Assistant Vice President, Operational Team Lead Hybrid (Internal Job Title: Ops Sup Sr Analyst – C12) based in Chennai, India. Being part of our team means that we’ll provide you with the resources to meet your unique needs, empower you to make healthy decision and manage your financial well-being to help plan for your future. For instance:

• Citi provides programs and services for your physical and mental well-being including access to telehealth options, health advocates, confidential counseling and more. Coverage varies by country.
• Citi provides access to an array of learning and development resources to help broaden and deepen your skills and knowledge as your career progresses.
• We have a variety of programs that help employees balance their work and life.

# About the Team

The ICBS Operational Service Center is a first-in-class team focused on the delivery of operational excellence. The team is primarily responsible for performing product-agnostic activities on behalf of countries across the regions, improving services to maintain internal client satisfaction, and executing administrative and technical tasks including Invoicing processing, Third Party Management (TPM) policy compliance activities, and SNOW Case Management, among others.

The BAO and BAO Support members within ICBS Central Operations are subject matter experts on Third Party Management policy, accountable and responsible for supporting the completion of controls in a safe and timely manner, and for guiding in-country BAOs across all activities related to TPM policy.

# Role Overview

This is a Team Lead Operations role responsible for managing, developing, and guiding a team of Operational Junior/Senior Analysts executing a combination of Third Party Risk Management (TPRM) activities and Invoicing & Procurement operations within ICBS. The role carries full people leadership accountability in addition to operational ownership, and is designed to drive performance, capability, and compliance across core operational pillars.

BAO / BAO Support Activities – Third Party Management policy compliance, vendor risk controls, and ongoing monitoring. Invoicing & SNOW Operations – Invoice processing, Purchase Order creation, and ServiceNow case management.

The overall objective is to lead a high-performing team that delivers day-to-day operational support in alignment with ICBS operations support infrastructure and processes — ensuring controlled, compliant, and timely delivery across both functional areas — while championing strategic execution, maintaining a robust control environment, and developing team capability to meet evolving business demands.

# Key Responsibilities

## People Leadership & Team Management

• Lead, manage, and develop a team of Operational Junior/Senior Analysts, fostering a high-performance culture built on accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement.
• Set clear individual and team objectives, monitor performance against agreed KPIs, and provide timely, constructive feedback through regular one-to-ones and performance reviews.
• Identify training needs and development opportunities for team members, partnering with HR and management to build individual capability plans and succession pipelines.
• Manage team capacity, workload allocation, and prioritisation across BAO/BAO Support and Invoicing & SNOW functions to ensure balanced and optimal resource deployment.
• Onboard new team members effectively, ensuring they are equipped with the knowledge, tools, and support required to perform their roles from day one.
• Act as the first point of escalation for team members, providing guidance, coaching, and resolution support on complex or ambiguous cases.
• Promote a culture of psychological safety, inclusion, and wellbeing within the team.
• Conduct regular team meetings to cascade communications, align on priorities, and maintain team cohesion across functions.
• Manage performance issues proactively and professionally in partnership with HR, ensuring timely and fair resolution.

## Operational Leadership & Service Delivery

• Drive the execution of Business strategy and operational delivery in conjunction with Cluster Heads, representing the team's output and performance at senior forums.
• Oversee and manage all ICBS services across the team, including ICBS operational and vendor management activities.
• Lead the operational execution of core business responsibilities and services, ensuring efficient and compliant delivery of ICBS services in-country.
• Ensure all team duties and requests are adequately resourced, completed in a controlled and timely manner, and consistently meet agreed minimum business operating standards.
• Serve as the senior internal customer-facing representative for the team, interacting with Citi's internal stakeholders to ensure effective delivery of products and services, and communicating key changes and strategy implementations.
• Build and maintain a robust control environment across all areas of team responsibility.
• Oversee significant outsourced operations managed by the team, ensuring service quality and compliance obligations are met.
• Proactively resolve escalated issues with urgency, identifying root causes to prevent recurrence; manage and report control issues with full transparency.
• Conduct regular reviews of ICBS processes against policy and regulatory requirements, driving remediation where gaps are identified.
• Actively participate in regional and global calls, representing the team and contributing to cross-functional discussions.
• Cultivate and maintain strong relationships with key internal clients, senior cluster management, Country Officers, and business heads to ensure ICBS performance aligns with requirements and expectations, providing regular updates on strategic initiatives.
• Foster strong relationships and cooperation with internal peers, other local/regional units, top management, vendors, suppliers, and external partners.
• Effectively escalate issues, manage upwards, and implement robust communication plans.
• Fulfil all Third-Party Management requirements on a timely basis.

## Third Party Management (BAO / BAO Support) – Oversight & Guidance

• Serve as the senior authority and escalation point on Third Party Management policy and TPM controls for the team.
• Oversee and quality-assure the team's post-contract ongoing monitoring activities, ensuring compliance with TPM requirements across all third-party risk profiles, countries, and business requirements.
• Ensure team members proactively engage in-country BAOs before the launch of controls to provide visibility of workload and prepare ahead of time.
• Review and approve updates to vendor risk profiles to ensure adequate controls are in place to mitigate risks.
• Monitor team performance against On-going Monitoring control completion targets and drive corrective actions where required.
• Oversee Due Diligence control completion across the team, removing blockers and coordinating with SMEs in areas such as Data Privacy, Export Licensing, and Continuity of Business (COB).
• Monitor progress on agreed third-party remediation activities at team level and proactively escalate systemic issues as necessary.
• Liaise with Sector/Regional Risk teams to provide guidance on policy compliance and overall third-party risk management requirements, representing the team in senior risk forums.
• Keep In-Country BAOs, Cluster Heads, and Product Leads informed of aggregate team performance on open controls or tasks.

## Invoicing & SNOW Operations – Oversight & Quality

• Oversee the team's invoice review and payment processing activities, ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and compliance with established controls.
• Monitor team performance against SLAs for Purchase Order creation, invoice processing, and SNOW case management, implementing corrective actions where required.
• Ensure consistent application of team process controls and policies across all Invoicing & SNOW activities.
• Act as senior escalation point for complex customer inquiries, FAQs, and entitlement queries that cannot be resolved at team level.
• Drive continuous quality improvement across Invoicing and SNOW workflows, identifying and addressing process gaps or policy changes in a timely manner.
• Serve as the senior liaison between business units on escalated or high-priority work assignments.

## General Responsibilities

• Maintain a thorough understanding of all Citi policies and procedures that directly impact Third Party Management and Invoicing operations and ensure team adherence.
• Build strong internal relationships and help strengthen controls and awareness across Citi businesses.
• Ensure team responses to TPM and Invoicing-related queries are delivered in a timely, professional, and accurate manner across all channels (phone, email, chat).
• Ensure customer queries across the team are well documented, monitored, and efficiently addressed at all times.
• Champion an exceptional internal client experience across the team, holding members accountable to defined service metrics.
• Appropriately assess risk when business decisions are made, demonstrating consideration for the firm's reputation and safeguarding Citigroup, its clients, and assets by driving compliance with applicable laws, rules, and regulations.
• Escalate, manage, and report control issues with transparency.
• Support ad-hoc requests and activities as needed.

# Strategy

• Execute ICBS strategy in coordination with Cluster Heads, aligned with Product strategy, cascading priorities and direction clearly to the team.
• Identify and implement continuous improvement and re-engineering initiatives to drive cost savings, standardisation, productivity improvements, and efficiencies — leveraging team insights to inform proposals.
• Ensure compliance with global, local, and regional policies and procedures, meeting local regulations, and holding the team accountable to the same standard.
• Lead local change initiatives and programmes, ensuring the team is prepared for and engaged in change.
• Directly participate in and/or coordinate critical transformation projects, acting as the team's representative and change champion.

# Financial Management

• Rigorously manage financial resources and influence direct and indirect spend across team activities.
• Provide clear explanations for monthly variances related to team operations and budgets.
• Execute Book of Work strategic plans, track team progress, and report savings on a timely basis.

# Qualifications

• 8-12 years overall experience, 4–6+ years of relevant experience in vendor management, operations, or a related field, with at least 1–2 years in a supervisory or team lead capacity.
• Experience in Third Party Management is strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience in leading, coaching, and developing operations teams in a fast-paced, controls-driven environment.
• Familiarity with ICBS products (Archiving, Corporate Card, Vehicle Programme, Managed Print, Mail & Distribution, Transaction Print, Marketing Print, Global Travel, Office Supplies & Stationery, and other Business Partner Services) is a plus.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office suite.
• Proven execution and delivery skills with the ability to drive results through a team in a Business/Operational organisation.
• Strong organisational and time management skills with the ability to manage competing team priorities under pressure.
• Excellent communication and influencing skills (written and verbal) required to effectively engage a wide range of stakeholders at all levels of seniority.
• Self-motivated, detail-oriented, and capable of working under pressure while managing deadlines or unexpected changes.
• Demonstrated problem-solving and decision-making skills, with the ability to guide team members through ambiguous or complex scenarios.
• Ability to navigate through a global framework and balance competing priorities and goals across a diverse team.
• Ability to appropriately assess risk when business decisions are made, and instil that discipline within the team.

# Additional Information

• The Team Lead role oversees staff assigned to either the BAO/BAO Support team or the Invoicing & SNOW Operations team, and may have accountability across both functions depending on business needs and team structure.
• The successful candidate is expected to model and develop cross-functional knowledge across both operational areas and actively encourage the same within their team.
• This role operates one level above the Operational Junior and Senior Analyst (C10/C11) grade and carries formal people management accou

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## Job Family Group:

Operations - Core

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## Job Family:

Operations Support

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## Time Type:

Full time

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## Most Relevant Skills

Please see the requirements listed above.

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## Other Relevant Skills

For complementary skills, please see above and/or contact the recruiter.

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