Abdullah Al-Haddad

IT DIRECTIOR 04/2024 to Current
PIF Subsidiary, Confidential | Riyadh Saudi Arabia.
• Played a pivotal role in building and scaling the IT function from the ground up.
• Team & Organizational Development: Established the IT department, recruited top talent, and structured the organization to support rapid growth.
• Strategic IT Leadership: Developed a comprehensive 5-year IT strategy, ensuring alignment with business goals and regulatory requirements.
• Cloud & Infrastructure Modernization: Led a multi-cloud strategy, integrating services from three cloud providers to optimize performance and cost-effectiveness. Successfully migrated systems to the cloud, enhancing scalability and resilience.
• Security & Incident Management: Established an Incident Response Plan and implemented a Security Operations Center (SOC) to enhance cybersecurity posture.
• Cost Optimization: Achieved cost savings exceeding 20 million SAR in less than a year by optimizing total cost of ownership (TCO) over a three-year period.
• Enterprise System Implementation: Spearheaded the deployment of an ERP and CRM solution to streamline operations and enhance customer engagement.
• Digital Transformation Initiatives: Led the migration of corporate email to Microsoft 365, improved the company’s web presence, and enhanced internal collaboration tools.
• Office Relocation & IT Infrastructure Setup: Successfully managed the transition from an old office to a new workspace, ensuring seamless deployment of IT infrastructure, networking, and communication tools.
• Core Application Development & Customization: Worked closely with business units to design and tailor core fintech applications, enhancing operational efficiency.
• Hybrid Managed Service Model: Implemented a hybrid IT management approach, balancing in-house expertise with external vendors to optimize service delivery and scalability.
• IT Budgeting & Governance: Developed and managed the IT budget, ensuring effective cost control while supporting strategic investments in technology.

• Lead the Bank initiatives for adopting cloud strategy as first bank in KSA.
• Lead IT Infra and Operation transformation by implementing automation across all units.
• Lead Managed service automation to convert traditional work approach based on time and material to SLA/KPI approach.
• Lead more than 65 engineers directly or indirectly.
• Managing more than USD 15M as yearly budget.
• Mange the complete bank infrastructure with more than 4000 servers hosted on oracle M7, T8, EXACC, Dell FX2, MX, Vxrail, HP Blade and Nutanix.
• Addressing SAMA, CBB, UAECB, CMA, NCA, and NDMO for any concerns while adopting the cloud strategy or implementing any initiative.
• Direct daily operations of department, analyzing workflow, establishing priorities, developing standards and setting deadlines.
• Analyze operations to evaluate IT performance of Bank or its staff in meeting objectives or to determine areas of potential cost reduction, program improvement, or policy change.
• Budgets preparation and monitoring throughout the year

• Lead the IT Infrastructure (Network, System and Mange Service) which contains more than 15 engineers as directly employees and 30 off shore managing more than 100 branches around Kingdom.
• Managing more than 5, 000 employees.
• Managing IT Assets CAPEX & OPEX and monitor the expenditures Vs planned.
• Develop the career plan for all the engineers.
• Evaluating new products and technologies to the company, which meet the business requirements as well maintaining future growth, forcing on ROI and TCO.
• Developing and placing KPIs' for the infrastructure team and continuous monitor such KPIs' to achieve them.
• Technical project leader from pre project requirement such as budget approval, RFP, initiating phase, planning phases then till Infra team run the project as part of the operation work all govern by PMI framework.

ARASCO | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Network Team Leader)

• Lead the networking team (Network and Infrastructure Security).
• Act as IT project manager and network consultant to redesign the complete network for ARACO, which contains more than 17 branches and 3000 users.
• Act as IT project manager to lead IT projects such as Microsoft Lync, polycom video conferencing.
• Redesign the WAN links using ISP, DSP and redline technologies.
• Work as Network engineer to resolve operation problems


Altuwairqi | Dammam, Saudi Arabia (Network Leader)
• Redefined the roles for the network team members and assign the tasks according to the experience, knowledge and motivation to the work.
• Redefined the way of communication between the team and improve the concept of the teamwork.
• Participating in many projects from LLD design, communicating with vendor to the implementation such as (CORE project upgrade, ASA deployment, solar winds, 3com replacement and link redundancy ...etc, )
• Write know the network report (KTN) to enhance the network.

Arbah Capital | Dammam, Saudi Arabia (Network Engineer)
• Assisted various departments in maintaining network security and configured remote routers and firewalls.
• Administered, maintained and supported network systems to provide consistent security, availability and performance.
• Maintaining the connectivity with Tadawul for Trading
• Handling N2N products for price feed.
• Doing project management “ suggest a solution, convince the management, prepared the project plan and implementation.
• Implementing CMA framework and do gap assessment if needed.

Cisco System | Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (Network Consultant engineer)
• Working in India TAC (Technical Assistance Engineer) who resolves customer problems mainly in routing and switching
• Perform Lab Verification Tests before we deploy the solution to customer using “IOU and Dynampis and Cisco LAB” Perform Implementation.
• Preparing Handover documents such as “NIP, LLD, HLD…etc”.


ARAMCO- Contractor Job with WIPRO | Dhahran, Saudi Arabia (EDP system Analsyst)
• Responsible for monitoring all SAP Computer Center (SCC at Aramco) and provide IT services.
• Monitor and operate SAP Applications, Hardware Operating Systems, Oracle databases, internet, website, DR site, Backups, job scheduling and Application transports.
• Problem Management team leader; identify the root cause of the problem and recommend the solutions to avoid such problem from happing on the future and produced trend analysis report.
• Provide second level support for the technical problems.
• Proactive monitoring to detect the problem before it happens.

SBM | Khobar, Saudi Arabia (Network Engineer)
• Performed tests on newly installed hardware and software to provide components that interface correctly with each other and network.
• Applying the security list conditions to Aramco network.
• Implementing networks infrastructure for many customers.
• Configuring Cisco switches and routers.
• Configuring VOIP using call manager v #3.3.
• Implementing the Cisco unity System.