Chief Financial Officer

About the Role
The company is seeking a Chief Financial Officer to lead our financial strategy and execution during our transition from an 8-digit annualized revenue startup to a unicorn in the Middle East. This role is pivotal as it intersects regulatory compliance, commercial operations, fundraising, and company-building, providing financial clarity for our board, investors, and team. It is a hands-on position where you will bring structure to complexity, build the finance function for the next growth phase, and work closely with the CEO on capital allocation, regulatory positioning, and long-term planning.

What You'll Do

• Own the company's financial strategy across capital allocation, multi-year planning, and investment decision-making.
• Lead fundraising processes end-to-end alongside the CEO: represent the company in investor conversations and board meetings, source and vet investors, manage investor relations, due diligence, and deal execution.
• Deliver timely, accurate financial reporting to the board, investors, and regulators.
• Oversee DFSA and CBUAE regulatory obligations — regulatory reporting, client money segregation, and minimum capital adequacy — ensuring continuous compliance across all subsidiaries.
• Drive the annual budgeting cycle and hold the business accountable for it.
• Build and develop a high-performing, distributed finance team.
• Lead complex relationships with auditors, banks, legal counsel, and partners like Visa.
• Design scalable financial controls and processes — lightweight enough to move fast, robust enough to withstand audit.
• Oversee treasury management and FX risk across multi-entity, multi-currency operations.
• Evaluate and support strategic transactions: partnerships, acquisitions, and new market entry.
• Drive the commercial health of the business — unit economics, monetization strategy, and P&L discipline across our products and customer segments.

What We're Looking For

• 15+ years in finance leadership.
• Experience in fintech, payments, or regulated financial services.
• Demonstrable track record of raising capital — equity rounds and debt facilities.
• Deep understanding of CBUAE, DFSA, or an equivalent regulated financial services environment.
• Excellent negotiator.
• Experience building finance functions from early-stage through scale.
• Strong command of multi-entity, multi-currency consolidation and reporting.
• Qualified accountant (ACA, ACCA, CPA, or equivalent) preferred.
• Exceptional commercial instincts — viewing finance as a lever for growth, not a constraint.
• Passion for modernizing the finance function amid recent AI developments in tech and fintech.
• High bias for clarity: ability to communicate complex numbers in plain language to boards, investors, and non-finance teams.
• Aggressive builder mindset — redesigning systems and processes rather than inheriting them, continuously challenging the status quo.
• High attention to detail with a low tolerance for errors.

About the company
The company is a licensed payments platform for SMEs in the MENA region, enabling merchants to accept payments online and in-person, issue corporate cards, and manage their business finances all in one place. The SME segment holds a significant share of UAE GDP and has been systematically underserved by incumbents, which is the gap we are looking to fill. We are regulated by the DFSA and currently process real payment volume across a diverse merchant base, from independent businesses to high-growth startups.

At the company, we are at an early but substantial stage of scale, having achieved 8-digit annualized revenue with a team of 35 and infrastructure built from scratch. We pride ourselves on our high-performance team culture that values autonomy and agility. With ownership of our infrastructure, tech, and processes, we continuously strive to solve complex problems through the combination of strong technology and robust processes.