Chief Financial Officer

Chief Financial Officer

Location:

London/Dubai

Reporting to:
Chief Executive Officer

Engagement:
Full-time, Executive Committee member

Our client is a venture-backed fintech headquartered in the Middle East and operating across ten-plus markets in the MENA region. The company provides banks, fintechs, enterprises, and telecom operators with the embedded financial products into their offerings, across multiple vertices:

• Card issuing and processing virtual and physical debit, prepaid, and credit card programs, powered by a proprietary full-stack platform on which the company fully owns its processing and switching technology, a distinction unique in its region
• Embedded lending credit and lending infrastructure enabling clients to launch consumer and SME credit products, a rapidly scaling vertical with a growing receivables book
• Money movement domestic and cross-border payment and payout capabilities

The company is licensed and regulated in its home market, is a principal participant with the global payment schemes, and serves 100+ financial institutions and enterprises.

It recently closed an oversubscribed Series B led by one of the world's foremost fintech-specialist venture firms alongside a shareholder register that includes sovereign-linked investors, regional banks, and leading regional and international funds.

Having established itself as the category leader in its region post-Series B, the company is entering its most capital-intensive and strategically demanding phase: scaling toward its next equity round while simultaneously building the debt capital structures required to fund a fast-growing embedded lending business.

The Board is seeking an exceptional Chief Financial Officer to lead this phase. This is a genuinely strategic seat: the CFO will be a core member of the Executive Committee, a trusted partner to the CEO and Board, and the owner of both the equity story for the next raise and the debt architecture that will underpin the lending vertical's growth.

The role is London-based by design, reflecting the company's proximity to international capital markets both the growth-equity investors expected to lead the next round and the credit funds and banks that will provide lending capital with regular travel to the company's Dubai headquarters and regional offices.

Equity capital and investor relations

• Lead preparation and execution of the company's next institutional equity round — from equity story, metrics narrative, and data-room readiness through investor targeting, term negotiation, and close
• Own investor relations and Board-level financial reporting; act as the primary financial interface with a sophisticated, international shareholder base
• Position the company for longer-term strategic outcomes, including exit or IPO readiness

Debt capital and lending finance

• Design and raise the debt facilities required to fund the embedded lending vertical warehouse lines, receivables financing, and structured credit facilities from regional banks and international credit funds
• Own lender relationships, covenant management, facility reporting, and drawdown mechanics as the lending book scales
• Build the asset-liability management, provisioning (IFRS
  9), and portfolio-reporting capability appropriate to a growing credit business operating across multiple currencies and jurisdictions

Financial leadership and control

• Full ownership of the finance function: FP&A, accounting and controllership, treasury, tax, and audit across multiple legal entities, currencies, and regulatory regimes
• Ensure robust financial and regulatory reporting to central banks and payment schemes across the group's licensed entities, including regulatory capital and safeguarding…