Head of Risk MENA (CFD)

Responsibilities:

Strategic Risk Leadership: Own and drive the CFD risk strategy for MENA, aligned with global priorities, the business plan, and CMA expectations.

Market and Trading Risk Oversight: Oversee exposure management, leverage and margin frameworks, client concentration limits, gap risk controls, and hedging effectiveness. Provide independent challenge on risk exposure and risk transfer decisions.

Counterparty and Credit Risk: Set and monitor risk limits for liquidity providers, prime brokers, banks, and key counterparties. Oversee counterparty due diligence, concentration risk, and contingency planning for counterparty disruption.

Liquidity and Capital Oversight: Oversee liquidity risk and capital adequacy monitoring in line with CMA requirements. Lead stress testing and scenario analysis covering market shocks, client behavior, liquidity withdrawal, and operational disruption.

Client and Conduct Risk: Provide second line oversight of product governance, disclosures, appropriateness controls, complaints root cause trends, and key conduct outcomes impacting clients.

Execution and Pricing Risk Oversight: Oversee risks related to pricing integrity, data feeds, execution quality, slippage controls, and best execution governance. Ensure clear controls over price spikes, outliers, and execution incidents.

Operational and Technology Risk: Oversee operational risk across trading operations, incident management, cybersecurity risk oversight, access controls, change management, and operational resilience testing.

Outsourcing and Third Party Risk: Set the third party risk framework covering technology vendors, market data providers, execution partners, payment partners, and outsourced operations. Ensure robust due diligence, ongoing monitoring, and exit plans.

Monitoring and Reporting: Maintain the risk register and KRIs. Deliver decision-ready reporting to Senior Management and the Board, including appetite breaches, emerging risks, incidents, and remediation progress.

Regulatory Alignment: Maintain close relationships with the CMA and support regulatory submissions, inspections, and remediation of findings. Ensure audit readiness and disciplined evidence management.

Global Coordination: Act as a liaison between global risk teams and regional operations to maintain alignment on standards, controls, and reporting.

Requirements:

Education & Experience: University degree and 8+ years of experience in risk management within regulated financial services. CFD, FX, OTC derivatives, brokerage, or trading platform experience is strongly preferred.

Certifications: Certificate in Risk in Financial Services, and UAE Financial Rules and Regulations

Regulatory Knowledge: Strong expertise in CMA regulatory requirements applicable to CFDs, including governance, risk management expectations, prudential oversight, reporting discipline, and conduct standards. Prior CMA approval is a strong advantage.

Governance: Proven experience engaging with Boards and committees, managing escalation processes, and supporting regulatory inspections and audits.

Technical Strength: Strong understanding of market risk, margining, hedging, stress testing, counterparty risk, execution and pricing risk, and trading platform controls.

Leadership: Proven ability to build and lead an independent risk function in a fast-paced environment, and to challenge senior stakeholders with clarity and discipline.

Integrity: High ethical standards, independence of judgment, and ability to meet fit and proper expectations. Professional risk qualifications (FRM, PRM, CFA) are an advantage.