Dubai Regulatory & Licensing Lead - Fintech & AI Payments

ParlexAI; Dubai; On-site; AED 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical cover for you and your

Real equity, explained in plain terms

A learning budget, and the time to use

Hybrid working flexibility

The hardware you ask for

Job summary

ParlexAI is establishing a Dubai entity to navigate UAE regulatory licensing for its AI-driven payments solutions. The role leads licensing strategy across DIFC, ADGM, and mainland, determining where ParlexAI can operate and ensuring compliance with CBUAE rules.

You will manage end-to-end authorisation, coordinate with DFSA, FSRA and CBUAE, align product design with oversight requirements, and plan future Gulf expansion including SAMA, with a focus on clear, regulator-friendly filings and

Qualifications

• 6+ years in regulatory affairs or licensing within UAE or GCC financial services.
• At least one authorisation you personally carried from scoping to decision with the DFSA, FSRA or CBUAE.
• Working knowledge of the CBUAE Retail Payment Services and Stored Value Facilities regimes, and of how DIFC and ADGM permissions interact with onshore activity.
• Able to write submissions a regulator accepts: clear, specific, no filler, and consistent with what the business actually do.
• Based in Dubai and able to work onsite; the regulator meetings and the entity are here.
• Nice to have: SAMA licensing experience, exposure to AI or model governance in a regulated setting, and working Arabic.

Responsibilities

• Determine the licensing path for the UAE entity: DIFC versus ADGM versus mainland, and whether Parlex's activity requires a CBUAE Retail Payment Services or Stored Value Facilities licence in its own name.
• Own authorisation applications end to end — regulatory business plan, policies, governance and controller filings, capital and outsourcing arrangements, and every round of regulator questions — against the dates the commercial plan has already committed to.
• Be the named point of contact for the DFSA, FSRA and CBUAE, and manage those relationships as continuing ones rather than one-off submissions.
• Advise product and engineering on regulatory design: where AI can and cannot sit in a decision, what human oversight and model documentation we must be able to produce, and how EU AI Act obligations interact with UAE expectations.
• Maintain licences once granted — conditions, notifications, periodic reporting, controller and business-model changes, and outsourcing approvals.
• Take entry into Saudi through SAMA as the next filing after the UAE, with a realistic view of structure, timeline, cost and local presence requirements, and scope the remaining GCC markets behind it.
• Keep commercial teams accurate about what we can market, contract, pilot and go live with before approval lands, and give them a date and an alternative rather than a refusal.

Skills

Regulatory Affairs

Licensing

DFSA

FSRA

CB UAE

SAMA licensing

Arabic language

AI governance

Regulatory writing

Job description

ParlexAI is establishing a Dubai entity to navigate UAE regulatory licensing for its AI-driven payments solutions. The role leads licensing strategy across DIFC, ADGM, and mainland, determining where ParlexAI can operate and ensuring compliance with CBUAE rules.

You will manage end-to-end authorisation, coordinate with DFSA, FSRA and CBUAE, align product design with oversight requirements, and plan future Gulf expansion including SAMA, with a focus on clear, regulator-friendly filings and